My wife & me have a dream, a hiker's dream I guess you could call it. We want to walk the Appalachian. We're not a young buck & doe pair. I'm over 50 & she's over 40. We both are out of shape, big time, but both of us have been walkers for long excursions in the past. The idea is to build up to it, sort of set out from Maine - heading South in late spring 2013. We've got a hodge podge collection of gear from past travels, past decades. I wonder if anyone has opinions as to whether it makes more sense to rebuild our kits from scratch, or cobble together what we have. Example being, I have an old, but reliable; MSR white gas stove with a 33 ounce bottle. I like the little alcohol stoves made out of a soda can too, but I know I can count on the MSR. Our tent is a cheapo, but the darn thing has proved to be pretty tough; if a little on the heavy side. See where I'm going? Any thoughts or advice is welcome. Happy trails.