Welcome!

Hope you have a great time on your trip. I'll take a shot at giving you some generic answers to your questions:

1. You should call the NPS office and ask about campfires, and check the local NOAA weather forecast for the local current fire risk level.

2. Depends on several things. The shape you're in, how much weight you're hauling, elevation both up and down. I'll offer that since it's your first trip you might want to keep close to the trail head, something under 5 miles should be plenty good, but even a mile or two is plenty good too. It's not about miles, it's about fun.

3. Can't help you there, but the NPS should be able to answer that.

4. Depends. The further you go the more you'll need. If you have water sources you can resupply from, then you can carry less. If you're eating dehydrated food and drinks like coffee, tea, hot chocolate, you need enough for that, and to drink, and some to clean up with. A gallon each per day is probably close to a minimum if you're going five miles or less. It's hard for me to say because we have lot's of water sources here where I do most of my backpacking, so I usually carry between 1 and 1.5 liters when I start hiking and refill when I can or need to and I usually camp near a water source and use all I need while there.

Again, ask the NPS about water sources, and you'll want a good filter and/or some disinfectant to treat the water.

Bill