What do you need (and maybe want) to live on a trail, in the wilderness, and then occasionally detour back to civilization? I’ll give you a quick rundown of what we packed to “stay alive” for the next 5-6 months. If you would like to «jump to a list», click on our «equipment list» tab on our main blog page. That will give you a detailed list of what we carried along the way.
The big 3
For those of you who are not familiar with the term «The Big 3», I will quickly explain it to you. They are your shelter (we have a tent), your sleep system and your backpack. Our sleeping system consists of an inflatable sleeping pad, 15 degree sleeping bags and liners and a small air pillow. Lisa’s backpack is a 55 liter bag and mine is a 70 liter bag. My backpack is a “Franken package” and was hacked shortly before we were ready to leave. Maybe on some rainy day I’ll share how my pack came to be.
Food and water
Our last blog laid out our food planning and preparation. Basically, we will restock every 5 days on average. During the initial two months they will send most of it to us and we will buy the rest in the cities. Our water system has changed dramatically for this trip. Until this hike we always had a shared water filter system. Now, each of us will carry our own filters and “dirty” water collection bags to attend to our own drinking, cooking and hygiene needs. One of the reasons we switched to this is that it creates a backup in case one of our filters breaks or stops working properly. We also each brought our own food.
Our “kitchen” consists of a small stove and a backpacking pot. We each carry two bottles of water and a small cup for morning coffee or other drinks we might have. Each of us has a long-handled titanium spoon and fork combination.
To «protect» our food from animals, I will be carrying a hard-sided «bear-proof» container (which is required on some parts of the trail) and Lisa will be carrying a «bear-resistant» bag made of a Kevlar-style material. There are places along the trail that sometimes provide a way to store your food safely.
Clothes
Hiking is all about developing an efficient system and clothing is no different. Basically, Lisa will have one set of clothes for walking and one set of clothes for sleeping. I will have two sets of clothes for walking (I sweat a lot) and half a set of clothes for sleeping. Sleepwear can also double as hiking clothes in a pinch. Yes, that means we’ll basically be wearing the same two pairs of underwear for the entire hike. We also have clothing for colder weather (down coats) and rain gear. We layer our clothes as the weather dictates. As for footwear, we both walked in an Altra Lone Peak shoe model. 
Check Apocalypse – #bugArmor
With increased awareness of tick (and other insect) problems this year, we have taken precautions by treating most of our clothing and backpacks with Sawyer® Permethrin Insect Repellent. We will also bring a repellent spray that we picked up when we were hiking in Scotland called Smidge.
Electronics
We may live like hobos a week at a time, but we won’t go Amish with our electronic setup. Although I’m starting to believe the Amish are right when it comes to technology. Our iPhones will carry our spreadsheet, offline maps, and a PDF copy of the “AT Guide 2026 Edition.” Both phones have satellite capability if cellular service is not available. We will be able to send text messages and send an SOS message. We both have Apple watches. Mine is an Ultra 3 that will be used to track our progress. This watch will also connect via satellite. We will have headphones, wired and Bluetooth. Lisa also has a sleeping mask with built-in headphones. Hopefully portable charging bricks will keep our technology alive while we’re on the road. When we get to town we have a fast charging wall charger to resurrect the portable chargers.
luxury items
We’re really going to miss our cats, so we decided to bring Luna with us. 
Not really, but she’s cute so I thought I’d share a photo of her. I know she looks like she’s ready to murder a chipmunk, but she’s really cute. Okay, back to luxury items. My luxury item is, drum roll please… a “Nemo Moonlight Elite Backpacking Chair.” There was a lot of intense negotiation with me, myself, and myself to justify using these extra 22 ounces. In fact, I cut all my labels to save an extra 6 grams (0.20 ounces) in weight. Shout out to all “true” ultralight hikers.
Anyway, this post could go on, but Lisa is now looking over my shoulder, so I need to end this. Click on our equipment list tab for the detailed list if you want to know the nitty-gritty. There’s probably some gear I missed on the list, but I can guarantee you that everything in the image at the top of this post (and a few items not in the image that were shipped to Maine before us) fits into this final image…
About 12 hours after I post this, my loving girlfriend and I will be flying from Michigan to Maine so we can hike to Georgia, with just our backpacks on our backs.
“I’m leaving on a jet plane, I don’t know when I’ll be back…” – Peter, Paul and Mary
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