backpacking/whatever

over prepare every thing especially food cause after a day of hiking all you want to do is eat your heart out worse then any munchies.

make sure u have backup plans and stuff dont leave any thing to luck

invest in really comfy hiking shoes

dont toke in high altitudes i was on a two day hike in newhampshire and me and a pal blazed away from the group one afternoon and i was scared shitless hiking down and around ledges

sounds awsome

 

Uh huh...that's what all potheads say.

 

man, ive wanted to do something like that, except id wanna be high for a good portion of the trip, im not gonna lie

 

Got big plans for the next couple years. I'm just east of the rockies, so start up hiking through them mountains while I'm still in school, then after that, head out west, hit the west coast of bc, then go down south. Backpack the West Coast Trail, then somehow make it across the country and hike the appalachian trail.

My advice to you, start out small and work your way up to it, take survival lessons, and maybe even bringed someone experienced with you.

 

whatever

 

Well just as long as you guys dont just jump in head first, and really know what your doing. It's a dangerous world, in or out of the city.

 

That sounds so awesome! My dream has always been to hitch hike/walk across the country or somewhere cool, especially after seeing Into the Wild. Good luck!

My advice is BE CAREFUL! I study serial killers and many of them have murdered hitchhikers so if someone looks sketchy or gives off a bad vibe don't ride with them and carry mace/pepper spray.

 

Well my buddy is walking across the country right know. He didn't even bring l lot of money with him. He used this site a lot. http://www.couchsurfing.com. Its pretty nifty, and people always gave him food and money ans such and not once did he ask for it. here is his website if you wanna check it out. http://walking5000milesforpeace.blogspot.com/

 

Nah man, in my opinion its the opposite. We're always talking about bringing fat sacks and getting stoned all day.

 

And in reply to the OP:

It would be a very interesting experience if you did that, however make sure you think your girlfriend would actually be cut out for it and make sure that you are cut out for it as well. It's a drastic change in lifestyle.

Maybe just rent a car and go visit Niagra Falls? haha

 

I agree with you dalax, getting up and backpacking across a couple of states or whatever just dosn't happen. You really need to integrate yourself into the whole ideal of travelling as such.

 

Best advice "I wish someone would have given me" is not to over pack, and take weight that your comfterable with, hike around with you pack for a while before, go get used to it, see if the weights too much and make sure you like your pack, you don't want to find out 1500 miles later your pack sucks, you don't like how this strap goes and it pinchs your shoulders because you just grabbed a pack and went, you now find that the 8 books you brought was a bad idea and the added weights killing you so you ditch it in the end anyway, 50-60 pound packs are ridiclously anoying to hall around, 20-30 should be a good weight.

http://www.digihitch.com/

Digihitch is a good site to read on, you should research a little on the states you might head through, hitching is great in some places but you could go to say PA and get beer bottles and Burger King thrown at your head all day trying to hitch out. Course theres places like Maine where you can put your thumb out and get a ride in 5-10 minutes easily.

Agreed with Jpimp and Dalax, Try integrating this life style at home a bit before you go too, live on the cheap for a month, put your thumb out at home a bit, stop sleeping inside for a while. You may find you like living life simpler anyway, give up some of your comforts now, after about a month of not having them you'll forget how nice it was to sleep in a bed. Either that or you'll be like "Fuck this" hopefully not the later

Look into getting some weather resistant cloths and shoes, for them shitty rainy days you can't thumb a ride you might want to consider what you'll do, don't bring alot of cotton with you it don't dry fast and when it gets wet weighs a ton. Socks too.

Weather proofing your pack is a plus also.

You might also want to look into good multivitamins for the road, conjointimine and other supplements that are handy to have, first aid, distress whistle, compass, MultiTool.

Theres a ton of things you could do to prepare or you could not prepare which is what I did the first time I went and it was pretty damn cool but would have gone alot smoother and been a hell of a lot easier if I had prepared better.

Condense things as much as you can, don't bring a roll of duct tape, instead wrap some around the handle of your flash light for easy access.


You can look into drop boxes also, some mail places will hold mail for an extended period of time for ya, you can have supplys shipped from home, make up care packages with food supply in them ready to be shipped and leave it in the hands of someone who will do it for ya when need be, if need be.

Read "Vagabonding" By Rolf Potts, lots of good information on footing about in there.

I'll be starting my next trip in a few weeks, I get 4 months off work to travel so I'll be footing it too.

It's awesome to see so many people interested in this type of thing

 

i personally would never do this but the best advice i can give u is bring the biggest sack you can afford and i glass spoon so it wont take up much room. lots of papers and blunts too.

 

You can do it. I've backpacked quite a bit in my day. I suggest doing it via bicycle though, otherwise you won't get anywhere by the summers end. Swing by brooklyn and I got you sparked.

 

I agree with most here, just dont jump into it. My parents went to do something like this and they werent in shape, alot of walking up, down, side, reach up, reach across, its not a just happy go lucky hike if your not a hiker/walker. Just be in somewhat good shape, my parents heaven forbi are in not great athletic shape at all, so things along these lines really do make a difference if your capable or not. Noone likes bitchy hiking/walking patners..Im out of shape, my legs hurt, my back hurts.