Home Appalachian TrailAT Continental Divide TrailCDT Pacific Crest TrailPCT
author photo">
May 13, 2021 : Chad Thome Appalachian Trail

AT Thru-Hike Prep (Day 3 of 3)

What backpack size will work for this?

I am using a 65-liter pack that can support 35 to 50 pounds of gear. The question is, how much gear are you bringing? With this answered, you can adjust to your style of packing.

The best option is to buy, borrow or rent gear and take it out over a multi-night excursion. Try to extend this to at least a week-long trip. This will tell you a lot.

If you do not use items you packed during this one-week trip, you probably do not need them on trail.

This info from a week trip will tell you if the tent is too complex or just right, the sleeping bag allows for side sleeping or not, and miscellaneous things about the rest of your gear.

Don’t forget! This is nature. Sounds come alive at night too and it gets dark. Observe safety and everything will be amazing.

Look around, don’t stare at just the ground or your phone. The world is full of unique scenery. It is here to enjoy for all.

Affiliate Disclosure

This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek's ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. Thanks for your support!

To learn more, please visit the About This Site page.

Chad Thome
May 13th : Chad Thome
Author Page
Chad Thome's Bio

Hey everyone! My name is Chad Thome. I am 47 and I have been an avid hiker for many years. My son got me into thru hiking in 2016. This journey goes from 2016 jumping to 2021 for part 2 of this trip. Transporter is my trail name. I got this because I had a 35 pound pack with no food or water in it yet at the start. Adding in food and water, this brought my pack total to over 45 pounds. This is a lot, as you know or will soon see!!! My son and I got all of our backpack gear together for the thru hike attempt in 2016. This is crazy what you think you need in a backpack doing this from home, compared to what you actually need on trail. I spent 1000s of hours becoming a YouTube expert. Only to find out I learned nothing. We started the 1rst week of May 2016. We froze walking in ankle to knee deep snow in the Smokies, hung many PCT method food bags (throw rope over tree limb, snap rope into carabiner attached to food bag. You then pull to the tree limb, wrap a twig into the line as high as you can reach and slowly let go. The limb stops the bag) We endured many miles and ended up in Daleville VA around 730+ miles in. We hiked around 30 miles further, when my wife called and said the house sold and that was the end of my journey, so I headed back to Daleville, VA for a flight home days later. My son finished the thru hike in 2016 whos trail name was Radar. My wife did the exact miles and journey in 2017. My wife and I came back to the trail in 2021 for a LASHER hike. This is really long section hike. Life allowed this one opportunity (never pass these up) for us to hike as couple, so we grabbed it. Hope to meet another 100-200 amazing people as we did hiking in 2016. Look forward to talking to everyone.

What Do You Think?