Packing List: Appalachian Trail

Here’s a list of the items I brought (and/or recommend) when I hiked the Appalachian Trail March 29 – September 8, 2016. I liked to stay light with my gear, but I took more than just the bare minimum; I kept a happy medium for me. Hike your own hike and take what you want – cut my list, add more, whatever works for you.

(Note: I’ll hyperlink the items in this list to my reviews as I write them; otherwise, the links are to product pages. Remember, you can probably find items less expensive than retail price – check the product site, but also outdoor retailers, Amazon, and thrift shops. Click here to see my breakdown of gear and other expenses for the A.T.)

Pack and poles:

• Osprey Aura 50
• Black Diamond Distance Z Trekking Poles (broke and were replaced by other poles)
• Black Diamond Trail Women’s Trekking Poles
• REI Co-op Duck’s Back Rain Cover – 60 Liters
• Trash compactor bag (to line pack and keep everything dry)

Tent:

• Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 tent (includes tent, fly, poles, and stakes; spray paint the stakes bright orange so you can see them in the grass and you won’t leave one behind!)
• Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 footprint (so worth it to set up in the rain and keep your tent dry)
• Tent patch, tent pole splint

Sleeping:

• Bag: REI Co-op Joule 21 Sleeping Bag (winter)
• Bag: Mountain Hardwear Lamina 45 Sleeping Bag – Men’s Lead Regular Left Zip (summer)
• Sea to Summit eVent Compression Dry Sack (to compress sleeping bag)
• Sea to Summit Premium Silk Liner
• Sleeping pad: Thermarest Women’s NeoAir Xlite (great pad, but noisy at night as it crinkles, and it’s a pain to deflate and roll up in the mornings, so I replaced it)
• Sleeping pad: Thermarest RidgeRest Solar
• Ear plugs

Clothes:

• Jacket: The North Face Thermoball Full Zip Jacket (this goes with me everywhere)
• Shirt: Short sleeve moisture-wicking shirt (I bought a Brooks race shirt at the thrift store; based on my AT experience, I knew I would be throwing it away after a month due to hiker funk. Product link is to general top.)
• Shirt: Ex Officio Give-N-Go Shelf Bra Camisole tank
• Underwear: Ex Officio Give-N-Go Bikini Brief (I go commando about 50% of the time, but I suggest bringing two pairs of these.)
• Pants: Patagonia Women’s Capilene® Thermal Weight Bottoms
• Buff
• Socks: Injinji Liner Crew Socks (2 pair)
• Socks: Darn Tough Micro Crew Cushion Sock (2 pair)
• Shoes: Lowa Renegade GTX Mid Boot (I had them for ~500 miles before trail, and they lasted me until Kent, Connecticut. These are amazing boots and will be my next pair of boots.)
• Shoes: Keen Voyageur Mid Boots (not a huge fan of these boots, but they were the best of a limited selection of women’s boots in the small outfitter in Kent when my Lowas finally fell apart after being held together by glue and tape for more than two hundred miles)
• Shoes: The North Face Base Camp Lite Skimmers camp shoes (great shoes, but I lost them one day somewhere in 20 miles of boulders in Pennsylvania and replaced them with flip flops)
• Shoes: Cheap flip flops for the shower
• Shoes: Superfeet Green insoles
• Rain gear: Sierra Designs Hurricane Jacket (was very quickly replaced with Mountain Hardwear jacket because it did not hold up at all to pouring rain along Blood Mountain)
• Rain gear: Mountain Hardwear Plasmic Ion Rain Jacket (more water-resistant, but much hotter so I got really sweaty when wearing it – wet, but at least not cold)
• Dirty Girl Gaiters (flames, of course)
• Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Stuff Sack (to put clothes in; doubled as my pillow)
• Winter-only clothes:
  • Shirt: Icebreaker Merino 260 Top Long Sleeve Half-Zip
  • Pants: Prana Sage Convertible pant
  • Hat: Rab Gradient Beanie
  • Rain gear: UnderArmour rain pants
• Summer-only clothes: 
  •  Shirt: REI Co-op Lightweight Base Layer Crew Top
  • Shorts: Ex Officio Give-N-Go Boxer Briefs (yes, I realize it’s men’s underwear, but they were absolutely perfect summer shorts)
  • Pants: Ex Officio Bugsaway Damselfly pant

Health and Hygiene:

• Safety pins (for hanging laundry on pack)
• Sawyer Permethrin Repellent (coated my backpack and sleep sack before I left)
• Toiletries: (travel size as much as possible) sunscreen, Deet, tiger balm, chapstick, hand sanitizer, toothpaste, toothbrush, toilet paper, nail clippers, baby wipes (perfect for cleaning feet and a quick tent bath at night), personal items
• First aid: band-aids, neosporin, ibuprofen, prescription meds, hydrocortizone, needle and thread (needle and thread are also handy for making repairs to clothing and gears, and a few times I mended other people’s clothes in exchange for food)
• Anti-chafe product (baby powder, body glide, desitin, etc.)
• UCO Survival Matches
• Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Liquid Soap 2oz (laundry in creek, shampoo, dishes, can be used as toothpaste if needed)
• Emergency Mylar Thermal Blankets (comes in packs of 10; I just carried one)
• Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Stuff Sack

Technology:

• Cell phone
• Chargers for phone, camera, SPOT
• Pocket Juice 2-in-1 Portable Charger 12,000 mAh
• Headphones
• Cheap digital watch face (I bought a cheap digital watch with a glow button and cut the straps off so it would fit in my hip belt pocket. I used it at night to tell the time so I didn’t have to turn on my phone and use up the battery. There was an alarm on it, but I never used it.)
• Nikon Coolpix S7000 camera
• SPOT Gen3 GPS tracker
• Black Diamond Cosmo Headlamp (I have an older model)
• Batteries for headlamp, SPOT

Cooking and water:

• MSR PocketRocket Backpacking Stove (I have the original)
• Snow Peak Titanium Spork
• Snow Peak Multi Compact Titanium Cookset (I bought this before trail for backpacking, and I only took the large pot and pan/lid on trail.)
• MSR IsoPro 4 oz fuel (usually lasted a little more than a week)
• Granite Gear Drysack 18L (bear bag)
• PMI 3mm Utility Cord 50 ft (to hang bear bag)
• Metolius FS Mini II Carabiner (to attach bear bag to utility cord)
• GSI Infinity Backpacker Mug
• Lighter (I wrapped duct tape around mine; also important to buy a neon-colored lighter so you can see it in the grass if you drop it.)
• Bandana (dish rag, pot holder, etc. I kept it wrapped around my fuel inside my pot with the pan lid on top.)
• Ziplocs (gallon bags to store a day’s worth of food so you don’t eat too much at the beginning and run out of food before resupply; quart bags for toiletries that may leak, trash, keep toilet paper dry, etc.)
• Camelbak Crux 2L reservoir (from my Camelbak Helena; used it for years but it started to spring leaks on trail and I had to replace it)
• MSR Hydromedary Bag, 2.5 Liter reservoir
• Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter System (other people started with the Mini but soon replaced it because it flows too slowly – just start with the bigger one)
• Sawyer Fast Fill Hydration Pack Adapter Kit (you really won’t need if you have an external pocket on your pack for your reservoir)
• Aquamira Water Treatment 1 oz. drops (in case your Sawyer breaks – mine didn’t, but you should always have a reliable water treatment; you could just carry drops instead of a Sawyer, but that won’t clear out the color or sediment of more questionable sources)

Miscellaneous:

• Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Stuff Sack
• Swiss army classic knife (mostly used the scissors)
• Sunglasses (just cheap pair; link is to a pair I want!)
• ID, cash, debit card, insurance card, etc.
• Duct tape
• Appalachian Trail Thru-Hikers’ Companion (lots of good information, but difficult to use for mileage planning; switch to AWOL in Pearisburg, Virginia)
• (AWOL) The A.T. Guide (tore out the pages as I went)

Optional:

• Extra shoelace
• Pen
• Journal
• Town dress (I bought in Marion, Virginia, and kept it in a ziploc bag with a dryer sheet. It was nice to have something to wear in town that didn’t smell, and to have something other than a raincoat and rain pants to wear when I did laundry.)

Things you don’t need (obviously, there are items above you don’t really need, but I wanted to include this, too):

• Compass
• Gloves (use the other pair of socks as mittens)
• Bear spray, big knife, whistle, gun, any other weapon-type thing
• Trowel
• Heavy gaiters
• Mirror (trust me, you don’t want to see how you look)
• Makeup or deodorant (no one wears it)
• Razor (no one – men or women – shaves)
• Head net
• Eye mask