Episode 38: Appalachian Trail Mailbag

Dan and Guthook open up the mailbag and tackle a list of questions about hiking the AT by a listener from Down Under. Also, an important announcement about the show... Links: Appalachian Trail Safety Tips Atlas Guides  

Hiking with a toddler or preschooler can be a really fun experience and can foster a positive attitude...if done right! In this week's show, Dan reveals five tips for helping your next hiking trip with the youngster be an enjoyable experience for all!

Matt and Julie Urbanski join the show his week to talk about completing the triple crown, founding a successful running coaching business, and parenting a toddler in a travel lifestyle. Links from the show: Team RunRun The Barkley 100 Julie's Books

Dan and Guthook explore the wide world of Leave No Trace wilderness ethics and talk about some of the LNT challenges hikers often face: unattended trail magic, water caches, camp chores, and cat holes. Warning: Provocative content! Download Episode

Carey Kish, a Maine-based outdoor writer, joins Dan this week and talks about what it takes to put together a solid guidebook and compile the impressive, newly-released 11th edition of the Maine Mountain Guide, available now at the AMC Store. Download Episode

The hot weather is back and so is Weekly Hiking Tip!  Dan and Guthook talk about staving off heat exhaustion during the height of summer, the Skyline Lodge controversy on Mt. Washington, and tips for ultralighting. Check out Atlas Guide's newly redesigned website!

Dan takes another look at what it costs to hike a long distance trail. This time around, both explicit and implicit (opportunity) costs are considered and used to answer the question: Should I do this hike? Is it worth it?

In this week's episode, Dan pulls a few backpacking questions from the AT and PCT Facebook pages. He talks about where to camp and how to plan a thru-hike of the NY AT and where a good starting point might be for a summer PCT section hike.

Smell something burning? That's because Dan and Guthook are all about camp stoves in Episode 30! The guys discuss all major backpacking stove technologies, reviewing the pros and cons of canister, alcohol, ESBIT/solid fuel, bottle-liquid, and wood. Link to postal regulations for shipping gas canisters:  http://distancehiking.com/updates/shipping-stove-fuel/

How much time should you budget for a long distance hike? In this week's show, using data from 2013-14 AT and PCT thru hikers, Dan talks about all the factors that influence how much time you might want to set aside for your next long distance hike.