Thru-Hiking Tricks of the Trade

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Tags: Appalachian Trail,AT,Thru-Hike,AT Thru-Hike,Backpacking,Hiking,Adventure,Camping,Hiker Trash,PCT,Pacific Crest Trail,PCT Thru-Hike,CDT,AZT,Arizona Trail,Long Distance Hiking,Gear Mods,Awol Guide,Z-Seat

Video Transcription

hey guys it's Darwin so there are a lot of different things that through hikers might do compared to a regular weekend backpacker hiker or even a bushcrafter today I want to talk about my top favorite through hiking tricks of the trade

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so recently snuggles and I were sitting around talking about some of the things that we learned while doing the Appalachian Trail in 2015 and 2016 now we've been hikers and backpackers for years before we want to do it through hike but there were certain things that we learned on the trail that are specific to long-distance hiking now there are a lot of different tips and tricks that you can find while doing a long-distance trail and everyone kind of has their own way of doing things this is just a list of my top favorite through hiking tricks that I learned while out on the trail so number one and one that most people know about but rap duct tape around your trekking poles so duct tape is obviously a great thing to have when you're in the backcountry and whenever you're doing a long-distance trail like the 80 when you get duct tape it's in this big ass role which is bulky kind of heavy and you don't really want to carry this around in your pack especially if you're trying to lose weight so one of the tricks that you can do is actually taking duct tape wrapping it around your trekking pole and then it's always there whenever you need to make a repair now there were tons of times in 2015 when both snuggles and I use the duct tape on our poles to repair a hole on a jacket to maybe fix a little snag in our tent or in the beginning I even use the duct tape on my poles to make a custom koozie so definitely wrap duct tape around your poles it is super convenient you don't even know it's there but when you do need it it comes in handy number two make a cook pouch or a koozie so this is one that we learned from another through hiker while out on the trail you can make one of these cook pouches out of some duct tape which you can get from your trekking poles and a windshield screen and essentially what it does is it allows you to not use all your fuel while you're trying to cook it can so this way all you have to do is boil water you pour it into a bag and then you can insert it into this guy and it acts like an oven traps in the heat trap some steam and let your food cook while you're sitting that way you're not using so much gas to keep boiling the food to cook it in your pot I did an older video where I showed you guys how to make these and I'll put the link up here in the corner go check that out if you want to learn how to make one of these but I would definitely suggest having one of these because it does save on fuel and save on time now number three now this is one that I had to learn the hard way whenever you're doing it through hike you are insanely hungry all the time I myself have a really high metabolism anyways so what I would typically do is even though I bought just enough food to get me through my days and to get me to the next resupply if I came into camp at night and I was insanely hungry I would eat more food by the last day I would be running super short on food so what I had to do to teach myself was by separating my food by the day by taking a gallon zip bag and writing day one or day two day three day four I'm able to separate my food by the day so whenever I grab into my food bag and pull out that bag I know that that's all the food that I have to eat for that day and it's easier to ration again this is a trick that I learned in 2015 whenever we were going through the Smoky Mountains I was super hungry because we were doing a bunch of climbing eat way too much food and on the last day I didn't have enough so snuggles had to share her snacks with me whenever we got into the next town I decided to do this little trick and I've been doing it ever since so I highly suggest that if you love to eat speaking of eating number four is carry out town food so whenever you go into a town to resupply stay at a hostel do your laundry shower and the day you leave town to hit back into the woods take some town food with you one of the things that snuggles and I really love to do with stopping by a subway or maybe McDonald's or a Wendy's and getting some cheap town food so either a big footlong sub or a handful of hamburgers that way whenever we hiked out of town we could still get a ton of calories that night and be ready to hit the trail back in the morning we had this revelation whenever we were coming out of hot springs in 2015 we done a short day out of hot springs and there was a guy that we met named August August carried out a pack of hot dogs a can of chili and cheese and made chili dogs for everybody absolutely blew our mind and he told us that every time that he leaves town he always brings town food so that way he has a special treat he loads up on calories and then he's set until he hits the next town number five dental floss so dental floss is amazing stuff not only obviously do you need to keep your teeth clean but dental floss is also really great for repairing gear and even sewing on patches most packs and outdoor gear and backpacking gear are all made with nylons water-resistant materials so dental floss is a lot better of an option than your regular needle and thread and you just simply thread it through a needle like you always would and sew it through whenever you're using thread and poking those holes in your gear you're making small holes which can also lead to water leakage so the great thing about waxed dental floss is because it's waxed and it goes into the hole it kind of seals up the hole and makes it a little bit more waterproof if you're a patch geek like me and you love sewing on patches as you hike down the trail this stuff is much better than thread much stronger and holds on to the pack a lot better so if you're already carrying dental floss with you you might as well use it to repair your pack number six is get an ass pad the ass pad is one of my favorite pieces of gear you guys are probably tired of me talking about this thing but the ass pad is one of the best pieces of gear that you can invest in when on the trail after hiking a long hard day in the pouring rain whenever you get to a shelter or a campsite the last thing that I want to do is set down on a wet shelter floor a wet log or the wet ground so simply whipping this thing out throwing it down to have a nice dry cushy seat is priceless the other great thing about the ass pad is it has multi purposes so not only do I use it as an aspect but I also use it to start fires by using as a big fan that way I'm not blowing a bunch of air and almost passing out especially at higher altitudes on a crazy windy night I'll use it as a windscreen so putting it around my stove to make sure that I block out as much wind as possible and one of my favorite things for it is I actually take it and at night I slip it between my knees so that way when I'm sleeping at night my knees aren't knocking together close after hiking a long hot humid day on the trail your legs tend to get sticky especially if you use in bug spray and stuff so this keeps your

he's separated and doesn't give you that weird nasty sticky feeling so by using this between my knees I've actually gotten a lot better sleep on the trail since I started hiking so the ass pad is definitely a great one to invest in get an ass pad number seven is splitting a hotel room so there are tons of times that you're going to want to stop in a town stay in a hotel or hostel so hostels are usually going to run you anywhere between $15 to $30 depending on what section of the trail that you are on overtime those can add up to be pretty damn expensive so one of the tricks that I learned while out on the trail and 15 was splitting a hotel room with a bunch of other hikers a good example is in Hiawassee Georgia six of us split a Holiday Inn hotel room now we all could have paid twenty-five to thirty dollars a piece staying at a certain hostel that was right outside of Hiawassee but instead we bought one hotel room for a hundred bucks and split it between six people which obviously was cheaper so if you're hiking with a handful of other hikers splitting a hotel room definitely saves you money on the trail gives you a little bit more of a personal trail experience when you are staying in town even splitting a room with one other hiker is definitely going to be cheaper so instead of paying 70 bucks for one hotel room for just you splitting it with another hiker is going to cut that in half save you money plus it's probably going to be a pretty good time because there ain't no party like a hiker party number eight is one of my favorites and not only something that I do on the trail but also when I travel and that is removing the tube from a roll of toilet paper so obviously a roll of toilet paper is big fat and bulky and obviously you need shit tickets while you're on the trail so by simply removing that little bitty cardboard tube out of the center of a roll of toilet paper it allows you to squish it and get it much flatter so that way you can take it shove it down into the crevices of your pack and it takes up less room plus if you're a hardcore wait waiting it takes out a little bit of wait number nine utilize the bounce box so your friends and family are awesome people they send you supply boxes on the trail problem is they don't understand that you might not need so much damn food every time we ever got a resupply box on the trail there was so much food in it we didn't know what the hell to do with it enough food to like resupply eight hikers so utilize the bounce box instead of taking that food and giving it away to other hikers which is a good idea and I'll always take your food go to the post office where you pick up your box get another small flat rate box throw all that extra food in there plus if you want to go to the grocery store and grab a little bit of extra food seal it up and send it to the next town and the next resupply point good thing is if you get to that town and you still don't need the food bounce it it's always free to keep sending a box from post office to post office so it'll save you time it will save you money and then you don't have to tell Aunt Susan why you wouldn't carry her twenty pounds of beef jerky so number ten and the last one that I'm going to leave you with this week is utilize your guide so most through hikers are going to carry either the a wall guide or the through hikers companion so where their great books and nice to carry that big chunky fat book get read of the pages as you hike now I know there's a lot of book lovers out there that don't like destroying books or burning books but look it's a lot of stuff to carry it's a thick book as you're going down the trail you don't need those last pages so rip them out not only is it nice to take out that extra book and get it out of your pack and take that weight out but it's also nice to see that book gets smaller and smaller and smaller so if you're ripping it out anyways you might as well use it for other purposes so either use it to Kindle a fire or if you run out of shit tickets you always have some backup TP so hopefully you'll utilize some of these tricks next time you're planning for a long distance hike there are a lot of different tips and tricks out there of the trade this is just a list of my top ten favorite but what are some of the ones that you know of leave them in the comment box below and let us know you ever got a chance yet go over and check me out on Instagram and posting a lot of new photos lately of some of the things that snugglers and I have going on throughout the week plus some pictures of some past hikes so go check those out if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already as always guys thanks for watching

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