MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

SUNGLASSES

There are so many options when it comes to sunglasses that I cannot begin to recommend any one particular brand. If you do carry sunglasses, make sure that the lenses are designed to filter out the sun’s harmful rays—both ultraviolet and infrared. Sunglasses are especially essential for snow hiking where the sun reflects off the ground and into your eyes.

Sunglasses can be purchased for as little or as much as you want to spend. Straps to hold your sunglasses around your neck—Chums, Croakies, and others—are worth the extra money because they keep you from losing your them. This is especially beneficial if you just paid a lot of money for your shades.

There are also a number of other “gadgets” that can be purchased for sunglasses (and glasses, if you wear them) including defoggers, lens cleaners, cases, windguards, and clip-on sunshades for eyeglass wearers.

Sunglasses are now manufactured for children, including glasses that filter out ultraviolet and infrared rays.

SUNSCREEN

Walking in shorts and a T-shirt leaves a hiker exposed to the suns rays for several hours a day. To prevent burning, wear a sunscreen or sunblock. If you have fair or sensitive skin, you will need a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15; the higher the SPF, the greater the protection.

BATTERIES

When it comes to backpacking, there are only two types of batteries that are worth considering—alkaline and lithium. Whichever source you opt for, you’ll be happier if all the battery-powered devices you carry use the same type of battery. This simplifies carrying extras.

ALKALINE: These batteries are far more efficient and longer-lasting than carbon-zinc batteries. They offer as much as double the life yet weigh and cost just a bit more. Unlike carbon-zinc cells, the alkaline battery dies suddenly rather than fades out—a minor disadvantage. Alkaline batteries do revive themselves a bit naturally (without a charger) and will last for another 20 minutes or so if left to rest for half-a-day unlike standard batteries that recharge only enough to put out a dim light for another five minutes. Alkaline cells cost about $2.50 for two AA batteries, $3 for two C batteries, and $3 for two D batteries.

LITHIUM: Extremely light and efficient, lithium batteries are also expensive (though in ratio to their effectiveness and weight not inordinately so). Topping alkaline batteries, lithium will work in colder temperatures. Lithium batteries also have a much longer shelf life than alkaline batteries.

As for drawbacks, they are still not widely available. Alkaline batteries can be purchased in almost every supermarket, drug store, convenience store, and discount store in the United States. Lithium cells are much harder to find but are usually stocked by outdoors stores. Devices that use lithium cells require special bulbs, and there are restrictions about carrying them on aircraft. Under certain conditions (intense heat or prolonged shorting) lithium cells may explode, although it is more likely that they will release a small bit of sulfur-dioxide gas than explode. Lithium cells range in price from $8 for AA to $15 for a C to $20 for a D cell.

BEAR BAGS

A good deal of the Appalachian Trail wanders through bear country. Whether protected or hunted, bears love human food. A bear bag and a length of rope can be used to suspend a bag containing your food and other “smellables” from a tree to keep them out of reach of bears. Some shelters along the trail have bear boxes or other food storage arrangements but not all so you will want to have a rope available just in case.

ROPE

A length of rope, at least 25 feet long (and perhaps as long as 75 feet) approximately three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, is absolutely necessary for hiking. Rope can be used for hanging your sleeping bags to air and hanging your wet clothes, rigging tents and tarps, lowering or pulling up a pack, hanging a pack from a tree, a belt, replacing frayed straps on gaiters or laces on boots, or for tying to a water bottle when it must be used as a dipper for water.

Keep in mind that if you intend to use a tarp on your backpacking trips you will probably need at least 50 feet of rope because you never know how far apart the trees, rocks or shrubs will be that you will use to set it up. (Remember, too, that you can tie two lengths of rope together, if necessary.) Also, the tail of each knot should be at least a couple of inches long to insure that the knot won’t slip.

Food bag suspended from rope

Most outdoors stores offer several types of rope, but the best for general backpacking is heavy-duty twisted or braided nylon rope ranging in width from one-eighth of an inch to one-quarter of an inch (or three to eight millimeters). Before using nylon rope, always burn the ends into hard knobs so that the rope does not unravel.

TREKKING POLES

Many hikers, probably as many as 80 percent of thru-hikers, use one or even two trekking poles while hiking. They can provide physical benefits, taking stress off the knees and joints, and offering the opportunity to get upper body exercise. Older hikers with knee problems and hikers with injuries often say that they could not hike without them. Some tarps and ultralight tents use trekking poles as their tent poles, which allow you to get double use out of the high-tech hiking sticks.

However, there are some downsides from a minimum-impact perspective: trekking poles can gouge the treadway, hastening erosion and destroying the treadway built by volunteers. They also trample plants growing on the side of the trail, and leave scars on rocks unless rubber tips are used. Trekking poles are noisy, especially on rock. Rubber tips significantly reduce the noise but joints and springs can still make noise and be intrusive to other hikers.

GUNS

Firearms are a controversial subject among hikers. Most hikers feel that guns are unnecessary, but a few do pack pistols or even rifles that will break down and fit into their packs.

Carrying weapons into a national park is a federal offense, and firearms are outlawed on other sections of trail as well. The real question is, are they necessary? To find out, we talked to hikers who, collectively, have hiked 80,000 miles on the A.T. as well as thousands of miles on the Pacific Crest, Continental Divide, and other trails, including some in Europe. We decided that if the hikers we talked to could walk that far without guns, we could prove a point. The bottom line was this: there was neither a single instance where a firearm was brought out of a pack (if one was carried), nor a case of a firearm helping a hiker out of a jam. None of the hikers we talked to, though some had carried guns, thought that firearms were necessary.

Guns do have a place, but the Appalachian Trail isn’t one of them (unless, of course, it is hunting season; you have a license; and you are intentionally backpacking to a hunting spot). Animals, including humans, don’t present enough danger to hikers to justify carrying firearms.

CELL PHONES

Even more controversial than firearms, cell phones have become a flashpoint for hikers. Some hikers swear by the importance of having a cell phone to use in case of emergency. Other hikers swear at people who bring cell phones on a hike for an emergency only to phone a friend back home to describe the view from a mountain summit. Cell phones can provide an important link with search and rescue personnel or the police. However, cell phone service is spotty throughout the trail and a cell phone is certainly not essential. If you do decide to carry a cell phone, make sure that your phone does not ruin someone else’s hike. Except in cases of emergency, never use your phone around other hikers. Turn off the ringer when sharing a shelter or tenting near others. Practice a little common courtesy and your phone will not be an issue for fellow hikers.

Your flashlight can do double duty as a lantern. Place an empty Nalgene bottle over the flashlight and stand the bottle up on the open end. The translucent bottle will diffuse the light and make a serviceable lantern.