Would anyone here be interested in a Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike without re-supply stops? If I ever get decent enough at slinging to hunt small animals, I think I would like to try. I don't know if this is possible because of hunting rules, but I like the idea.

No re-supply would mean no fuel, so this would require a portable wood stove for cooking. I’m not sure if these are allowed by the park/forest services. If they’re not, then an Appalachian Trail without re-supply stops should be fun as well. I think the AT allows wood stoves.

I probably won’t be good enough at slinging in the foreseeable future, but I’m curious to see if there’s any interest.


The Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail are two very long hiking trails that run roughly North-South, in the western and eastern halves of the United States, respectively.

I'd really like to do the AT, without food stops.  A couple of throwing sticks, a digging stick and a bow would be enough, but I'd want to carry quite a lot of food to begin with to make sure I could do it.  But it's certainly something I've seriously thought about.  Not with a sling, though - I won't ever be good enough, I don't think.  In Shenandoah, there's lots and lots of small game to eat - I remember squirrels coming to eat our food, wild turkeys walking about, that kind of thing.  And there's always the chance of a bear.

Come to Canada, lots of real isolated hiking areas. No suppliy stops because there are really no people or places to get supplies for hundreds of miles!

You bring yer diggin sticks, I'll bring a bit more. I like to head out for about seven to ten days, but I take my sling, a tent, thermarest, food, fishing rod, .303 enfield rifle, short shotgun (for grizzly bears), gps, compass, ultra-light camping stove that burns naphalene, some knives, flares, sleeping bag, snowshoes, crampons, and so on. I like to take my kayak so I can also take my bow, and piles more gear.

Every now and then some tourist wanders off (usually only ten minutes from a city like vancouver) in shorts and sandals going for a hike with his diggin stick. Then the search and rescue find his frozen corpse three days later. Not to mock diggin sticks, but at the very least I would take warm clothes, emergency flares, first aid gear, signal mirror, a tent, water purification tablets (halazone or chlorine) emergency fire starting gear (usually a lighter and some kind of solid petrolium stuff)and so on.

Fuel burning stoves really are the only way to go, what if everyone went around hacking up all the trees to burn? When I catch city folks up in the alpine burning up yew and cedar trees that took four hundred years to grow 8 feet high I'm glad I brought a rifle. Plus with the increased forest fire hazard in the last few years in north america open fires are banned in many places.

Yeah, I'm not saying I'd go and hike the whole of the AT, or even just section-hike it, without a tent and good clothing, and a cooking system.  I know how cold it can get in New England, even in Summer.

that sounds cool

Mike_R,

I don't doubt that fuelled stoves are the way to go, but I have heard of people using wood-fired stoves on long hikes without problems. There should be enough kindling on the ground (assuming there's no snow) to cook a meal or two.

I would LOVE to come to Canada, I hear it's beautiful land.
Not too keen on the Grizzlies though...  =]

How in the world to you carry that much gear? Must weigh a ton! I'm very unhappy when my pack weighs more than 25kilos... Maybe I'm just a wimp

It is a bit of gear. I use new tents, sleeping bags, thermarests, stoves, and so on. The new high-tech stuff is super light. I try to kayak out down a big lake, or up the ocean coast also. I can get about 300 pounds of gear in my kayak. It holds about 275 litres volume in the storage hatches. Or in the winter I snowshoe, and pull a sled behind me.

The lightest I take is about 50-65 lbs of camping gear plus 20 lbs for a rifle, a short shotgun, and ammo.

New stoves are fairly fuel efficient, I use a msr dragonfly, and I take two 750ml bottles of naphalene (or white gas or whatever) for about a week.

The wood chip burning stoves I have seen are pretty hard on fuel. They use chipped wood, and you need nice hard wood and not punky windfalls to get them going.

Sometimes if the risk of fire is low, or it is winter, I make a small campfire. I dig a hole, line it with rocks, make a low ring of rocks around the top. Put a couple of big flat rocks on top, leaving about one quarter uncovered. Then I dig a channel for air to enter. Most times the whole fire is down in the hole and not resting on the ground. It will burn very hot and smokeless. I make coals and then use it like an oven and cover the open part. You can get a lot of cooking from a little bit of wood.

i would rather go to some unheard of place hike find a place camp for a day or two and move on maybe even 3 days.  with like a group of 8 people

Call me an idiot and all - but whats a digging stick?

appearantley its a sharp stick or sop im told id rather bring an e-tool

My cousin did some minimalist camping before. canoe, axe, hunting knife, matches, some fishing line and a couple of hooks, some rope and 2 days food and water....was out for 6 days before he got fed up with the mosquitos and black flies.

I am tempted to go with him next time.

He is putting thie finishing touches on a hand made birch bark canoe he is building...the thing is beautiful.

yeah but blackflies. I hate those damn things.
The two biggest problems with canada are the blackfly and the mozzies. Other than that It's a great place :-)

I do like the idea of a wilderness hike with 300lb of gear. But why not go the whole hog and just hire an RV ?
It sounds like the amount of gear they take on the arctic/antarctic hikes that last months.

I'm not saying I'd be any different - Hell the first thing I belt on when I get up is my gerber and that's just for being in the house :-). But I do have a little more sympathy with the more minimalist members of the forum.

I wouldn't mind going on a wilderness hike with some of the north american indians that still have their traditions.
They seem to take a stand somewhere between the axe, stick and loincloth and the 300lb of gear plus a crate of beer approach.