Planning for my first 'road trip'

reply to post by Halzman
Your ranger grave is a good idea, except for the fact that not all areas will it be feasable. When you get close to the Rockies the ground has a lot more rocks. When you are in the mountains, you'll never be able to dig one. I used to live in Colorado near the mountains, and curently live in the Bitterroot mountains which are part of the Rockies. I've hunted in the mountains all my life and know what types of shelters are do-able. Even spent a couple of weeks in the Cascades in Washington without store bought food, or a rifle.

Sorry for my absence, it gets pretty hectic at work during the holidays. Happy New Years to everyone, I hope everyone had a great one!

SpiritOwl - The car is definitely out of the picture. I'm scrapped enough for cash as is with the way frakkin morons are ruling the world... basically, if I get a car, I would have to cancel the trip just so I could pay for the car lol

And while I will admit I am learning, I'm not learning everything. Most of the skills I need to do what I need to do, I already know.

In regard to what Jkd Up wrote, I'm not learning how to swim by jumping in the deep end without a lifeguard. Instead, I'm jumping in the deep end without needing a lifeguard for the 'regular' end (i think that makes sense?).

Anuubis - I realize my ranger grave can only be used on certain terrain. I'm pretty confident I can build a suitable shelter without digging, I've done it before - sticks and rope are needed though, and netting wouldn't be bad either.

To be honest, after all the research I've done, I'm really dissapointed that this type of trip, just taking off and being able to live off the land, freely, isn't really possible anymore. Short of actually being in a survival situation, I keep thinking which law am I going to break now.

In other words, as much as I'm sad to say it - This trip is scrubbed, however, [pause for effect] ... as I said, this wasn't the only route I had in mind. After more careful planning and research, I've decided to do The Appalachian Trail, from New York to Maine, and back.

Reasons Why? A) Its a more structured trail - ie, I'm meant to be hiking through it B) Makes resupply easier C) Mountain type experience.

Things that suck about it? A) Generally, I cant hunt anything - as far as I can tell anyways, and all I care about is rabbits and squirrels B) I can expect to bump into people more often then I would like C) Huge restrictions on where I can camp

This trip will take me through essentially, the Northern Section of the Appalachian Trail. New York has 88 miles of trail, Connecticut has 52 miles, Massachusetts has 90 miles, Vermont has 150 miles, New Hampshire has 161 miles, and Maine has 281 miles of trail.

Instead of traveling only a portion of the week, I will be moving everyday. The trade-off for this however is that I will only be moving 17 miles per day (27 km). The trip is divided into two sections. NY - MN and MN - NY. Each section will take me, based on 17 miles per day, 7 weeks to accomplish - 98 'Training Days' in total.

Since I'm going to have to bring food with me, I'm working that out right now - how much to bring for how long, how many resupply stops and how often, how much to eat per day, etc etc. Water I have figured out good, and from what I've read, there shouldn't be a problem of water resupply.

Most everything else is going to be the same. Supplies haven't changed, goal is still the same, build up phase I'm still doing, etc. In fact, the only difference between my 'Rocky Mountain Trip (4200km/2609miles)' and the Appalachian Trail is only 1200 miles. The Appalachian Trail, round trip, is 1428 miles (2298 km), so I feel that given the extra conveniences/inconveniences the Appalachian Trail isn't a bad substitute..... at least for now.

When I have everything figured out, I'm going to compile it into a pdf and release it. At the very least, all the information in it can be quickly adapted to any long term survival situation (so long as the main supplies/pack remain the same) and also, what would be needed to prepare for a specific situation/area, by providing a template.

Best Regards, and Happy New Years!