Ask Darwin Q&A #5 (Answers!)

Description

Gear Used to Shoot this Video! (CHECK OUT REVIEWS AND DETAILS)

- Camera -

Canon EOS T6i - http://amzn.to/2kACQOU

- Lense -

Canon EFS 24mm - http://amzn.to/2mSAXSn

- Sound -

TakStar Shotgun Mic - http://amzn.to/2kMsAnM

- TriPod -

Targus 360 Trigger Tripod - http://amzn.to/2kMsU5Y

------- Music By: Thunder/Dreamer --------

Help me make More/Better Videos:

Donate: https://darwinonthetrail.com/supporters/

Contact information:

Website: www.darwinonthetrail.com

Instagram: Darwin_Onthetrail

facebook: www.facebook.com/darwinonthetrail

Tags: Appalachian Trail,AT,AT Thru-Hike,Thru-Hike,Backpacking,Hiking,Vintage Camper,Lark Travel Trailer,Camper Restoration,Full-Time Rving,Minimalist,Long Distance Hiking,CDT,Section Hike,Hiker Trash

Video Transcription

hey guys it's down here with my weekly Q&A to answer more of your question if you want to ask a question for next week's Q&A you can leave your question in the comment box below or send me a video question a video of you asking me a question over to Darwin on the trail at yahoo.com and then next week I'll feature your video question in my Q&A all right so let's get started two questions what do you think the average weight of packs were for most hikers on the 80 and what do you think the percentage of people was that were filming and documenting their thru-hike experience with a camera at least a GoPro so two really good questions number one I think the average pack weight if I had to take a guess would probably be between 25 and 30 pounds in 2015 my base weight was 16 pounds and then with food and water I was right under 25 pounds that was pretty typical for me and then in 2016 my base weight was right at 11 pounds and that weight came down to about 20 pounds fully loaded with food and water but I would say that the average is probably between 25 and 30 maybe even a little bit more there's a lot of people that go out and do it through height especially when they're starting that are probably going to be taking too much stuff and then also probably carrying too many days worth of food when they start out so their pack weights are probably going to be a little bit higher as you're doing it through hike your pack weight becomes significantly lower because you learn of the things that you really need and what you don't and then you can also figure out easier ways to do resupply to where you only have to carry three to four days of food so that weight also comes down pretty substantially and for your second question I think I've seen a handful of people in 2015 and 2016 documenting their through hike of course I did in 2016 I filmed a lot of it but I think a lot of people are pretty private about filming their through hike at least I was you know I try to do most of my filming and getting video whenever there wasn't a lot of people around number one I didn't want to disturb other people's hikes and the second reason is I kind of just wanted it to be me so there's probably a lot of other people actually documenting their hike you just probably wouldn't know unless you ask them or seen them filming with that question being asked this Thursday I'm actually doing a new video on if you should or if you shouldn't film your thru-hike so make sure you check that new video out on Thursday to go be giving a lot of pros and cons into filming or not filming I'm planning a thru-hike with my nine-year-old son I want to keep his pack weight low so I could carry his pack for moral reasons if needed right now we're planning for him to carry a Sleep System clothes and his food is there anything else he should have good questions so first off really really cool that you're taking your nine-year-old son out for a dew hike I wish I had parents or that cool when I was a kid second of all I think it's really cool that you're having him carry his food and his sleep system especially food though so he can get used to carrying that weight and then you know that'll teach him for the future he ever plans on doing one by himself but I would think that the three other things that you would have him carry would be number one water he definitely make sure it has water so just in case you guys get separated he has it on him so he's not you know getting thirsty or getting dehydrated number two would be a first aid kit have him carry a first-aid kit if again you never know if you could possibly get separated it's pretty rare that you get separated out on the 80 but just in case it happens make sure it has the first aid kit if he has to take care of something and number three would probably be a small pocket knife again if something were to happen it would be nice for him to be able to obviously be hydrated take care of any first-aid problems that he needs and be able to have a knife just in case he has to cut something or maybe cut some putty but again that's really awesome that you're planning a thru-hike for you and your nine-year-old son good luck in your planning have a fun and awesome hike have you and snuggles ever done any winter camping in the snow I'm from Michigan and we're just about done with it all for this year we haven't done a lot of camping in the snow we've done a little bit we had some snow and Smokies on our through hiked in 2015 and then I have personally done a little bit of winter camping but not a lot it's actually something we've been wanting to get more into now that we've gotten into snowshoeing and a little bit of alpine hiking so in the future we'll probably get into more snow camping snow is not exactly my favorite and when there's not exactly my favorite time of the year hence why I live in the desert even though it does snow here so I try to stay out of it as much as possible but I am interested in getting into some winter camping in the future so maybe I'll make some videos in the next handful of years of me trying to do some winter camping when you hike the 80 with snuggles did you each carry your own pot but just one stove how did mealtime typically go so in 2015 and 2016 on the 80 we carried one stove a Snow Peak light Mack stove which is a little foldable one Ola I'll put a link of my cook system right here if you guys want to check that out and then snuggles and I both carried our own separate pots so I carried a Snow Peak 700 milliliter titanium mug and then snuggles carried a 600 milliliter we pretty much just traded back and forth so even though we had one stove you know it would just go back and forth the first night I would cook my dinner first which usually was just boiling water and then adding it to a right side or instant mashed potatoes and then the next night snuggles would do hers and we would just trade off to keep it there now most of the time when one of us was boiling water and making dinner the other one would take care of some other camp chores like maybe setting up the tent getting out their sleeping bag and getting ready to make camp so we were constantly going back and forth but trying to keep it fair the reason we took one stove is obviously we wanted to keep our weight down but again you know we were together the entire time so there was never a time when we really needed separate stoves and then the other thing was I carried the stove and then

carried the fuel so we were able to separate it and make it fair for both of us to pack equal amount of weight sunglasses what do you do on bright sunny days as a fellow glasses wearer I've grown tired of carrying clip-ons taking them on and off I've given up and just deal what do you do I just deal as well I'm not a big fan of sunglasses even whenever I didn't wear glasses way before my eyes kind of went out on me I still didn't really wear sunglasses when I hike everyone saw I wear sunglasses when I do a bike ride or maybe a run but when I'm hiking I typically don't wear them there was a little bit in 2015 where I picked him up and I thought I was going to use them whenever I was out on Ridgeland but ended up never using them got tired of carrying the weight and just kind of left them in a hiker box also if you're on a trail like the 80 you typically never need sunglasses they call it the green tunnel for a reason because you're usually completely canopy by trees surrounding you all the way so you don't typically need sunglasses really only maybe whenever you're in the white some of the places in Maine where you're up on these high exposed Ridge lines which you really need sunglasses but even then I just kind of deal with it when you purchase your hiking shoes do you get a half size two full size larger than your non hiking shoes yep so I typically wear a ten and a half or an eleven and regular shoes but in a hiking shoe I usually go with an eleven and a half or sometimes even a twelve depending on how narrow the toe box is for a couple of different reasons number one I wear liner socks so I'm a hiker that really prefers a liner sock to help prevent blisters so I need a little bit of extra room on my shoe for that but then also I usually go with the longer and bigger size because I have a really wide foot and my feet tend to swell as I hike so I want to make sure that my toes aren't bumping up against my toe box and giving me a black toenail or something like that so I typically go with a little bit bigger room both years that I was on the trail I actually grew into those bigger sizes that I had so I was really glad that I bought a size or a couple sizes up to make sure I had room for my feet to expand looking forward to seeing how the camper shapes up are you planning to replace the siding or remount the vintage stuff so he's actually asking a question about our 1972 vintage travel trailer it's Allart and snuggles and I are recently renovating it so then we can move into it full-time in August to be able to leave travel more on the road and do more adventures so in answer to your question we are using the vintage stuff it's actually in really really good shape needs to be bent back in a couple spots but there's no like significant shield damage or anything from over the years so we're just pretty much going to slap a coat of paint on the bottom half and then on the top it'll actually polish out to bright chrome so we're trying to keep the trailer as vintage as possible and trying to reuse as much as possible number one it's a money thing number two we're all about reusing and and getting as much life as we can get out of something and then number three you know we just want to keep it classic we want to keep it vintage and try to restore it as close to what it can possibly be if you haven't checked out my camper yet I'll put a link up here to that video or I kind of give a quick preview to the start of the restoration project and I'll be having new videos coming out soon on our progress so keep an eye out for those all right guys last questions of the day two questions you mentioned that you have seen families hiking the 80 did they have small children with them and do you know what type of tent they carry and then the second question is how our foreigners treated on the 80 so an answer to your first question I've kind of seen a handful with different families most of the families that I've seen out on the 80 had more teens with them or maybe preteens and then there was one time that we seen a really young pair of kids with their family that were through hiking and they were maybe about 7 or 8 years old and then of course a year ago there was a kid that was 5 or 7 named Buddy backpacker that hiked the 80 I think he's actually hiking the Continental Divide Trail so all different types of ranges of Ages of children that are hiking the 80 as far as tents I don't really know I never really seen what type of tent they were carrying I would assume that the ones with teens or a little bit younger those kids were probably carrying their own solo tents where the parents carried their own but the little ones I don't really know I never seen what type of tent that they were carrying I just kind of passed them during the day on the trail and how are foreigners treated on the 80 just like any other hiker trash phenomenal home in 2015 I hiked with a guy from New Zealand for a little bit and then in 2015 I hiked with a mom and daughter that were from Australia aside from that met a lot of Germans on the trail met a guy from Italy so there are a lot of different people and cultures out on the trail the great thing is whenever you go out on the trail you kind of leave your career and who you are in the real world behind and where you're from when everybody just kind of becomes the same person because you're all doing the same thing together so as far as your question goes foreigners are treated great just like all other hiker trash alright guys so again I'm going to try to keep doing these q and A's weekly if you have any questions for me you can either leave them in the comment box below or send me a video question you asking me a question on a video over to Darwin on the trail at yahoo.com and then next week I'll feature it in my Q&A if you haven't got a chance yet go over and check me out on Instagram I'm posting a lot of new photos lately of the trailer and of my prep hikes for my section of the Continental Divide Trail in April go ahead and like or dislike this video subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and as always guys thanks for watching [Music]

you

[Music]