Depends on the spring I guess. Pretty sure the spring at Annapolis rocks is safe because everyone seems to just fill their bottles up out of it and I've never heard of people getting sick. But yeah, I would say if it's coming straight out of the mountain it's probably okay but if it's running over the terrain there's a chance for contamination.
Go on YouTube and look up " homemade wanderlust Appalachian Trail basics" It's a 5-hour long video that will probably answer most of your questions. She's a big YouTube personality in the hiking world. But yeah, I'm not a thru-hiker, just a weekend warrior adventurer. But my advice would be focus on the gear first. Obsess over gear. Look at gear reviews and gear lists. Once you've got the gear (and a bunch of money) you'll be ready to roll. Not too late to flip flop the AT, or southbound it.
That's funny you mentioned Bear's Den. I was just looking that place up yesterday while planning a bike touring/ bikepacking adventure in that area. Glad to hear it's a nice spot. Think I'll plan on staying there.
Just looked up the mileage and that would be 268 miles, if you started at Daleville, just outside Roanoke Virginia, that would be 400 miles.
If you started at the southern end of Shenandoah National Park and ended around Carlisle PA just outside of Harrisburg that would put your end point on a straight shot interstate route back home. That would be just around 300 miles. Or if you wanted to add a little mileage, you could start farther south from there. Shenandoah would probably be a great place to start. And then the Maryland and Southern PA sections are pretty easy hiking. Might be a great section to get your feet wet.
The Camelback podium stainless bottles are on sale at REI right now. They're having their big memorial Day sale. Lots of goodies are marked down. They don't play Nice with some bottle cages though. I had to swap out my metal cages for plastic because the stainless bottle was binding up with the metal cage and scratching everything up.
And you can take some sandpaper and get rid of whatever goofy logos are on it.
That is such a nice area. You're lucky to live there. I live down on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and drive up to Michaux State Forest every once in awhile to go hiking and backpacking. Love it there.
I've got a steel frame bike . For a deep clean, I'll hose it off real good. Then car wash soap + water in a bucket and various brushes (soft brush for the frame, stiff bristled brushes for the cassette, chain ring). I'll take my DeWalt job site blower and blow off any excess water. After it's dry I'll wipe down the frame with a little furniture polish on a rag . Then I'll hit the moving parts with a few drops of tri-flow (front and rear derailleur pivoting points, mechanical disc brake pivot points, derailleur jockey wheels, maybe even a couple drops in the shifters wherever I can get to the moving parts without taking the thing apart). Then hit the chain with wax-based drip lube. Usually don't get that extensive with it. Most of the time it's just hose off, wipe down the frame, re-lube the chain.
That's what I do. I've got a surly 8 pack rack that stays on the bike with basket and outer shell basket bag. Then when it's time for weekend bike camping trips I put a tubus tara rack on for my panniers
I've never read it, but Juliana "Chaunce" Chauncey of the Backpacker Radio podcast wrote a book called "Hiking from Home" about this topic. Don't know if it would be of any help or useful at all but just figured I'd throw it out there. Maybe look it up and read some reviews and see if it's something you might want to check out.
Just before sunset, moseying and meandering along the country backroads. Red-winged blackbirds screeching, spring peepers peeping, deer starting to come out for their evening meals, a slight breeze rustling and making waves in the wheat or corn fields. Everybody else home on the couch so I've got the roads all to myself. Sometimes I'll just stop and listen to the calm and quiet. Or shoot some photos of an old barn or farmhouse.
If you want to start the journey with a week-long bikepacking trip, then definitely, 100%, do the C&O & GAP! I haven't done the Gap yet, but I've done the C&O and go out on it all the time on weekend bike camping trips. You will love it, and from what I've heard the Gap is even better in regards to scenery and trail surface. That would put you in Pittsburgh which is on the empire builder route that runs to Chicago. Or you can take Amtrak to Cumberland from DC and skip the C&O and then ride the Gap to Pittsburgh. I don't know if you already know this or not, but on Amtrak you need to reserve a bike spot. It's an add-on fee. And I believe they only offer it at stops that have full baggage service. Like, if you are at a small station in a small town or city that doesn't have a baggage service, you won't be able to load your bike on the train. At least that is my understanding. You might want to get a hold of Amtrak customer service and tell them your plan and see if they have any tips for you.
Look up "bike farmer" on YouTube. I've really been enjoying his videos. He owns a bike shop and has a lot of videos where he'll take old neglected bikes and gets them back in working order. Describes exactly what he's doing step by step. All the bikes he works on are basically just like yours. Rim brakes, front derailleurs, etc. Watch a handful of those videos and I think you'll be confident in getting it cleaned up and working smoothly.
When you're in the gear gathering phase, look at BACKpacking videos, articles, blogs, etc. I've found that most of the bikepacking media out there focuses mostly on the bags that go on the bike, and not the actual gear. And also take a lot of that media with a grain of salt because a lot of those gear review people get stuff for free or get paid to push a product . But if you spend a couple weeks just obsessing over it you'll start to see the same brands and products mentioned over and over again . Good indicator that it is worth getting. Pack light, you'll need less than you think you do. Spend as much as you can afford. You don't necessarily need an $800 tent, but if you got the money try to avoid super cheap no-name Amazon brand stuff. Buy once cry once.
What temperature rating are you looking for? I just bought a sea to summit 50° quilt thing (It has a zipper and a drawstring at the bottom so it can also be used as a sleeping bag) that packs down to like nothing. But that's only for summer adventures. Sea to summit traveler 2. Also have a couple other bags for spring/fall and winter, but they would never fit in a 5 liter dry bag. Rei is having their memorial Day sale starting in a few days. I think it starts May 17th. Might find some good deals there. Another guy mentioned the REI magma 30 quilt. There's a good chance that will be on sale, as most of the REI brand stuff they do 30% off during their big sales. I have the magma 15 sleeping bag and it is amazing. That 30° quilt would probably be a good three-season all arounder.
I traded my rear rack for a seat pack and then put a lowrider rack on the front with two ortlieb 12.5 liter panniers (the ortlieb gravel packs) bike rides so much better with the weight up front and down low. I also have a regular front rack with a wald half basket and outer shell basket bag sitting in it. Don't know what kind of riding you'll be doing. If you are on a bunch of chunky single track mountain bike style trails then maybe front panniers aren't the best option but for gravel roads and regular roads it will work great.
Yeah I love the mix of people you run into out there.
Dental floss (waxed) is the best for repairs like this. Give yourself plenty to use, double it over and tie one end in a knot. Stick your needle through and pull most of the floss leaving your knot and a little Loop hanging out, run it back through the material towards you and thread your needle through the loop and pull tight. Now start stitching however you feel is best to get it sewn on there. When you get to the end cut the doubled over floss. So you'll have one thread of floss with your needle still in it, and one thread just sticking up in the air. Run your needle and floss through the material and back up towards you and then pull the needle off and tie your two pieces of threads together in a few tight knots. Trim excess, and singe ends with a lighter.
I got no suggestions for a loop using the C&O, but after you dip your feet in the water and get comfortable with your gear on the Towpath definitely head out to the AT. Honestly, you might find that to be a more enjoyable first backpacking trip, although the Towpath is definitely super nice. Again, you run into the problem of needing to do an out and back as opposed to a loop. But there are shuttle drivers who can pick you up where you're parking your vehicle, and drive you up the trail so you can just hike back to it.
I've got a mini French press and also a pour over drip filter that clips on a collapsible silicone cup (filter is made by GSI outdoors, cup is sea to summit). But lately I just bring instant coffee. Treat yourself and get the "Starbucks via" kind. Expensive but worth it for short trips. Also, on Amazon you can buy single serve pouches of sweetened condensed milk and it is really really good in a cup of instant coffee. The brand name for those is "copper cow". I think they come out to be just under a dollar a pouch, but they're so good and convenient and the foil pouch rolls up into just a tiny little piece of trash.
List looks good. I mean, I guess you could lose the camp chair. Just looked it up and it looks a lot bulkier than the expensive ultra light ones like the helinox. Maybe you're over packing food and clothes? This is what my setup looks like for weekend overnight trips out on the C&O. I Have a similar gear list as you. Aside from a mirrorless camera and extra lenses. If you can't decide on anything to get rid of, just roll with what you've got. The Gap/c&o has almost no noticeable elevation gain (aside from if you're heading out of Cumberland up to the Continental divide)
How are you liking those tires? I've been riding Pathfinder pros and have no complaints with them, but those Simworks tires are like a perfect color match to my mint green space horse and I think it would look amazing. Do they roll okay on pavement?
Glad I got my space horse last year. Never knew it was possible to be so in love with an inanimate object 🤣. I'm surprised they are shutting the brand down. You would think they would continue marketing them to the young, hip crowd (of which I'm neither lol).
Which bike manufacturer really fell off in the last 10 years?
cycling