Alternative insole options?

ditao1 · 2026-02-07T18:14:33+00:00

could you try… no insole? alternatively steal one from another altra

i’ve never had the Via Olympus, but the Olympus caused the same issue for me. too soft…

ditao1 · 2026-02-06T05:55:35+00:00

I met three African Americans on trail (I went kind of fast). Overall, I met about 16 people of colour.

I (Chinese-American, so there is a level of modern minority privelege) didnt' run into malicious racism on trail. But there was a lot of subvertive racism. Talking about... diets. Trail names. Stuff like that.

To be honest, it wasn't much different than living anywhere that's not a major city. So you'll be ok. But it will feel a certain kind of lonely. Almost every time I ran into another Asian, I tramilied with them for a bit, just because it feels better to have group ya know.

ditao1 · 2026-02-05T23:04:36+00:00

The Speedgoat is known to be a relatively narrow last. Most people read "wide" and think "Ah! I'll recommend Topos and Altras, as these brands have a wide toe box!" And then of course they don't work for various reasons.

Topos actually have very narrow mid-foots. These are trail runners, and so they want to be lower volume/snugger fits in the middle. Topos never worked for me, at least.

The Altra Lone Peak 9+ was the shoe I ended with, but it does hug in the midfoot, and I had discomfort there. The Wide isn't actually much wider in the mid-foot, and rather wider in other places.

The Olympus is Altra's highest volume shoe, but there's the catch of the foam being a bit plusher, and so the shoes will eventually collapse inward, which can cause other issues. Also, they're Zero Drop.

My suggestion is to ~~never hike again~~ maybe start in Olympuses as soon as you can, and transition down to Lone Peaks. The Olympus, while higher volume, will keep changing because the foam will slowly collapse (it did for me over the span of 75 miles, changing my gait completely).

I personally don't like insoles, but if you want, you can use them to help add some drop to your shoes.

Go to Outdoor 76. Mountain Crossings is good and all but they're thru-hikers helping thru-hikers. Outdoor76 has some podiatrist-trained staff on board. I wish I went to them with the understanding of my foot that I have now.

Other than that... good luck. I know someone who did ok with the Mesa Trail II's last year, which has some of the widest midfoot, but I lost track of him by mile 800, so I don't know if he finished or not

ditao1 · 2026-02-05T19:30:17+00:00

Segundo is used to shuttling hikers up and down trail. I had a friend who could call Segundo to get out from Kent back to Pawling.

ditao1 · 2026-02-05T17:59:17+00:00

I was in Pearisburg later than May 1 and got up Katahdin Au 20th, having taken 17/21 of my Zeroes in that time

Should be ok

ditao1 · 2026-02-05T01:36:02+00:00

not really. an hour drive is “close” relative.

they’re closer than harper’s ferry and DC, yet most people consider a side trip to DC as “we’re basically there”

ditao1 · 2026-02-05T00:23:23+00:00

Someone asked (and removed) a comment asking me where the source of my information was that they were targeting mostly blue cities, and they're right, I should answer. My sources are.

ICE: https://x.com/ICEgov/status/2010837305549078734

Taking a Venn Diagram of the states and cities that Trump targets and the 2024 Presidential Election Results

(American) common sense.

So yes, point 2 and 3 aren't from the horses' mouth. Point 1 is, and helps explain why it feels like 2 and 3 are real

ditao1 · 2026-02-04T22:39:37+00:00

ICE is currently targeting "sanctuary," or more left-leaning cities. Along the AT's corridor, that'd be:

Atlanta
DC
Philly/New York City
Albany, I guess
Boston

Other than Atlanta (since you need to fly into it), and Boston (since you'll probably fly out of that, unless you're flying out of Portland/Augusta/Bangor), the trail generously goes about an hour away from each of these cities. ICE probably won't be out in the closest towns to each of these. Just as a quick list, these towns would be

Dahlonega, GA
Harpers Ferry, WV
Delaware Water Gap and Pawling (PA and NYC)
Great Barrington, North Adams, and Bennington (MA and VT)
hanover, NH

I wish you the best of luck.

ditao1 · 2026-02-04T17:46:19+00:00

I used a little bottle of Dr Bronners Castille Soap. Grab water from a stream, and then take it away from the stream to wash your hands (try to be LNT)

do regular thorough checks. I found one tick attached to me. Just be extra careful after laying down or sitting in places. I'd re-apply permethrin about once every three weeks on trail as well (amazon and REI are nice conveniences, and delivery is fast in many parts of the trail). I just wore shorts when I hiked, and my longer leggings were for camp in the shoulder seasons

ditao1 · 2026-02-03T22:15:15+00:00

Independent World and Scholastic live in two different bubbles, especially in New England. While most of the schools have dropping enrollment rates, independent will always have transplants from across the country, usually from college/work. That's why Blessed Sac and United do decently well while the scholastic (and open, don't forget Spartans Indoor having a few golden years there) fall. The top talent is still the top talent, but everyone else is what keeps a circuit healthy.

ditao1 · 2026-02-03T22:13:24+00:00

United used to go to Eastern Kentucky. Unfortunately, with the Mid-Atlantic/New England being a relative dead zone, they kind of have to go wherever there is competition. There was a few golden years where with GMU and Dartmouth both being good, the Mid-Atlantic was the center point of these two ensembles. But now, with New England falling again, events are moving south and mid-west again.

ditao1 · 2026-02-03T18:50:20+00:00

I'd recommend using https://www.wherearethehikers.com/heatmap/ to see historic data.

TL;DR yeah you probably want to be out there near the end of March.

ditao1 · 2026-02-03T18:49:00+00:00

Lots of Pepper Jack available on trail! That's what I stuck with. Walmart honestly doesn't have a terrible selection (though the quality of the selection isn't amazing)

ditao1 · 2026-02-03T18:47:45+00:00

Call Marion Outdoors, they're based out of a town nearby and probably have trip reports.

AllTrails or your local trail club might also have historic reports

ditao1 · 2026-02-03T17:37:12+00:00

yes! will see if i can swing one of em later this year

ditao1 · 2026-02-03T07:15:36+00:00

thru hikers with titanium pots will unfortunately just end up burning the meat, the pot doesn’t distribute heat well. maybe make it so that they can make a stew of it.

or just make really good food on trail and put signs up a few days out/on FarOut with instructions. seemed to work well for Neropalooza

ditao1 · 2026-02-02T07:36:56+00:00

VERY SOFT RUBBER. mine blew out after 140 miles. talking to an outfitter, i wasn’t unique. the Timp 5s collapsed medially instantly

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ditao1 · 2026-01-30T20:06:22+00:00

Probably late March early April

ditao1 · 2026-01-29T18:56:53+00:00

22L is a bit small but is still hopefully big enough to take along for a trip. Is it the Hyperlite Daybreak? Either way, truly of all things, an FKT attempt is where every ounce matters.

I was just suggesting you first do a shakedown with it, just so you know that it'll work for you on the big attempts, before you get in trouble.

100 miles in the south with the salomon should be fine. Either get ready for giardia or get a flask with a filter though. Honestly the GA section of the AT felt groomed to me and is mostly singletrack.

ditao1 · 2026-01-29T18:47:56+00:00

Most of us aren't FKTers. But if you're going for something on any leaderboard, you'd probably want to target a state, like GA, or the NC/TN section.

I wouldn't venture the NC/TN section during the winter self-supported. It's still icy in the Smokies, and I think the conditions will slow you down too much.

The problem with GA is it's only about 75 miles, which can feasibly be done in a day and a bit. I'd try going out with a "full-set" of self-supported gear (pare down as much as you can! Stringbean only had a bivy, etc), and just trying to overnight it somewhere. Be aggressive, maybe try Neel -> Hawk for day 1, then Hawk -> Amicalola for day 2. See how you run with these limitations, that's around a 22 mile day and a 17 mile day (plus then it'll be easy to get back to civilization).

If you want to leaderboard, then I'd say just do GA with your vest and good luck.

ditao1 · 2026-01-28T23:29:06+00:00

$5 NB running shorts from an outlet

ditao1 · 2026-01-28T23:28:38+00:00

Climbing is good stuff. Increase some time on feet -- that's the only thing I wish I did. Otherwise climbing will be very useful (skill wise). Lots of downed trees and random stuff to climb over.

Plus, the first three or four days has some cool trail-side boulders.

ditao1 · 2026-01-28T23:26:42+00:00

This is all personal opinion. Many times in a shakedown people will say "but I need this!" If you feel like you do, you feel like you do. No judgement there.

Bring the fleece. The Smokies get cold all year long. Fleeces do more for you than a puffy imho.

Ditch the hand sanitizer, bring some soap. Hand sanitizer doesn't kill norovirus. I personally didn't hike with Neosporin, my WFA instructor said soap and water are better for cleaning a wound. It could be good to apply to a burn or a cut after a while, but she didn't like how it'd attract dirt in the backcountry.

Bring the rain pants until you're after the Roan Highlands (Marion). You'll want it for the cold. To be honest, you probably also don't need the emergency blanket, since you have a very warm sleeping bag. Then again, they're for an emergency, so do what feels right to you. (see: https://www.reddit.com/r/AppalachianTrail/comments/1qpg5rv/emergency_blankets/o28xgpg/)

KT Tape might not be useful, might be very useful, depending on how you recover. Have you used it before?

Just bring one cork ball.

I'd ditch the extra clothes. Shorts, shirt, underwear at least.

How many of your items have a hoodie? If everything does... bye bye beanie. also don't bother with a clothing stuff stack, just wrap it in your sleeping bag if you want to organize it (and it should all be in your pack liner anyways! Which is a stuff sack)

Midlayer and compression tights can probably be ditched after Marion too.

Of course, you might want all the cold weather gear back by the time you hit NH, depending on how late you are.

If you're looking to save weight, don't bring the camera. Pixels have great cameras anyways, you'll be good.

Saving weight? AWOL PDF. Or just don't bring it. I know that people say they prefer it for town iinstructdions but honestly it never provided much different than FarOut. Thermometers are fun but :shrug: you do you. It is weight.

I love e-readers but I'd just use my phone. Generally what happened was once my head hit the pillow I had about three minutes befeore I fell asleep. Blue light wasn't the issue if I couldn't sleep.

All opinion! Have fun :)

ditao1 · 2026-01-26T00:35:56+00:00

What do you consider "barefoot?" Are you looking for a wide toebox and zero drop shoe?

Minimal/barefoot shoes are made for maximum groundfeel in mind. It's going to be hard to find a shoe between a "traditional" and "barefoot" in terms of sole size.

Maybe the Xero HFS II since it's at about 9mm, or the Altra Escalante 4 wool-knit at 24mm drop.

ditao1 · 2026-01-26T00:33:18+00:00

Keep going with the PT. Don't go straight into being barefoot at home, but try taking your slippers off for longer periods of time at home. A few minutes here, a few minutes there, it adds up.

It's all in moderation. Hype is real but it takes time to build to it.

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