A couple months ago I announced my intentions of hiking the Appalachian Trail with the goal of completing it in record time. With the trip quickly approaching, I wanted to clear up exactly what it is that I am doing. There are essentially three types of records for long trails: supported, self-supported, and unsupported. Supported essentially means a crew follows the hiker/runner for the duration of the trip, providing their food and drinks as well as sleeping arrangements and any other help along the way. Unsupported on the other hand involves no support from anyone and no resupply, and is essentially limited to a few days because of the near complete refusal of assistance, even in the form of food from a town. The third, less well defined type is a hike done in self-supported fashion which involves resupplying in towns but no assistance from vehicles or a dedicated support crew. For all of the types, the hiker must complete every single foot of the trial by their own effort. Continue reading Self-supported guidelines →