Appalachian Trail Conservancy

Today I visited the ATC website to review some preparation tips and yesterday, I got a my first Appalachian Trail contact from a friend of mine whose mother works for the ATC. I haven't made the call yet, but I will once I've constructed a list of what I deem to be the most pertinent questions regarding a through-hike attempt. Last May, my dad and I visited Harper's Ferry and our timing could not have been more perfect because May is when you are most likely to run into through-hikers reaching the half-way mark. So obviously I struck up some conversations and asked a few people questions regarding how much money I'd need and how to avoid food and water shortages. I wanted to see if each hiker had the same budgeting suggestion and from what I heard I will need $3,000-$5,000 in order to complete this trip.