Hi all! I'm a first-time INT hiker-to-be looking for some advice.

I am planning a thru-hike with a friend for August-September 2009. I am a 20-year-old California girl and he's a 22-year-old Tel Aviv native. We are both in good shape and he has hiked portions of the trail before. We are both prepping with hikes at home, as well as gym time.

How concerned do we need to be about water in the Negev? How concerned should we be about food? How often will we be able to resupply?

We are hoping to do the entire hike in 30 days. I realize that this is ambitious, but we are practicing and working up to it.  The reason for the short time period is that I am a student and I have to be back in school September 24th in California, and we didn't want to be hiking in early August. Thus, the plan is to go 20mi a day on average for the duration of the trip. Any advice?

Here's my gear plan, as well, for any feedback:

sleeping bag (40 degrees F, maybe 55?)
thermarest pad
platypus system with 12L total capacity
food (possibly dehydrated)
hat
moisture-wicking shirts (2) - long sleeved? short-sleeved?
nylon pants (2, possibly zip-offs) - shorts?
lightweight hiking boots (well loved)
socks - advice on what kind would be appreciated. I usually just use cotton socks...
lightweight fleece jacket
lightweight windbreaker/raincoat?
sunscreen
underwear, of course (2)

My companion is insisting that a tent is unnecessary, and I'm torn about a stove. Do we need one?

Also, he may have to go in to work for a few days at some point during the hike. Will it be safe for me to continue walking alone, or should I get to the nearest town and stay put until he gets back?

So far my research suggests that rain is extremely unlikely. Is this true?

Sadly, he's completely swamped at work, so most of the planning seems to be up to me for this one, and I'm the less experienced of the two of us! I travel a lot, but I've never been on a long backpacking trip... I'm scheduling my practice trips as we speak.

Many thanks in advance for the helpful advice that I'm sure I'll get here!

Welcome to the forum, Megan.

Be sure to scan the whole forum. There's good info on here that answers a lot of your questions - particularly on gear.

In the Negev, you should be VERY concerned about water (seems obvious, but it's worth saying). Usually, along the Trail you'll have a chance to restock food and water on a daily basis. In the Negev, there will be sections where it's possible to go 2-3 days before reaching another place to restock; and even some of these you'll also have to leave the INT to reach. Therefore, in the Negev, you'll need to be fairly meticulous about how far you think you'll get each day and how much food/water to bring with you to get there. Generally, there are stretches where it's recommended to drive ahead to hide a cache of water along your route (or have someone else cache it) so you don't have to carry insane amounts of weight over those particular distances (the stretch between Mitzpe Ramon and Sapir, for example). There are a few water caches out there for any hikers, but these are better to be aware of for emergencies - don't count on them for your refills. For food, you won't have to do any caching, but some of the restocking places you reach may simply be restaurants, so your choices will be limited -- and maybe not your ideal hiking food. It may be a good idea to have a good supply on dry fruit/nuts, etc to fall back on.

"Need" is such a relative word for a stove. :) Yeah - you don't need one, but if you have or can make a lightweight stove (see the "stoves" forum-thread), it will immeasurably improve your morale to have a warm moist meal after a long day (at least on the more barren parts of the trail where you can't just stop at a Mickey-D's).

Hey, Megan:

Keep posting here on the forum with specific questions -- you'll get all kinds of good advice on gear and approaches to hiking the INT. And welcome!

Beyond that, though, my suggestion would be not to put too much pressure on yourself. In 2006, me and the guys I was with had a similar, somewhat ambitious plan to hike the whole INT in 30 days. It would have been theoretically possible, but we wouldn't have done much besides walk all the time, and we never would have gotten to spend time with the great people we met along the trail. But at the time, as the realization set in that finishing the trail in a month wasn't going to happen, I was hugely disappointed.

When I took that pressure off of myself, though, I went back to enjoying the hike and having a good time -- and that's what it's all about, right? So here's my advice: Don't tell everyone that you're going to try to complete the INT in 30 days. Just make it your goal to go as far as you can every day while still enjoying yourself. If you make it, you make it; if you don't, it's no big deal -- there's always next year.

That's my $0.02. Good luck to you, and keep us posted on how the planning/training goes.