Gear List Part 1: Electronics

I will eventually cover most of the gear I plan to take to the trail, but first let's start with the fun tech I'll be taking.  There are three main things I'll have.  I'll have my phone, my watch and my head torch; and then a bunch of charging stuff.  I might take some other extra goodies but those are less certain, more on them when we get to them.

Phone
I have the Land Rover Explore phone, and I'm loving it so far.  It's got some serious credentials in keeping itself working but isn't too special on the electronics side.  I'll be taking it with its Adventure Pack so I have a better GPS and even more battery life on it.  The addon pack adds 3620mAh of charge plus giving it a GPS comparable to things like the Garmin InReach, whilst still be highly water resistant which is super handy for if I get caught in a storm or drop it in a puddle or stream.  It's able to handle harsh temps should that ever be an issue, and dropping it which might be an issue.
This will be my connection to home and primary map system.  Thanks to Guthooks' wonderful app, and Viewranger's premium USA maps, I should have no doubt about where I am on the trail and also know what's coming up ahead through other hikers' comments on Guthooks.
The phone, with adventure pack, is a little hefty though, but I think it's worth the weight for me.

Watch
I have a Garmin Fenix 5X.  It's been my everyday watch since I bought it, most of a year ago.  It has all sorts of fancy features such as measuring my pulse and estimating how many calories I've burnt.  It also has some maps powered through Garmin's mapping.  I'll be using it to track me with its built in GPS, which isn't quite as good as my phone's but is usable enough.  When paired with my phone via bluetooth, my activity will be uploaded online to Garmin's servers, where it can be watched and followed by other people who care about me.  It's more for peace of mind for some back home than a required item, but I've grown to love all of its fancy features even if it is - as my girlfriend pointed out - just a fancy expensive fitbit.
It is water resistant too, so I could go swimming with it and my phone if I really wanted to; and it is also fairly durable so it shouldn't get scratched or beaten up.

Headtorch
Why do I need a headtorch?  Well it makes camping easier, as I'll be able to see what I'm doing in the evenings.  It will also let me hike from earlier until later without limiting me to sunlight hours which might be nice in the hotter days.  Hiking in a summer afternoon isn't always fun.  I'm using the Petzyl Reactik+, which is a rather bright torch with the fancy feature of also being able to pair to my phone so I can control precisely how bright it is and see estimated burntimes remaining.  The Reactik+ can also adjust itself automatically based on how much light it detects is being reflected back at it, so I can save battery in the brighter spots.

Battery bank
All of the electronics I'm taking are rechargeable.  In fact, I can't actually replace the batteries at all.  A fact I may come to regret....  So I am taking a beefy Anker power bank.  At 26,800 mAh it will be able to recharge my phone, watch and headtorch several times each simultaneously, before the bank runs out of juice; and they've all got fairly long runtimes anyway.  The bank has three standard USB outputs, one of which has quick charge enabled, and its own micro USB input which is also quickcharge.  This ought to keep me going for a while, though it does weigh more than half a kilo itself....
Unfortunately I do need to carry at least three cables.  One ending in a USB C type, for my phone; one ending in Garmin's connection, for my watch; and then a micro USB, for the battery bank and headtorch - so possibly two cables there?  And of course, most importantly of all, I'll need an American power plug.

Possible extras
Kindle?
I have a kindle Oasis.  It isn't really designed for the outdoors despite its claim of being waterproof.  It's water resistance is more for if it gets rained on than anything.  That said, I love reading and it charges off the same cable my headtorch does.  It will give me something to do whilst waiting for transport or before bed; and it keeps its charge for a while, so it might not be my worst idea ever.
Headphones
Simple really.  I might want headphones of some sort, possible simple in-ear headphones to connect to my phone's audio jack or possible some small bluetooth ones to connect to my phone and kindle if I want them to, without the hassle of wires.

Intro

Hello,
I'm Chris.
I'm from the UK and recently graduated from university with an MPhys, but the real world is scary.  It means getting a job and paying bills and doing grown-up things, so instead I'm going to go live in the woods for six months.

Sometime next year, around 13th of April, I am going to fly to America and attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail.  Wikipedia puts it at "About 2,200 miles (3,500 km)".  The exact length changes from year to year as the route shifts about a little, but the key points are that it goes from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, going over several other mountains on the way.
Understatement of the century there, folks.
Snowdon and Ben Nevis would be feel at home amongst the mountains along the route; according to Bill Bryson (who managed maybe 40% of the trail) I'll climb the equivalent of several Mount Everests.  We'll see.

It takes on average five to seven months.  I'll have exactly six thanks to the B2 Tourism Visa.  That means hiking on average 12 miles a day.  That seems manageable.  Wolframalpha helpfully says this is approximately 0.08 to 1.5 times the speed of lava flow. Good to know.

So about that Visa, huh?  Well, if you just hop on a plane and fly to the USA from the UK you can get up to about 3 months of holiday time if you fill out some in-flight forms.  That would make the hike a little more difficult so instead I chose to get fill out longer forms at home, get interviewed and questioned by the Embassy, and receive a visa that lets me stay in the USA for 6 months of the year, every year for a decade.  Yikes.
(Sounds like a good excuse to hike some more of the US now that I have the visa....)
The Visa wasn't actually as hard or as scary as it seems.  The waiting times were the worst bits of it.  You fill out the DS-160, which can take a while, and then make an appointment at the Embassy.  I got one about two weeks after I filled my forms out.  The Embassy is a big scary building nice modern building with lots of glass.  A long wait and then a quick security check let me wait inside for another check of my forms.  You get sent upstairs for another wait before being called over to a booth, for another check of your paperwork before waiting again for the interview.  A nice American gentleman was my interviewer.  He asked me about myself and what my purposes were.  I had a load of extra evidence for the visa - like bank statements to show I could afford it - but he didn't want any of that, he just wanted a nice chat about hiking.  And that was that.
Now I have a shiny new passport with a shiny new visa in it.

And now?
Now I wait for Spring 2019 and resist the urge to buy more gear.
Gear list to follow.