Howdy Chaotiklown,

Haven't posted here in a while -- mostly a lurker these days -- but I saw your threads as I was passing through tonight.

I'll probably get flamed out the wazoo for this, but some of your questions are pretty basic. Namely, if you have to ask them, you might want to reconsider whether your trip is realistic. In my (very) humble opinion, if you don't know how to sling a bear bag, purify water, etc., you might want to do some simple trips before trekking across half the country.

Don't mean to rain on your parade but it just doesn't sound to my ears like you're well prepared for something like this. Might be better to walk before you run.

Ok, back into obscurity for me and best wishes to you.