Raleigh News and Observer
Go to the blogspot for Appalachian Trail hikers Spencer McKay, Ben Burchardi and Garrett Dixon, and look at the gear lists.
Every item in their packs has been weighed and measured.

As any seasoned hiker will tell you, there is no room for excess when you’re hauling it over a mountain on your back.
But there is one item — the most important item on these hikers’ trip — that does not appear on the list.

It is a miniature Nalgene water bottle containing some of the ashes of the hikers’ friend Stephen Harrington.

In the summer of 2005, Spencer, Ben, Garrett and Stephen made a pact to hike the entire 2,173-mile trail. Then, in October 2005, Harrington, a sophomore at Appalachian State University, was murdered in an apparent drug dispute.     Read full story