View Full Version : definition of thru-hike
I plan to start at Springer early to mid February. My schedule necessitates that I return home, wherever I happen to be, for the first three weeks of June. Afterward I intend to pick up where I left off to complete the task.
Strictly speaking, would my trek be considered a thru-hike or two VERY LONG section hikes?
The Weasel
01-15-2007, 15:05
Elton ---
I'd just consider that you took about 20 'zero' days. But what I think doesn't matter as much as what you think, and yes, it's sort of a Zen thing: Is your mind still 'on the trail' even during that period, or have you 'said good-bye' to it for a while. If it's the former, you're still 'thru hiking', to my way of thinking. But if you've packed up and left the trail - mentally and emotionally as well as physically, then you're section hiking.
Once you're there, you'll know what I mean. As if someone else's opinion matters...yours is the only one that should.
The Weasel
Appalachian Tater
01-15-2007, 15:27
A year ago I would have said yes, that's a thru-hike, but now I would agree, that if you think it is, it is, and if you think it is not, it is not. Meets my definition--one season.
I plan to start at Springer early to mid February. My schedule necessitates that I return home, wherever I happen to be, for the first three weeks of June. Afterward I intend to pick up where I left off to complete the task.
Strictly speaking, would my trek be considered a thru-hike or two VERY LONG section hikes?
If you take a zero day, would that destroy your chances of a thru hike? If so, that would mean there have been only a handful of thru hikers, ever.
What about two zero days in a row?, three? four? You choose the number.
My point is there is no logical limit to the number of days off, though the fact that you ask suggests that you think their might be.
As a general rule, if you complete the trail in a calendar year it's a thru hike, if it feels to you like a thru hike.
Weary
I plan to start at Springer early to mid February. My schedule necessitates that I return home, wherever I happen to be, for the first three weeks of June. Afterward I intend to pick up where I left off to complete the task.
Strictly speaking, would my trek be considered a thru-hike or two VERY LONG section hikes?
It would be considered a thru hike. I doubt there is a hiker out there that would dispute that.
if you complete the trail in a calendar year it's a thru hikeWhy the calendar year restriction?
If you start from Springer Dec 31 and hike straight through to K, why would that not be a thruhike?
The Weasel
01-15-2007, 16:34
As a general rule, if you complete the trail in a calendar year it's a thru hike, if it feels to you like a thru hike.
Weary
Weary, would you include someone who had to suspend finishing due to weather or injury? I think I would.
The Weasel
magic_game03
01-15-2007, 17:22
It's all a degree of PURE-ISM!!! Meaning, it's all in your head.
20 zeros days = 10 zeros days = 1 zero day = 1 zero hour = 1 zero minute = 1 zero second. It's all the same!!!!
I don't believe in any of that crap. if you take a break, then you take a break. If you ask me, a thru-hiker is someone who hikes along from point A to point B. If it takes a year, then stipulate, "I'm a calander thru-hiker (like a calender triple crowner as apposed to just a plain old triple crowner)." If you hike from Springer to Katahdin(or any varation), then you are a thru-hiker in my booK. If you want to call a person a "thru-hiker by sections" or a "sectional thru-hiker" then do so, but none the less you are a thru-hiker in my book.
Programbo
01-15-2007, 19:22
How does ATC define thru-hiking?
We don't. ATC uses the term "2,000-miler" as a matter of tradition and convenience. ATC defines a "2,000-miler" as anyone who has hiked the entire Trail between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Katahdin in Maine. We don't consider issues such as the sequence, direction, speed or whether one carries a pack. We do expect that persons applying for inclusion in our 2,000-miler records have made an honest effort to walk the entire Trail.
That`s the ATC answer...I myself kind of lean towards the calander year thing and any break in between doesn`t matter..Maybe you get an injury or suffer a family emergency and need to stop awhile and then pick up again..It happens.....But picking up again next year to me (And I know my opinion is just that; mine) may qualify as a 2,000 miler but not a "thru-hike".....I mean I hiked half the trail in 1977 and if I were to say pick up at Duncannon in a few years and finish it all I would never say I thru-hiked the trail..I would say I hiked the whole thing just not at once...Or would I have?..Back in 1977 the "midpoint" of the trail was above Duncannon..Now it`s all the way back below Calendonia State Park :-?
I have to ask whether you truly mean "calendar year," as in Jan.-Dec., or 12-month-period? As a July-starting SOBO, I'm allowing myself until the end of June 2007 to finish...just to let you know I have a dog in this fight.
This is the type of question I call: "How many hikers fit on the head of a pin?"
The kind of discussion you only see on trail forums and lists and rarely (if ever) on the trail.
Just go out there, hike and call it what you will. If you think it is a thru-hike, than it probably is one. If you want to call it a section hike, go for it.
Just enjoy your trail experience.
English is a living language.
I started hiking the AT in '94, do not know when I will finish. When I finish hiking the AT in sections, I will be able to say I hike the Appalachian Trail from Springer to Katahdin. I have made an honest effort to walk the entire trail in continous sections. I figure everyone is a section hiker until they complete the entire trail, no matter how long it takes.
For me, I would only call myself a thru hiker if I started and finished in one continuous trek. taking a few weeks off for a planned or unplanned situation, would not change that accomplishment in my mind. However, if I start one summer and hike for a few months, then finish the next year, even if I did it in a 12 month period of time, I wouldn't feel right about calling myself a thru hiker. That's how I would look at it.
Thru hikers are people that have never set up their tent before they get to Springer. Or in their mind they are until they reach Neel's Gap and go home. It is funny to hear the rejects out there calling themselves thru hikers when they havn't done jack. Who cares what a thru hiker is, hike your own hike. Don't worry about becoming a thru hiker, worry about becoming hiker trash instead. It's much more fun than chasing Oct 15th or winter.