Hello All!

I am in the process of writing a research paper on the Appalachian trail for my english class at the university of maine...and I need YOUR help, please!

THESIS: The only way a person can succeed in the wilderness for any length of time is by being fully prepared for the trip.

I am wondering if anyone can help me out with telling me any advice relevant to this topic. It will help me develop and further support my thesis by having advice from fellow hikers.

Some things to think of...
why is it essential to prepare for a hike?
what must you do?
how is motivation the key to successful hiking?
How do you prepare for unexpected challenges...(animals, weather, etc)
Physical, Mental, social, self assesment importance in hiking?
Why hike the AT?

THANKS for all of your help! Please be sure to include your name so I can correctly give you credit in my bibliography for everything you say!! Thanks again...this is really important to me!!!

Amanda
ilikeswimmin@yahoo.com:p

You could write a large book on the subject...

one item you might cover is knowledge vs planning.
for someone who has thru-hiked several times planning might only cover buying the tickets to springer. On the other end of the scale many people arrive with a detailed plan for every moment of their time on the trail. Knowing where each watering hole is located doesnt equal understanding the water may not be there when you arrive. Planning isnt always obvious either as the experianced thru-hiker has enough experiance to simply check a data sheet for a few days ahead to know what supplies are availible and how how much he/she needs to get to the next point.

Oddly enough if you read though the statistic you will quickly realise that neither knowledge or experiance determine who will finish a thru hike. Many have finished having no prior knowledge of the trail or any real hiking experiance while veteran hikers with years of experiance fail.

But in the end, attitude and determination, while intangible are the primary things that truly can predict success.It is the psychological baggage that we carry onto the trail that weighs us down the most.

<ramble off>

I must agree w/dirtyoldman here. You are asking a LOT of HUGE questions here. :-? Go to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of "The Complete Walker 3" by Colin Fletcher. That book is a wonderful answer to all your listed questions but steer clear of bill bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" or you'll come away with the wrong impression. I think if you narrow down your questions a bit you'll get a lot more input. As it is one could almost write a book on each one of the questions you've asked.

Might I suggest going in a slighly different direction with your research...Find a book by Chris Boinington called EVEREST THE HARD WAY...it is about an expedition to Everest but Chris spends a considerable amount of time describing the planning of logistics, equipment, travel, and clibming team members as well as the day-to-day decisions that he made during the climb...It is very illuminating about the nature of the planning process for an expedition into hostile terrain...From this you may be able to derive some answers to your questions about planning and dealing with uncertainty...

one thought that is always with me while i hike is whose footsteps I am walking in.
I actually picture a grey/black&white image of Grandma Gatewood walking just in front of me.
I see my youthful Scoutmaster out in front just off the trail a couple of steps watching as the troop makes the climb.
I see a younger me huddled in a shelter trying to dry out.
I see a kaleidescope montage of the thousands who have for one reason or another decided to walk this walk. I see them parade in front of me with no political agendas, no predertimined mission but to make it to that days destination.
I see way back to a Cherokee climbing up Blood Mountain.
I see this Spring when I return to Georgia to link my sections.

The AT is an ingenious machine that can shift time a split second letting you see all that was and all that will be. The AT is the teacher.

Simva, I also see the ancient people... and I try to visualize and understand the chaotic geological births of the hills and peaks.

There are no PUDs when you think of them that way.