What Do You Get For Completing A Thru?

[Chair-man]

What does one get for completing such a monumental task as finishing an Appalachian Trail thru hike?

A Super Bowl type ring?
A call from the president inviting you to the White House?
How about a tee shirt?
A gold star next to your name on Whiteblaze?
Your name on the ATC list? (hardly seems fitting)
Just knowing you did it is good enough?

Ahh, I thing I know what it is you get. It's that look on someones face when you tell them you hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. Yea, that's what it is. I don't know what that look looks like but maybe I will someday.

[Drybones]

Blisters, cold, hungry, tired, wet, hurt....................blessed.

[CalebJ]

A sleeping bag in thorough need of deep cleaning?

[Dogwood]

The greatest things that you often get are not external. Sometimes, the greatest that can happen is a not an attainment of a materialistic thing but a reaching of an awareness. Sometimes, the greatest things are what you become. Read trail journals of thru-hikers shortly after they have completed their hikes. Follow a thru-hiker's trail journal as this person changes as they get further into their hikes.

[Lone Wolf]

What does one get for completing such a monumental task as finishing an Appalachian Trail thru hike?

A Super Bowl type ring?
A call from the president inviting you to the White House?
How about a tee shirt?
A gold star next to your name on Whiteblaze?
Your name on the ATC list? (hardly seems fitting)
Just knowing you did it is good enough?

Ahh, I thing I know what it is you get. It's that look on someones face when you tell them you hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. Yea, that's what it is. I don't know what that look looks like but maybe I will someday.

a lady friend for life

[Feral Bill]

a lady friend for life

Can't beat that.

[Chair-man]

a lady friend for life

You mean to tell us that the legendary Lone Wolf isn't such a lone wolf after all?

[Lone Wolf]

You mean to tell us that the legendary Lone Wolf isn't such a lone wolf after all?

i've been with her goin' on 14 years

[Prime Time]

It's different for everyone, I'm sure. For me it was the realization that you can overcome the biggest obstacle we all face in our lives...ourselves. Prooving you can overcome your self doubts, your tendency to give up before you've given your all, to not give in to what appears daunting, allowing yourself to welcome and rely on the help and support of others, to accept and be humbled by the kindness and generosity of others along your journey. For me it was fullfilling who I always have been but was unwilling to be.

[Chair-man]

i've been with her goin' on 14 years

Congratulations. I bet lots of people have met on the trail.

[HikerMom58]

Some hikers have completed a thru-hike & shared it with a random person. They looked at them like who cares or asked them, What's the AT?

I think it's special to the people that do it for themselves. Also, to the people who know what an accomplishment it really is. (WB)

[Damn Yankee]

I've always wondered, what happens when you finish and there's nothing left. Getting closer to the end and knowing it will be over. Maybe someone will let me know what they felt and how they dealt with leaving such a great adventure behind.

[Spirit Walker]

Happiness while hiking, and a lot of really good memories afterwards.

[4shot]

It's different for everyone, I'm sure. For me it was the realization that you can overcome the biggest obstacle we all face in our lives...ourselves. Prooving you can overcome your self doubts, your tendency to give up before you've given your all, to not give in to what appears daunting, allowing yourself to welcome and rely on the help and support of others, to accept and be humbled by the kindness and generosity of others along your journey. For me it was fullfilling who I always have been but was unwilling to be.

all of this....plus Lyme's disease too. one stays with you and there's antibiotics for the other.

[4shot]

I've always wondered, what happens when you finish and there's nothing left. Getting closer to the end and knowing it will be over. Maybe someone will let me know what they felt and how they dealt with leaving such a great adventure behind.

the truth be told, the ending is very bittersweet. you dream about it for weeks...think about the showers and all the food you are going to eat when you get back home. Think about family and friends that you have missed. I swear I didn't sleep more than an hour or two in the Birches the night before I went up Katadin.
Then you get back home and miss the trail and your hiking buddies and just the simplicity of getting up and walking as far or as little as you feel like that day.

[Starchild]

A free trip to AZ for a week, also very unexplainable the ability to remember names when I never could before, a very noticeable change in the way people treat me (much better), and a new direction in life, just to name a few.

And a patch and a certificate and a increased shoe size.

[Malto]

Sore feet and nightmares on how much it sucked. (Insert dripping with sarcasm smilie here.)

[Slo-go'en]

Another day older and deeper in debt...

[Zippy Morocco]

Another day older and deeper in debt...

lol funny . . . . . . . .

[Mountain Mike]

A whole lot of memories, great picture & stories plus a whole bunch of new close friends!