How long before you took the plunge
How many years have you gurus been hiking before deciding to take on the whole trail? Anybody Thru-hiked as their first hike? All replies appreciated
Not a guru here but I'll chime in. Believe it or not, experience is not necessary. You will screw up more in the beginning, but plenty of folks have made it without any experience at all.
I wouldn't recommend going that route but it's certainly been done.
I think most folks at least do a min "shake down trip", where they are out several days to a week, to get the feel of what they are in for. It allows them to know if they really want to do this for 5/6 months and learn from the experience.
I've been backpacking for years and THINK I know what I would be getting into. But, my trips haven't been anything over 8 days. An AT thru is just a series of 3-5/day trips all strung together.
Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.
on hot july day i was riding on the back of a garbage truck and decided to walk the trail. less than 9 months later i was in georgia walkin' northOriginally Posted by hikemikehike
I had not done an over night since Boy Scouts 25 years prior. I had set up my tent once and also started my stove once. Experience is not at required, in fact since short hikes teach you almost nothing and you think they do, you actually start out slightly worse than before because then you know you know nothing. You will learn quick enough.
I don't think experience is required but KNOWLEDGE will definitely have a great impact on your hike. If anyone denies this, shame on you!
Smile, Smile, Smile.... Mile after Mile
I would also have to agree to previous posts, exoerience is not nessessary but very helpful. I would advise the "shake-down" hikes not just to see what to expect but to also refine your gear. You dont want to take something that is pointless to have and also realize that you may need something you dont while on the trail. Also you want to learn you gear before you leave, you dont want to learn how to light the stove on your first night out.
Ditto this, convoluted as it may sound.
A few years ago I took a very cool driving course with the state patrol. I had to learn how to drive all over again and was actually worse off for what I thought was decades of valuable experience.
My "dreaming" period was short, also. Less than a year. I learned how to hike all over again before the thru hike (PCT) mostly from wife who had thru-hiked the AT a couple years before. Ray Jardine's book and a video from Lynne Whelden also helped. Then you hit the trail and figure out what works for you.
"Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning
another non-guru here...agree with the posts above. After I decided to try a thru, I went on two seperate 2 night trips. One was during a cold snap (single digits at night) and the other was during cold/rainy weather (day time highs in the 40's). Wanted to make sure of my gear for bad weather conditions. Experience is a plus as others have said but not necessary. I did have some basic first aid knowledge and by 2-3 weeks in I was comfortable with life on the trail and had the skills necessary to complete the trip. I never did get any good at hanging a bear bag however!
My parents took my brothers and I camping and hiking when we were growing up. That's what really sparked my interest in the Appalachian Trail. Then I spent a summer camping in the mountains of West Virginia working for a white water rafting company. I was hooked on living outdoors. I took two one-week-long backpacking trips (one in the Ocala National Forest on the Florida Trail and one in southern Virginia on the A.T.) in 22 days my brother and I leave to begin our thru-hike. I'm pumped for it!
I have been planning my thru hike since 1978.
I have hiked the 100 mile wilderness, back in the 80's. There wee many times when I was young that I could have done the AT, but was too busy chasin tail. Then, I got married, had kids, etc etc.
Now, have a mortgage to finish off. Will be lucky if I can knock it out by age 55. and that will be one slow @ss hike.
If you are young and single, save up $4,000 real quick and go hike while ya still can.
I did both of those hikes also prior to my AT thru-hike. Lots of fun, relaxation and learning on those two hikes.
I'd also hiked all the name-brand trails in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan during the year prior to my AT thru-hike -- a couple were one-week trips and the others were weekend overnight trips. Also a little bit of hiking on the Arizona Trail.
I also hiked one particular 16 mile long trail more than a hundred times since it was close to where I lived and I could get there right after work. I took my backpack and poles for the last 50 times I'd hiked that trail.
If you really want to prepare, hike during inclement weather for overnight trips. You'll likely be hiking in the rain quite a bit on the AT and if you've already got experience doing that it won't come as such a shock.
Datto
Can you expand on this? What do you define as "short hikes"?
Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.
I gotta disagree with this, personally. I did a lot of short hikes, weekends, ect, and it helped me tweak my gear, learn what worked and what didn't.
my whole life ive been on the trail but it took a misd relationship and some weird timing to go home fromspots of trail but none workd so i ended hiking home and after i got there i was like shoot ill keep goin and that formed my thru hike.. kind of an acident but a awsome acident at that...
don't think of myself as a guru, but after 40 yrs of section hiking I'm finally starting a thru the week after next - can't wait!
I think starting a thread as to what surprised you would be good. I bet you pretty much feel like you know what you are getting into. If not a thread..............at least PM me.......
Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.
campground camping as a kid,and two three day shake downs. ive been planninnig for two months and i leave in a week for my through hike. as long as i can remember where i packed my tent instructions i will be just fine.
I'd never had a fully loaded pack on as an adult until I started the approach trail at age 33 last year. My practice hikes consisted of walking about 5 miles on roads/bike path with some weight thrown in my pack. So, I consider my thru to have been my first real hike.
Most of my preparation was gear research, reading on Whiteblaze, making notes in a guidebook of ideal/suggested locations to stop, etc. I did try packing/unpacking the bag multiple times to figure out how to best fit everything in it.
It was enough prep to figure out the osprey atmos was too small for me and I left (and hiked the whole way) with a Z55. I test fired my stove twice and cooked oatmeal and a lipton side. Ended up tossing the stove in Hot Springs anyway. Changed out my tent before the Smokies (from Tarptent Moment to Hubba Hubba HP I already owned). Those were the major things that more prep/shake-down hiking may have changed. Agree w/most of those above, no real prep hiking needed.
Last edited by malowitz; 04-11-2011 at 18:25. Reason: Hot vs Boiling Springs
Wow, what a great response. Much thanks to anyone who has chimed in so far. Very interesting replies!
Never labeled myself as a guru either. No one knows everything, even about hiking. We all must learn. I learn something new on every hike no matter what the duration or length of miles. Sometimes, what I learn is from Newbies! And, what I learn is not just about how not to do something but how to do something better! I find it's best to stay humble and be teachable in all areas of life and that includes hiking!
Only did long weekend trips in my teens mostly with the Boy Scouts or Hiking Groups. Did my first thru-hike(the AT) with no more experience than that. I decided to thru-hike the AT only two months before I embarked on my AT thru-hike. While the weekend trips in my past helped a tiny bit they really didn't prepare me for thru-hiking. Thru-hiking, IMO, is VERY DIFFERENT!
On the AT, what I found, is most thru-hikers had never thru-hiked before. I was one of them.
However, if you ever get to thru-hike some of the other long distance trails such as the PCT, CDT, JMT, LT, CT, AZT, PNWT, etc I have found a higher percentage of those thru-hikers to have previous thru-hiker experience.
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