No motels and no showers, is it feasible?

[Hyperion88]

A friend and I are planning on doing the trail once he graduates from college (in a year or two). He told me he wants to do the whole thing without staying in a hotel, even to bath or do laundry. He also wants to subsist on just bags of rice.

From those who have done it, are such notions feasible or just fantasy?

[Tipi Walter]

The grandeur of youth. When I was 25 years old I wanted to be fruitarian and live on grapes. (Not wine) Then I wanted to be a ochre-clad swami and wear a skirt for a summer. Then I wanted to get all decked out with an ALICE pack and wear 107 OG army blouses with tiger stripe pants. Then I went thru my Lakota Indian phase and made moccasins and did beadwork. I never did go thru a gunfighter phase like in LITTLE BIG MAN, though.

Guys who think they can live on a bag of rice for 5 months are dipping into the realm of newbie grandeur.

[sherrill]

Tell him good luck getting a hitch with anyone not in a truck.

[flemdawg1]

I've only heard of one person who tried living on only rice, it didn't end well for him.

Rooms (are you excluding hostels too?) and showers are matters of personal preference. You can find showers occasionally without staying in a hotel. In fact most hostels that have laundry and showers will have a price for just those w/out an overnight stay. I took showers at Neels Gap ($3?), Uncle Johnnies ($3), Kincora Hostel ($2?), and Franklin Budget Inn ($5) without staying overnight.

[Nean]

I've been around hikers who thought it was cool to not shower or do laundy.

These folks stank so bad no one wanted them around. Bad ideal- period.

[DBCFlash]

You can bathe in the woods, no shower necessary. Living on rice while you're burning calories like crazy? Not gonna make it...

[brian039]

You can do without hotels, showers, and laundry; it may not be much fun though. Living on rice for 4-5 months? Maybe if you were stationary, but you'll be hiking and need substantially more nutrition than what you can get from rice.

[Beachcomber]

You can do without hotels, showers, and laundry; it may not be much fun though. Living on rice for 4-5 months? Maybe if you were stationary, but you'll be hiking and need substantially more nutrition than what you can get from rice.

Pellagra, scurvy, rickets: scary names for vitamin-deficiency diseases. Their symptoms are unpleasant enough at home, so imagine life on the trail with softening bones, loose teeth, wounds that don't heal ...
Rice is nice, but it isn't enough.

[Carl in FL]

Maybe he meant to type "bags of mice". What you call shelter food....

[Panzer1]

those are the kind of people that give hikers a bad name.

Panzer

[Duff]

There was this Korean dude in '09 who thru'ed. He spoke almost no English and did big miles, until he was layed up somewhere in Virginia with an injury for (I think) 9 days. He was carrying a massive bag of rice and usually cooked over a wood fire. Again, due to the language barrier and his mileage he generally was alone. Stayed in a tent and kept to himself. We were together for a few days in lower Virginia, but he left me behind; our paths crossed again near Pen-Mar -that's how I found out about the injury, but again - his miles were too big for me. Legend was though that rice was all he ate, seldom went into town. This as a rail, big pack, shorts no matter how cold, walkin' fast. Maybe it was the rice??

[Many Walks]

Tipi has it right, living on a bag of rice for 5 months is just a newbie pipe dream. Just like trying to live on what you can gather, hunt and fish along the trail. If you try it be sure to let us know how far you get.


If you're talking about maintaining personal hygiene and clean clothes on the trail without going the commercial route it's entirely possible. Washcloth bathing and rinsing clothes is easy and can be done regularly and indefinitely. A little Bonner's and a collapsible sink or big zip lock will do it. You can avoid hotels and hostels by camping close to town, hiking in to resupply and hiking back out to camp. Although it all sounds doable now a zero day with good food, a shower, laundry and comfortable bed will be a pretty strong draw along the way.


Avoiding hygiene altogether is another matter entirely. You won't have a social life as people will smell you coming and avoid you like the plague. Everyone stinks out there, but I think you'll notice a huge difference between hikers who have gone a few days or a week without bathing and two guys who have gone for 5 months. It's almost guaranteed you'll pick up some interesting trail names. Hike on Cadaver Crud and Skunk A$$. You'll be infamous up and down the trail.


Like Panzer said, you'll just give everyone more reason to lower their opinion of hikers in general. We don't need that.

[Hyperion88]

Yeah, he told me these ideas after I mentioned I had done some research about the cost of doing the trail ("$3,000 to $6,000? Eff that, we can do it for $1,000. Screw the motels and expensive food. If I'm doing the AT, I'm doing it right").

Don't get me wrong, I have no intention of doing the trail in such an asinine way. This has actually really made me question whether I should take him as a hiking partner. I want to do it for my own personal fulfillment, and I have the feeling he wants to do it to prove his manliness and brag about it later. I'm not too down with that.

Just to go on record, my initial reaction after he said this was, That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. He also stated, "I don't give a F@#! what I smell like." And I immediately thought, but I sure the hell will.

However, I wanted to hear about it from people who have done the trail before I told him he was off his rocker.

Thank you all for the quick feedback.

[jersey joe]

While it would be extremely difficult, your friend could hike the AT for roughly 1k, avoiding staying in any hotels or hostels. It would be wise to eat more than rice and occasionaly clean oneself while out on the trail though, and can be done for 1k, but it would take a unique individual to complete the trail this way.

[Spokes]

Another 2 post wonder. Next thing "he'll" want to know is how long cheese keeps on the trail.

[DBCFlash]

How long does cheese keep on the trail?

[JAK]

Learn how to do daily ablutions on the trail. It's not hard.

Learn how to do laundry also, 1 or 2 items each day. Also not hard.
It actually helps if you simplify and minimize your clothing.

Work out a simple, cheap, but balanced diet using a tool like this one.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/
It's fun, and also not that hard.

Learn to walk past pizza and beer joints, laundromats, motels and hostels with warm showers, comfy beds, and fellow pilgrims. HARD.


All of these can be practiced before you go.

[JAK]

Oh yeah.

If it's no oats, IT'S CRAP.

[Hyperion88]

Another 2 post wonder. Next thing "he'll" want to know is how long cheese keeps on the trail.

I'm at 3 posts now, so does that still make me a 2 post wonder?

It sounds like you think that I'm asking these questions about myself. I assure you, I am not.

This is a good friend of mine, and we decided to do the trail several years ago after he returned from Iraq (before he went off to college, I finished my degree 2 years ago). However, I've seen these kind of strange ideas pop up over the last year or so, and I don't really know what to make of it. No showers and nothing but rice sounds more like a death march than a hike.

This all puts me in a bit of a bind. I'd like for us to do this thing together (we are old childhood friends), but...not with such stupid ideas, which was just confirmed by this forum (I'm glad I found by the way).

What kind of danger would we be looking at just from attempting it? I know the malnutrition would be a biggie. How about the lack of bathing? I'm assuming rashes, parasites, etc. would start popping up after a while. Any advice? I want to have a decent amount of ammunition from those who have been there to put these ideas to rest.

[max patch]

10-1 he'll take Ron's free shuttle into Hiawassee, get a room, take a shower, wash his clothes, and pig out at the AYCE restaurant.

Don't take any shared gear in case I'm wrong; you really won't want to hike with him.