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  1. #1
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    Default Destroy my Assumptions

    You know what they say about assuming... and the more I research a Thru-hike, the more I start to think I really am an a--.... So I wanted to compile a bunch of my questions and assumptions and get some feedback and I head into planning for this spring.

    1. First, I had NO IDEA how common it was to leave trail to stay in a hotel or hostel or to restock. This is still kind of blowing my mind. I think I just assumed that you got to a post office, grabbed your stuff, and kept hiking.
    I had budgeted in two different nights at hotels as rewards or small goals to shoot for along the way, but should I budget in more? Is this completely up to the individual or is it really recommended to hit a real bed more often? (this is assuming no major injuries or hurricanes or whatever)

    2. Tying into the first question, I'm curious about zero days. Again, I assumed that if you hit a spot that you really liked (beautiful scenery, nice weather, great lake/stream nearby), you'd just park it for a day and enjoy the outdoors. Maybe give your armpits an extra scrub, drink a cup of instant coffee, and just relax. Was this a ridiculous assumption, should I be looking to seek out shelter for my zero or nero days?

    3. (typing this out made the question seem stupid, but here it is) I know specific parks can have specific rules (like the GSMNP), but for the most part, do you spend the night in campgrounds or just off the trail where you feel like finishing the day? Or a combination of both?

    4. I also assumed that you could carry about a weeks worth of food with you at a time and was mentally planning packages and weight along those lines. (Note: I'm a girl, so that changes calorie calculations) However, most of the guides I've seen suggest 3-4 days worth of food at a time. Do I need to plan to re-stock more often? Or is this, again, up to the individual.

    This is all I have for now. Seriously, thanks for any advice or tips. I am looking forward to a trip of a lifetime.

  2. #2
    Wanna-be hiker trash
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    Check out this section of this site which will cover a lot of question 4:

    http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/content.php?15-resupply
    Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sarcasm the elf View Post
    Check out this section of this site which will cover a lot of question 4:
    Nice!!! Thanks, navigating this site can be kind of confusing sometimes

  4. #4
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    2. practically nobody takes a "zero" in the woods

  5. #5
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    The typical thru-hike nowadays is essentially a long string of 3, 4, 5-day sections. Lots of town stops, though some of them may be "neros" meaning you got some hiking that day, vs. "zeros" where you got none. Most thru-hikers take their zero days in town, doing laundry, eating greasy food, doing exactly the sorts of things that they can't do in the woods.

    They take advantage of "real world" facilities as they present themselves, eg. a mini-mart or greasy spoon located a half mile from a trailhead.

    Resupply via mail drops is still done, but most hikers try to minimize it, mostly because you never know when the PO is going to be open or if you're going to roll into some sleepy hick town on Saturday afternoon and have to wait till Monday morning before you can claim your mail drop and move on.

  6. #6
    AT 14/PCT16/CDT18? norts's Avatar
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    Q1 Hostels are great, also nice to treat your self once a month and have a motel room to yourself, nice to wander out of the shower in your birthday suit and not have to worry about anyone. You'll want to get into town, just to change your diet. Budget for more days in town. I took 13 zeros plus alot of neros.
    Q2 Zeros in town for me. Food and relaxing on a bed all day, socialising with other hikers, doing your resupply a bit more slowly, checking out the local outfitter. Going to AYCE - dont miss the one in Waynesboro, Virginia - Ming Garden - best AYCE on the trail.
    Q3 Mostly camped at shelters or marked spots that were in the guide. I only actually stayed in shelters 3 times. There was a few times I stealth camped.
    Q4 How long is a piece of string. I didnt used drop boxes just resupplied at towns. Depending on where the next resupply would be would determine how much food to carry.
    Dont have a schedule - just relax and take it as it comes.
    Taz

  7. #7

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    (1)I took almost all of my zero days on the trail, but that is far from the norm. If you get a shower once a week you can avoid spending money on motel rooms. In fact, not staying in town will save you a lot more money than the cost of a motel room. By staying in town you'll eat at least one more meal at a restaurant, maybe two. And you'll buy a few beers where they are available. And you'll spend money on other stuff. Many people say they can hike on the cheap and avoid spending money on booze and motel rooms, but I've seen few people actually pull it off. I was on the trail 4 months and spent between $1600 and $1700. Most people spend three times that. Informal hiking groups and cliques form on a thruhike, and if you become a part of one you will be stopping in more towns because there will always be one of your friends that is stopping so the whole group will stop.

    (2) This is exactly what I did. I usually carried 3 or more days of extra food because if I got up in the morning and hiked a mile and found a really cool spot I was not above stopping for the day and hanging out, reading a book, etc. Some places I'd hang out 3 or 4 days. But very few people would do this. You'd come across a blue blaze trail a half mile long to a scenic overlook and most people would pass it by. To me this was the good stuff. But most others were in too much of a hurry to make miles or make it to the next town.

  8. #8

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    (3) Most people camp at the shelters which are typically spaced 8 to 10 miles apart because they are established campsites and many of them have an outhouse and almost all of them have a water source. Its a social gathering center in the evenings as well. But you can usually camp anywhere along the trail.

    (4) Depends on how much weight you want to carry and how often you want to go into town. In the south you will hit a town every 2 to 3 days.

  9. #9
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    Usually can't check into Hotels before 11:00am or so. This allows time from wake up to get some miles in before you hit town. Still allows for basically a full day and evening/night in town. I personally don't like to roll into town/hotel late at night, just stay in the woods. This is a Luxury, not to be hurried...

  10. #10
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    I like the idea of "near zero" or nero days to save money. A couple of times this year, I camped a few miles away from a town and got to town by mid/late morning. That leaves plenty of time to shop for resupply, do laundry, check into a hostel/hotel, and eat at restaurants and you only have to spend money on one night in town rather than two. I plan to use weekly nero days for the most part when I thru hike the PCT and AT over the next couple of years. Maybe 3 or 4 zeros for the entire trip, as needed.
    HST/JMT August 2016
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    PCT Mile 0-857 - Apr/May 2015
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    AT: Rockfish Gap to Boiling Springs 2014
    John Muir Trail Aug/Sept 2013

  11. #11

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    You need the town days to consume calories.

    You can carry as much food as you want. There is no limit. You won't want to carry more than to reach your next resupply option, probably 3 to 5 days. It is just easier not to carry what isn't required.

    I met an old guy in GA with 45 lb pack, he had 2 weeks food. He said he thought the only way he would get to ME was to not come off the trail. He got off at 20 miles to lighten his load. I could have told him, but he wouldn't have listened until he learned it for himself.

  12. #12
    Registered User fehchet's Avatar
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    hike through Maine

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by fehchet View Post
    hike through Maine
    Except for the Monson to Baxter stretch, Maine's a good example of a hike done as a series of 3-4 day sections.

    Gorham -> Andover
    Andover -> Rangely
    Rangeley -> Stratton
    Stratton -> Caratunk
    Caratunk -> Monson

  14. #14

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    Try loading your pack with 7 days worth of food. It is a) bulky and b) heavy. 5 days of food is my limit. Thankfully on the AT that's about as long as you have to go between supermarkets.

    Hikers typically use hostels more in the early season down south. For one thing, their cheap and there are a lot of them. Plus, it's about the only way you can get clean. Washing in the woods is possible, but there is no substitute for a nice, hot shower. Especially in April and early May when it's still pretty chilly out there. Farther north where there are fewer hostels and motels get more and more expensive, you'll try to stay in them less. But there comes a point when you just HAVE to get a shower, wash clothes and eat a couple of big town meals. Usually about every 7 to 10 days.
    Follow slogoen on Instagram.

  15. #15
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    Hot showers are important. I think one can have enough of roughing it.

    Back in the day, the big adventure on the AT was the so-called Hundred Mile Wilderness, 'cuz you really had to go 100 miles without resupply. But even that is no big deal; most northbounders do it in five, maybe six days. The terrain isn't that tough, and they have lots of adrenalin pushing them on. It's tougher for the southbounders, just setting off on their hikes.

  16. #16
    Registered User The Cleaner's Avatar
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    While reading this spring's entries on Trail Journals, seems some hikers in the south just hostel hop. Go as fast as you can, eat crappy or no cook food reach hostel, pig out, shower, sleep in real bed, repeat. One guy said he needed a shower every few days...Oh the humanity....
    Sleep on the ground, rise with the sun and hike with the wind....

  17. #17
    Registered User The Cleaner's Avatar
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    I remember one woman hiker, only hiking the 1st hundred miles this spring when some snow storms forced many off of the trail several times. She said she spent almost $1000 on motels and town stays and shuttles. The trail has changed a lot since the early 80s when there were like 3 or 4 close to trail hostels till Damascus...
    Sleep on the ground, rise with the sun and hike with the wind....

  18. #18

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    You can hike the trail any way you choose. Some ways are more difficult, some more or less expensive, some more relaxing, etc. I've known people who never slept indoors, a couple of hikers who never took a bath/shower, others who never hitchhiked, others who did speed hikes and others who took ten months to hike the trail. Some people always hike shelter to shelter, some never stay in shelters. You can make whatever rules for yourself you want, and you can choose to change them any time.

    FWIW, the first time I thruhiked was long before internet. I didn't know much about the trail except what I read in the Rodale books. I assumed that as a female, I wouldn't want to hitch to town, so I planned to resupply only in towns that were actually on the trail or very close. I had some 14 day food drops. I had a very heavy pack. And yes, I did mail drops on that first hike. What I found was that I still ended up going into town to get food that was fresh and tasty and different. I found that I sometimes desperately wanted a shower, or a room to myself (I stayed in shelters for the most part), or a chance to do something different than hiking all day every day. I was happy to sit in a garden in town with a trashy novel or to go to church or a movie. I really wanted to eat more food, because my idea of enough food before the trail bore no relation to the amount of food I actually needed when I was hiking all day every day. I sometimes went to town because friends were going to town and I didn't want to continue alone. Before you thruhike, you don't realize how the push to reach Katahdin can take over your hike, so you don't want to relax at overlooks or spend days alone in the woods, you just want to make miles. We had one hiker friend who would buy a half dozen books in town and then spend two or three days at a shelter or camping to read them, but he was a rarity.

  19. #19
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    This is freaking awesome, thanks guys. I don't want to individually respond to each of these, but man, it makes me feel better to know there aren't "hard and fast" rules.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lone Wolf View Post
    2. practically nobody takes a "zero" in the woods
    Well, I have planned for a long day only to come upon a amazing vista one day early, so I sat my butt down. Well the AM went and noon slid by so I ate lunch in the sun and basked in it's warm rays till late in the afternoon. I met and talked to some folks that I did not know and would have had just passed by on the trail. I watched day turn to twilight and I found a place to setup nearby so I spent a day in the woods and I would call it a zero day as I walked less than I would if in town, but it was no zero in any other way one could think of. All in all it will go down as one of the best days ever, peaceful, beautiful, serine, warm, sunny, good company with just the right amount of solitude.........Priceless to steal a phrase. Zeros are what you make them where you make then.

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