Help!

[Christie]

Hey Everyone! I was wondering if anyone could help me out. My name is Christie, I'm 22 and a student in Michigan. I'm writing a research paper and it's pretty much about how you should prepare yourself for the AT. I have been on a few day hikes but nothing that can compare to the AT. I really am interested in getting more intense about my hiking and backpacking and I would love to gain any first hand knowledge I could. I know everyone is busy with life but I would so much appreciate a little of your time. Anyone who would be up for an interview via email, im, tele or ANYTHING. I would really love it! Feel free to e mail me whenever, my AIM name is tayc927 hopefully some of you can help me out!!! Thanks so much!!!

Happy Travels,

Christie

[FatMan]

Hi Christie,

Look up at the menu bar at Thru Hiking Info. There are many, many articles that will help you with your project.

[maxNcathy]

Hi Christie, Are you able to phone me during the day M-Friday?
If so I would be glad to talk with you.
Sandalwood

[Spirit Walker]

Contact me if you like. I'm happy to help.

Short answer to how do you get ready for the trail - get out and hike and backpack as much as you can. Find out whether or not you really like hiking and camping before you go. Many are very surprised at the reality of trail life. If they spent as much time hiking as they did talking about hiking, they'd have a much better grasp of trail reality. Some people love dayhikes but can't stand camping. Some can't handle rain or cold or heat. Some don't really understand that on a thruhike all you do is hike, all day every day. The lack of variety gets to a lot of people. So best way to prepare for a thruhike is to go out and hike in as many kinds of conditions and kinds of terrain as you can, carrying a pack and camping as much as possible. It's not rocket science.

Second - read what you can. This website is a good start. So is Larry Luxemburg's book about hiking the AT or the Thruhiking Papers or various online journals or trail accounts.

[Tennessee Viking]

Hey Everyone! I was wondering if anyone could help me out. My name is Christie, I'm 22 and a student in Michigan. I'm writing a research paper and it's pretty much about how you should prepare yourself for the AT. I have been on a few day hikes but nothing that can compare to the AT. I really am interested in getting more intense about my hiking and backpacking and I would love to gain any first hand knowledge I could. I know everyone is busy with life but I would so much appreciate a little of your time. Anyone who would be up for an interview via email, im, tele or ANYTHING. I would really love it! Feel free to e mail me whenever, my AIM name is tayc927 hopefully some of you can help me out!!! Thanks so much!!!

Happy Travels,

Christie

I am not too familiar with too many Michigan area trail system. There is the Great Lake system that connects to the Great Eastern. Then there is the Ice Age in Wisconsin.

[minnesotasmith]

1) What part of MI are you in?

2) This website has all you could want in the way of AT hiking material. Rather than asking people to type in answers specifically for you, why not just learn how to use the SEARCH function?

[warraghiyagey]

1) What part of MI are you in?

2) This website has all you could want in the way of AT hiking material. Rather than asking people to type in answers specifically for you, why not just learn how to use the SEARCH function?

Is being a dewsh your mission statement? Isn't there anything about just helping someone out or leaving them alone that comes naturally for you?

Sorry about that Christie. That's not indicative of what you can expect here at WB. I sent you a PM. Good luck with your paper, and your hike.
Peace

[EWS]

What's a "dewsh"?

[mudhead]

I thought I had a new word for the day until I got the pencil to write it down.

Search function is good. Delivery is standard.

[Marta]

What's a "dewsh"?

American spelling of French word for shower--douche.

[mudhead]

Fomite is a cool word however.

[rickb]

Christie,

By now I am sure that you have found a lot of information on WHiteblaze and web. Probably so much that it is hard to sort through it all.

To put it all in perspective and provide a solid foundation for your research paper, I would highly recommend you visit this site and read through the individual "chapters" from start to finish. It might take a half hour, but it is a classic read, and is a terrific start for anyone looking to understand what is involved with hiking AT.

http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/THP%20top.html

After you get trough it I think you will agree that gear and logistics and all that stuff one might think of as all important in getting ready for a hike is just one part of the whole deal. I am sure you will have a better paper for checking it out!

[Roland]

- get out and hike and backpack as much as you can. Find out whether or not you really like hiking and camping before you go. Many are very surprised at the reality of trail life. If they spent as much time hiking as they did talking about hiking, they'd have a much better grasp of trail reality.

This bears repeating.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Dino was considering biting MN Smith on toes until she saw this entry:

Fomite is a cool word however.

[warraghiyagey]

Dino was considering biting MN Smith on toes until she saw this entry:

FD you slay me. I'm a little slow on the uptake this morning but once I got it, laughed out loud!!!
100 points to you.

[maxNcathy]

Christie call me. I PM you my phone number.
Take good care, Sandalwood

[minnesotasmith]

Is being a dewsh your mission statement? Isn't there anything about just helping someone out or leaving them alone that comes naturally for you?

Sorry about that Christie. That's not indicative of what you can expect here at WB. I sent you a PM. Good luck with your paper, and your hike.
Peace

This guy thinks that it's a reasonable expectation to copy and paste to a thread the entire 100,000+ pages in the archives on WhiteBlaze every time a novice to AT thruhiking asks "How does hiking this Appalachian Trail thing work?"

Right.

Christie, you've come to a great resource about the AT, perhaps the top one in existence. Unfortunately, like any large subject, learning much about it is going to take some time. I advise someone considering a thruhike (aside from some shakedown hikes) to spend a couple hundred hours on this website, as that'll be time well spent. For just an interested nonhiker wanting to do a school term paper, I'd say plan on at least 20 hours here, with liberal use of the SEARCH function as you find new terminology or concepts to make your reading more efficient.

You've found a subject material that has fascinated hundreds of thousands of people, if not more. Good luck to you.

[warraghiyagey]

. . . Christie, you've come to a great resource about the AT, perhaps the top one in existence. Unfortunately, like any large subject, learning much about it is going to take some time. I advise someone considering a thruhike (aside from some shakedown hikes) to spend a couple hundred hours on this website, as that'll be time well spent. For just an interested nonhiker wanting to do a school term paper, I'd say plan on at least 20 hours here, with liberal use of the SEARCH function as you find new terminology or concepts to make your reading more efficient.

You've found a subject material that has fascinated hundreds of thousands of people, if not more. Good luck to you.

Wow, MS, nice work. A very thoughtful, helpful and lucid response to a fellow hiker.