View Full Version : How many have truly SOLO hiked the AT?
JohnnySnook
10-21-2014, 06:15
Who has truly thru-hiked they whole AT?
No donkey following them the whole trail with food?
No stops in a town?
Just wondering…….
Who has truly thru-hiked they whole AT?
No donkey following them the whole trail with food?
No stops in a town?
Just wondering…….
I feel that I hiked the trail solo.
i started alone on Katahdin and finished alone on Springer. I did catch up to another Southbounder in Virginia and shared a few shelters with him over a the course of a week, but he was doing his thing and I was doing mine.
But then again, I think most hikers hike solo every year. Being around people for stretches long and short does not mean you are not hiking solo, IMO.
For the past couple decades I have hike almost exclusively with a partner. Way different in ways that need no explanation.
bigcranky
10-21-2014, 07:02
No stops in town? Let's see, if one can average 22 miles per day, that's 100 days, so at 1.5 pounds of food per day (way too little) that's 150 pounds of food and 20 pounds of gear for a 170 pound starting pack weight.
daddytwosticks
10-21-2014, 07:07
No stops in town? Let's see, if one can average 22 miles per day, that's 100 days, so at 1.5 pounds of food per day (way too little) that's 150 pounds of food and 20 pounds of gear for a 170 pound starting pack weight.
Easy...just live off the land like they do on reality TV. :)
In an effort to provide something useful to this thread, I thought I would post a link to a most excellent book:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Hard-Way-Around-Passages/dp/B00AK3MCQC
its a bio on the man who was fist to circumnavigate the globe solo by sail. He had an amazing life, became a wheel-respected celebrity for his exploits, and wrote his own best seller about his solo trip.
Spoiler alert:
He made stops along the way :).
Seriously a good book.
Going into town means you didn't hike solo? That makes no sense.
JohnnySnook
10-21-2014, 07:36
I did say you hiked with a donkey carrying your supplies?
Seatbelt
10-21-2014, 08:19
Who has truly thru-hiked they whole AT?
No donkey following them the whole trail with food?
No stops in a town?
Just wondering…….
Are we going to try to redefine this thru-hike thing again?? really??? yawn.............
wookinpanub
10-21-2014, 08:50
I thru-hiked southbound with no partner beginning in May of 1990. On a couple of occasions I slowed my pace to hike with someone, but it never lasted more than an hour. I went through the entire 100-mile wilderness without seeing a soul and didn't share a shelter until Grafton Notch. There were multiple 3 and 4 day stretches without seeing anyone.
Does that count?
coheterojo
10-21-2014, 08:52
Donkeys aren't allowed on the AT you silly bugger.
wornoutboots
10-21-2014, 08:54
I would speculate that he meant no "stays" in town? If not, one would have to forage for food all along the way.
Pedaling Fool
10-21-2014, 09:00
This is basically the same question/thread as those asking: Who lives off the land while thru-hiking?
The answer: No one.
Waaay back when, at least one or two AT thru-hikers attempted to do the whole trek relying on caches of food buried near specific trailheads. (Stories are in the big Rodale Press anthology published in 1975.)
Pedaling Fool
10-21-2014, 09:04
No difference between stopping in towns and caches.
Failing to see what going into town or staying in town has to do with whether someone is a solo thru hiker.
Tuckahoe
10-21-2014, 09:26
Well, not to over think the issue... but if as an individual you plan a hike and get on the trail and along the way you make decisions based on your own desires, wants and needs without regards to a group, then you have hiked solo. It matters not who you socialized with, or that you hiked in the presence or vicinity of another, or how you resupplied.
If a group of individuals plan a hike together, hit the trail together, and make their choices as a group, then it is not a solo hike.
mudsocks
10-21-2014, 13:07
I think the OP is romanticizing about a scenario that likely never happened and never will.
Going into town means you didn't hike solo? That makes no sense.
+1
.... I can't for the life of me wrap my mind around such a twisted idea.