Long time to dream

[skinnbones]

I have been waiting over 30 years to thru hike the Appalachian Trail. Money is the only reason I'm not ready to hit the trail. Every other obstacle has been put to rest. My question is this; Has anyone else waited YEARS to finally fulfill their dream hike? How did you keep dream alive knowing there was a wait involved? Was the hike more rewarding having to wait so long to get there? Questions along this line is what I'm trying to ask. Thank you.

[Christoph]

I first heard about the AT around 30 years ago when I was in Boy Scouts. I always thought, man that would be cool. As the years went on, things got a little more serious and that was going to be my retirement present to myself. So I went for it. I would say it was pretty rewarding (even thought I had to leave the trail 750 miles in). It was definitely the hardest physical thing I've done. I've never backpacked more than a few weekend trips here and there. I loved the thought of "living" outside for some time. But, I'll try again and I've pretty much made up my mind that I'm going to start from the beginning again (I'm stubborn, everyone tells me to pick up where I left off) and use what I learned the first trip to my advantage.

[capehiker]

I first set foot on the AT 30 years ago and made the decision to thru hike it 18 years ago. I went on to finish 23 years in the military. Reading books about the AT helped me keep my sanity during deployments. I'll be honest, there have been timesI've wanted to to throw it all in and just hike the trail. I'm 60 days away from my dream. I can't wait any longer because the vibe of the AT seems to be spiraling out of control even faster than before.

[bigcranky]

My wife and I did our first small section in the early 90s, beginning a long fascination with the AT. We'll finally thru-hike it when we retire in about six years. So that's pretty close to 30 years. :)

[turtle fast]

Christoph's response is priceless. The drive to complete the entire trail in one go reigns true to myself as well. The 750 mile hike before is just your "approach trail" a shakedown hike. If you think of it, multiple time thru hikers like Lone Wolf, Baltimore Jack, or Spirit Walker for example find the love of the journey....a privilege to explorer the ever changing experience, the sights, smells, and sounds of it all.

[HighLiner]

Section hike it. There's no guarantee you'll have the physical ability if you wait so long. The last 15 years were amazing for me, two section hikes per year. Now I'm done. And maybe I'll thru hike when I retire. But I did it while I had the legs. Good luck.

[Feral Bill]

I first set foot n the trail 50+ years ago, and hiked on bits and pieces (mostly incidentally to other goals) for ten or fifteen years. I plan to do a through next year. I have hikes and paddled a fair bit of wilderness in between, but like the idea of a ling waking vacation with a focus to keep it interesting. This fall I have a repeat of the Wonderland scheduled.

[dink]

first time I was on the trail my son was months old, now he is in his early 40s...have done 20 to 60+ mile sections over the years but can hardly wait to get to spend months on the trail when I retire in a couple of years!!!

[MuddyWaters]

I have been waiting over 30 years to thru hike the Appalachian Trail. Money is the only reason I'm not ready to hit the trail. Every other obstacle has been put to rest. My question is this; Has anyone else waited YEARS to finally fulfill their dream hike? How did you keep dream alive knowing there was a wait involved? Was the hike more rewarding having to wait so long to get there? Questions along this line is what I'm trying to ask. Thank you.


Starting the day kids are born, many people wait 22 years, until kids are out of college to start doing things they want to again. Other things come first.

30 yrs. If you had saved just $3 per month, and invested it, youd be set to hike. Or heck, saved $10 per month without investing it. Easier said than done, things come up, I know. Just pointing out.

[runt13]

1st step on the AT was when i was 8, think I made the decision to hike it when i was 14, I am now 48 and still haven't done it. I have less then 150 miles on the trail, although I have done the NJ section in sections about 5 or 6 times over.
About 6 years ago I started putting the pieces together to start section hiking the AT starting in 2017 [I will be 50]
So its been a long journey.

RUNT ''13''

[Auto Draft]

I first found out about it when I was 18, and did it when I was 32, so I guess that was 14 years. I fully expected not to do it until I retired, but the opportunity came up to take time off work and I figured out ways to get around the small reasons why I couldn't do it. 14 years seems like nothing compared with what I was mentally prepared to wait though.

[TexasBob]

........My question is this; Has anyone else waited YEARS to finally fulfill their dream hike? How did you keep dream alive knowing there was a wait involved?.........

Delayed gratification is something most adults get to experience. The wait makes it that much more exciting when you finally get to do something you have been wanting to do for so long. In my experience, the difference between a passing fancy and a true life long ambition is that you don't have to keep the dream alive. The dream keeps coming back to you whether you want it to or not.

[dudeijuststarted]

Was the hike more rewarding having to wait so long to get there?

When you thru hike it will go down as possibly the most deeply rewarding experience of your life. It is also transformative, and you may be better off waiting for those epiphanies when you don't have to return to a 9-5.

LSD has nothing on an AT thru.

[skinnbones]

Looking back if only I planned better with a few bucks each month. Your comment struck a chord.

[B.j. Clark]

Here is what I do to save towards my hikes. I never spend $5 bills. I put them away. Most equipment and food is paid for using this plan. Putting away 5's also has caused me to use 20's for small purchases so I can put away the 5's I get as change. It's motivates me to find more ways to put the money aside and see the total grow rather than spending.

[GreenBlaze]

Section hike it. There's no guarantee you'll have the physical ability if you wait so long. The last 15 years were amazing for me, two section hikes per year. Now I'm done. And maybe I'll thru hike when I retire. But I did it while I had the legs. Good luck.

I like this advice. Get a low APR credit card, spend a few months preparing and buying gear cost-effectively, and hit the trial. Pay it off when you're done with the trail. Also consider the flip-flop approach, which increases your chances of completion.

[Woodturner]

My first (fleeting) thought of hiking the AT was when I saw a path at the start of the paved walkway to the summit of Clingmans Dome in the late sixties. A sign there said something about the Appalachian Trail. Up to the day that I arrived at the top of Clingmans by way of the AT from Springer, I thought that path WAS the AT. For the record, that trail comes out at the saddle just south of Clingmans, and is a much better way of getting to the top.
I graduated high school in 1970, entered the military, didn't care for it, and got out in April of 1974. Sometime in the last year and a half or so of the service I decided I wanted to thru-hike the AT. On March 31st of 1975 I started northbound from Springer.
My resolve petered out at Bennington, VT after a series of skips starting north of SNP. I returned in 1980 and did most of the trail north of Bennington. For decades now the skips have eaten at me. I didn't really think I would ever have a chance to fill the gaps, but last summer my employer finally made me mad enough to chuck it all and go on early Social Security. Presto!! Suddenly there was time and money to hike past the duration of a few weeks of vacation.
Originally I had hoped for a true thru-hike. However, a few things at home made that impractical so I am going to have to be satisfied with rehiking sections and filling in those that were skipped. At 63, 64 on 6/30, I do worry that my body will cooperate. If it does, and I stand at the sign on Baxter Peak with all the gaps filled, I will have accomplished a dream that took roughly 43 years to complete.
In the for what it's worth department.
I recently read the account of a late sixties or early seventies thru-hike where the hiker had saved $200 for the trip. In '75, I started with two grand in the bank, and at that time I was better off than a lot of those I was hiking with. This time around I will be hiking with an income of just over $1300 a month. While I'm on the trail the only bills at home will be for the cell phone and a minimum electric bill of under twenty bucks a month. Before I leave, I plan on padding the checking account from which automatic billing will be drawn with a few extra thousand "just in case". Gear and technology are not the only things that have changed over the years.

[Hoofit]

I like this advice. Get a low APR credit card, spend a few months preparing and buying gear cost-effectively, and hit the trial. Pay it off when you're done with the trail. Also consider the flip-flop approach, which increases your chances of completion.

Spending money that you don't have is not such good advice...especially if you have it hanging over you during your hike....believe me, I've been there...

Also could you please explain how flip-flopping increases your chance of completion? Perhaps you are referring to a double section hike rather than a thru hike ?

[soilman]

I attempted a SOBO hike in 1976 right out of college. I did about 1300 miles before I got off the trail. When I got home I was disappointed I quit because I knew it would be at least 30 years before I could attempt another thru. I completed the trail in 1981 by doing a number of section hikes but it wasn't a thru hike. It took 34 years but I completed a thru in 2010. I kept the dream alive by becoming a life member of ATC in 1980, volunteering for trail work, and doing occasional hikes on some of my favorite parts of the AT. I started my career with the expectation that I would retire as soon as eligible and lived frugally so that retirement would be possible. I am fortunate to have a family that embraced my dream.

[Hoofit]

How did I keep the dream alive?
After completing the first 1400 miles I came down with Lyme Disease...pretty bad as well, went from climbing mountains with thirty five pounds on my back to only being able to make it half way up the stairs at my home without taking a break...
That was six years ago ....this year I will return to Greenwood Lake, where I left off and complete a desire and a dream of six years...keeping the dream alive has been easy, almost like a daily obsession, just try and stop the dream if you can, ha! I' ll be back on July, the dream lives on and never fades!

[Roamin]

So without REALLY knowing about it, it started in 1977 when my family began visiting Helen, GA and Unicoi State Park where I am sure we came across AT without knowing it or what it was. I ran around those hills for the next 15 years. I “officially” became hooked in 2001 on Skyline Drive. My wife and I had pulled over to have lunch with our three young children. Then two “mountain men” emerged from the woods. They were rough, ragged, sweaty, and tired. They asked if we wanted to see a bear. Well, I did so I grabbed my two oldest, 6 and 3 and into the woods we went. In the ensuing conversation with the hikers I asked how long they had been hiking. “Since April in Georgia.”…..done, that was the exact moment. I am getting ready for a section hike and the trail consumes my thoughts all day. A map hangs at my desk and I surf WB all day at work. I cannot imagine how my eventual thur hike infect me.

[GreenBlaze]

Spending money that you don't have is not such good advice...especially if you have it hanging over you during your hike....believe me, I've been there...

Also could you please explain how flip-flopping increases your chance of completion? Perhaps you are referring to a double section hike rather than a thru hike ?

Credit doesn't have to be abused, but it sounds like you've been there, so good for you if you recovered from credit abuse. If the goal is to save $$$ and then hit the AT, that's fine, but if you're just waiting around to save $$$, you're potentially losing time. You could take advantage of (not abuse) credit and make it happen now. After you finish you just save and pay off the card. Nothing changes except a small amount of interest. You're still saving and paying either way you look at it. If you don't like the paltry interest charged on $5k, you could transfer the balance to 0% cards indefinitely.

A quick google would have answered this for you, but I'm happy to provide a link. Enjoy.

http://appalachiantrials.com/why-flip-floppin-away-will-increase-your-chances-for-a-successful-thru-hike/

[Hoofit]

Credit doesn't have to be abused, but it sounds like you've been there, so good for you if you recovered from credit abuse. If the goal is to save $$$ and then hit the AT, that's fine, but if you're just waiting around to save $$$, you're potentially losing time. You could take advantage of (not abuse) credit and make it happen now. After you finish you just save and pay off the card. Nothing changes except a small amount of interest. You're still saving and paying either way you look at it. If you don't like the paltry interest charged on $5k, you could transfer the balance to 0% cards indefinitely.

A quick google would have answered this for you, but I'm happy to provide a link. Enjoy.

http://appalachiantrials.com/why-flip-floppin-away-will-increase-your-chances-for-a-successful-thru-hike/

OK, I see where you're coming from and I am in support of the idea of the flip flop idea as far as less crowds in the springtime down south and subsequently less erosion around fragile environments at camp time.But the truth is, a large number of those crowds drop out way before Harper's Ferry, where flip floppers apparently jump north to Katahdin and then head south. Sure it gives you more time, though if you leave by April down south, that gives you a full six months to complete the trail, plenty of time for a serious attempt at a thru hike.
Clarity seems to think that the weather will be better but personally I believe a north bound hike works well with the seasons, with the hot summer weather coming during the middle of the hike, on easier terrain and a better chance of cooler weather later on when the big mountains return.
I did screw up on credit cards, three years later I am close to being debt free and will be by June...finishing the trail is my reward!
All the best to you anyway, I wholeheartedly agree to grab the moment and get out there on the trail and not to keep putting it off, I am a self confessed total lightweight at saving so having bounced my credit cards from one piece of plastic to another, I now have learned a hard lesson and advise others to not go up that path.
Keep the dream alive though with a solid financial footing.

[TexasBob]

.......If the goal is to save $$$ and then hit the AT, that's fine, but if you're just waiting around to save $$$, you're potentially losing time. You could take advantage of (not abuse) credit and make it happen now. After you finish you just save and pay off the card. Nothing changes except a small amount of interest. You're still saving and paying either way you look at it. If you don't like the paltry interest charged on $5k, you could transfer the balance to 0% cards indefinitely........

Interesting financial point of view. Don't waste time saving for a purchase. Buy first, worry about paying later. Transfer your credit card balance indefinitely. You don't consider this behavior to be credit abuse? This type of thinking is why less than half of Americans have any savings at all and the average household has $15,000 in credit card debit.

[Another Kevin]

I first set foot on the AT about fifty years ago. I've never thru-hiked, because I've never been able to walk away from my life for that long, and I never expect to, until the Lord calls me home. I always have had some sort of responsibility to others, and God willing, I always will.

I have always wondered, though, whether I'm a real hiker or just the clueless weekender I claim to be. I've wanted - for nearly all the fifty years I've been hiking - to prove that to myself, by completing something that most hikers would recognize as an accomplishment. Finally, now that my daughter is pretty much grown, I've been able to take some hiking vacations and move in that direction. I'd set the goal for myself to thru-hike some intermediate-length trail - and managed that last year with the 138-mile Northville-Placid. I recommend that trail to would-be thru-hikers. It's a thru-hike in miniature. It's long enough that almost everyone needs resupply, and has a couple of towns with the typical erratic resupply options of trail towns. It's got a couple of 40-mile sections with no road access at all, even logging roads, so it's remote enough to satisfy almost anyone who longs to Get Away From It All. In some ways, it's remoter than the Hundred-Mile Wilderness. And it doesn't have any grueling climbs, although the mud supplies enough challenge. It even provides views, if you can content yourself with the view of lovely mountains from a lake or meadow, rather than the view of lakes and meadows from a mountaintop.

I'd also set a goal to complete the Catskill 3500's - after I realized a few years back that I was about a third of the way through the list without having had it as a goal. If all goes well, I'll do that this year: I've 33 climbs down and six to go. Another case of "can I actually do something significant?"

I'd like to section hike the Long Trail and do the Adirondack 46. Both look to be in reach if I keep my health long enough.

All of these are way beyond what I'd ever expected to do, but I'd gone through most of my life hearing and reading others' accounts and saying, "wouldn't it be nice if..." Now I can say that I've at least had some solid hiking experience, in addition to my decades of sneaking away for a long weekend whenever I could swing it.

At sixty, maybe I can't hope for more. I wouldn't rule out that in retirement, some sudden life shift would let me walk away for half a year. If that happens, who knows? But with my level of desire being a slightly wistful, "wouldn't it be nice if..." rather than "This is something I have to do," my chances of finishing would likely not be that good anyway. I understand that for a thru-hike of a major trail, you have to be driven. I simply am not.

At least I'd be starting with backpacking experience enough to make it over where most hikers drop out. I can't imagine that a hundred miles in Georgia is any harder than a hundred miles in the Adirondacks. And at least I'd have few financial worries. The Lord has been good to me on that score - I've always had stable jobs as an electrical and computer engineer. I've few worries that I'll outlive my money. I expect that, as always, it'd be more that someone is depending me for moral, if not financial, support, and I simply can't leave for an extended period. That's a good thing. The satisfaction of doing right by others might even beat hiking.

Anyway, yes, I've dreamt for a long time, and in the last few years, I've fulfilled some of the lesser dreams. If I take it all as it comes, sometimes the good parts come my way.

[CamelMan]

When you thru hike it will go down as possibly the most deeply rewarding experience of your life. It is also transformative, and you may be better off waiting for those epiphanies when you don't have to return to a 9-5.

LSD has nothing on an AT thru.

I hope so, but I thought the AT was Long, Slow Distance ;-)

This thread makes me feel thankful that I've only had the bug since 2010 and will probably be able to hike this year, barring some unknown tragedy or my propensity to injure myself.

[GreenBlaze]

Keep the dream alive though with a solid financial footing.

Indeed friend. Happy Trails!

[GreenBlaze]

Interesting financial point of view. Don't waste time saving for a purchase. Buy first, worry about paying later. Transfer your credit card balance indefinitely. You don't consider this behavior to be credit abuse? This type of thinking is why less than half of Americans have any savings at all and the average household has $15,000 in credit card debit.

No, I don't. It's credit. That's what credit is for. If people abuse it, that's not credit's fault, that's their fault. Let's ban credit cards because SOME people can't responsibly use them? Absurd. I'll just leave it there. I don't have time to get political here. :)

[TexasBob]

No, I don't. It's credit. That's what credit is for. If people abuse it, that's not credit's fault, that's their fault. Let's ban credit cards because SOME people can't responsibly use them? Absurd. I'll just leave it there. I don't have time to get political here. :)

You don't have time to be realistic. What you advocate is absurd.

[RockDoc]

I did 1000 miles on the trail in 1974, out of High School. No intention of a thru hike, just hikin' until I was sick of it. I did get sick of it. But it was the greatest thing I had ever done, in a coming of age kind of way.

After marrying during the 1990's my wife started bugging me to get back on the trail and finish it someday. So over about 10 years we made more than 6 trips to hike major sections. Finally finished in Oct 2014, over 40 years after starting. The thing that kept us hiking was the idea that we better do it soon, or past a certain age we will be unable to hike it. My advice is, "Don't wait".

[turtle fast]

Reading these posts is truly inspiring. To have the dedication and drive to finish something that has been gnawing at you for years or decades is amazing. I can see why taking that check off the bucket list to be so much sweeter. Having the ability while you still can, makes it even sweeter still.

[futureatwalker]

Hmmm.... If you can't afford a thru-hike at the moment, can you swing a shorter trip? Can you get a lift to Georgia, and go for a month? Just do it. Leave next month. Some hiking is better than no hiking, an opportunity is a guest who doesn't linger.

[Berserker]

Section hike it. There's no guarantee you'll have the physical ability if you wait so long. The last 15 years were amazing for me, two section hikes per year. Now I'm done. And maybe I'll thru hike when I retire. But I did it while I had the legs. Good luck.
This ^

I'd love to attempt a thru hike, but can't right now. Been section hiking since '07 and hoping to finish in the next few years. Section hiking is a whole different experience than thru hiking and an adventure in and of itself. So yeah, section hike then thru hike later if you want to to do the whole thing at once. Hike what you can now because you don't know what the future holds.

[MamaSmurf]

I first thought of hiking the AT 43 years ago, but as broke college students, we never quite made it happen. Life goes on.....I never thought much about the dream of a 2100 mi hike. Fast forward 31 years (2004), my high school aged daughter does GA with friends on her Spring Break. The itch came back. I did a few short section hikes in the following 10 years, but have realized that I may not have the time and health left to take the years it might to section-hike it all. So I'm going to thru hike in 2017, while I think I still can. We'll see. I'm detail planning it out right now, not because I think I'll keep a schedule ( I know better) but because the planning allows my family to feel better about this wild hair thing :). So yes, it's been a long time coming. I am glad the dream was re-awakened.

[RockDoc]

If you are very shrewd, I believe that you can long-distance hike for about what you would spend staying home. Assuming that you already have some gear, it's mostly about eating, and you might even spend more on that at home than you would on the trail, where your options are limited.

A hiking vacation is amongst the cheapest vacations that I can imagine, as long as you avoid towns and boozing.