jj dont play
02-20-2017, 01:38
Just wanted to make a post to the lurkers.Those reading on here thinking about a AT thru hike, maybe one day.
This time last year I was one of you. Joined on here Feb 18th to see if it was foolish to plan to take off mid April and got encouragement to go for it. A little more time passed and I committed. Mar 18th was the last day at my job. April 18th I was standing on Springer, and Aug 12th standing on Katahdin (yeah I know I should have waited until the 18th).
While most thrus are all ready to go now just waiting on their launch day. I didn't have gear, experience, or plannig at this point. Gear research and acquiring can be done easily (especially with the help of whiteblaze) , and experience backpacking isn't that important just start slow, and planning isn't a big deal with towns being so frequent. There's plenty of people who researched, planned, and trained for months or even years that will end their hike early.As they say on WB, it's just walking with a backpack. 20-30% make it "all the way" and I feel it has a lot more to do with you and what you really want then it does how prepared you are on Day 1.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is, just do it and do it now. In the words of John Fogerty, "Someday never comes".
The AT likely won't change you or give you some huge revelation on life, but it will provide you with a great experience that you will not regret.
Still yet to meet someone, whether they made it to Katahdin or not, that regretted their decision to do an AT thru hike.
Peace
This time last year I was one of you. Joined on here Feb 18th to see if it was foolish to plan to take off mid April and got encouragement to go for it. A little more time passed and I committed. Mar 18th was the last day at my job. April 18th I was standing on Springer, and Aug 12th standing on Katahdin (yeah I know I should have waited until the 18th).
While most thrus are all ready to go now just waiting on their launch day. I didn't have gear, experience, or plannig at this point. Gear research and acquiring can be done easily (especially with the help of whiteblaze) , and experience backpacking isn't that important just start slow, and planning isn't a big deal with towns being so frequent. There's plenty of people who researched, planned, and trained for months or even years that will end their hike early.As they say on WB, it's just walking with a backpack. 20-30% make it "all the way" and I feel it has a lot more to do with you and what you really want then it does how prepared you are on Day 1.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is, just do it and do it now. In the words of John Fogerty, "Someday never comes".
The AT likely won't change you or give you some huge revelation on life, but it will provide you with a great experience that you will not regret.
Still yet to meet someone, whether they made it to Katahdin or not, that regretted their decision to do an AT thru hike.
Peace