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Flakes
12-31-2017, 00:14
Silly hypothetical question. Do the 2190 miles have to be consecutive. I have no intention of doing this but what if someone walked 1100 miles Of the trail, decided they didn’t like it and turned around and walked back the entire path they just walked. Does this count? Is a through hike specifically point a to point b or is it the completion of 2200 miles of appalachian trail?

Puddlefish
12-31-2017, 00:17
There is no "count." There's no official committee judging hikes. All that matters is what it means to you.

KCNC
12-31-2017, 00:27
If I drive from NC to OK and back is that the same as driving from NC to CA?

franky
12-31-2017, 00:49
I don’t think it would count as a through hike if that’s what you mean.

Sarcasm the elf
12-31-2017, 01:24
1) No

2) The only official recognition of completing the trail relies 100% on the honor system. It is only as valuable as your word.


​​2,000 miler application


The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) recognizes anyone who reports completion of the entire Trail as a “2,000-miler.” The term is a matter of tradition and convenience, based upon the original estimated length of the Trail. Conservancy policy is to operate on an honor system, assuming that those who apply for 2000-miler status have hiked all of the A.T. between Katahdin and Springer Mountain, either as a thru-hiker or in sections. In the event of an emergency, such as a flood, a forest fire, or an impending storm, blue-blazed trails or officially required roadwalks are viable substitutes for the white-blazed route. Issues of sequence, direction, speed, length of time or whether one carries a pack are not considered. ATC assumes that those who apply have made an honest effort to walk the entire Trail, even if they did not walk past every white blaze. If you meet these standards, please complete and sign the form below.


https://www.appalachiantrail.org/home/community/2000-miler-application

Rain Man
12-31-2017, 01:31
Your post/thread title says it all. :)

SoaknWet
12-31-2017, 07:06
Why do people insist on worrying about what other people think? You didn't take up hiking to be judged. If that's what you're looking for join some competitive sport, cycling or swimming. When you're out there hiking put all that nonsense out of your head! Hike your hike for you no one else! If you section hike back and forth till you accumulate enough miles to match the miles of the complete trail and want to consider yourself a thru hiker that's you business. Be true to yourself, the hell with everyone else!

illabelle
12-31-2017, 07:34
Silly hypothetical question. Do the 2190 miles have to be consecutive. I have no intention of doing this but what if someone walked 1100 miles Of the trail, decided they didn’t like it and turned around and walked back the entire path they just walked. Does this count? Is a through hike specifically point a to point b or is it the completion of 2200 miles of appalachian trail?

If someone walked 1100 miles and didn't like it, why would they walk another 1100? Why not get off trail and go home?

rdljr
12-31-2017, 09:13
to get back to their car of course.

bigcranky
12-31-2017, 09:54
The "2000 Miler" patch is awarded to hikers who submit a claim to the ATC that they have completed the entire trail. It's for completion of the AT, not for hiking some random part of it enough times to add up to 2000 miles.

blw2
12-31-2017, 10:12
Why do people insist on worrying about what other people think?.....

I seriously doubt it has anything at all to do with caring what anyone else thinks, exactly
as much as it is about playing a game of trivial pursuit around the virtual camp fire.....
or in some cases it's just an effort to help in thinking things through....digesting ideas....brainstorming.

gpburdelljr
12-31-2017, 10:45
How did you get the trail name “Flakes”?

Time Zone
12-31-2017, 14:40
to get back to their car of course.
And imagine the chagrin felt if, upon getting to the car, the hiker realized something was left behind at the turnaround point!

Is there a 4400 mile patch?

Tipi Walter
12-31-2017, 14:55
The "2000 Miler" patch is awarded to hikers who submit a claim to the ATC that they have completed the entire trail. It's for completion of the AT, not for hiking some random part of it enough times to add up to 2000 miles.

I like the idea of some guy hiking a mile on the AT to a shelter from the road and then hiking back out---repeat one thousand times. Yippee, you just pulled your 2,000 miles. Why not get the patch?

Or even better: Some guy hiking the AT back and forth and here and there and blue blaze this or that for 10 solid years. Just live on the thing.

bigcranky
12-31-2017, 15:21
I like the idea of some guy hiking a mile on the AT to a shelter from the road and then hiking back out---repeat one thousand times. Yippee, you just pulled your 2,000 miles. Why not get the patch?

Or even better: Some guy hiking the AT back and forth and here and there and blue blaze this or that for 10 solid years. Just live on the thing.

In the last twenty+ years I've hiked the stretch from Grayson Highlands to Damascus and the loop at the park enough times to get my patch. I'll send in my application... :)

rocketsocks
12-31-2017, 15:34
Why do people insist on worrying about what other people think? You didn't take up hiking to be judged. If that's what you're looking for join some competitive sport, cycling or swimming. When you're out there hiking put all that nonsense out of your head! Hike your hike for you no one else! If you section hike back and forth till you accumulate enough miles to match the miles of the complete trail and want to consider yourself a thru hiker that's you business. Be true to yourself, the hell with everyone else!This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Slo-go'en
12-31-2017, 15:44
By my reckoning, I've logged over 6,500 miles on the AT, but I have yet to complete it! Is there a patch for that? What am I missing? About 60 miles of NH. I've done all the highlights, just haven't seen a need to connect the dots. Maybe someday.

rickb
12-31-2017, 18:09
I seriously doubt it has anything at all to do with caring what anyone else thinks, exactly
as much as it is about playing a game of trivial pursuit around the virtual camp fire.....
or in some cases it's just an effort to help in thinking things through....digesting ideas....brainstorming.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

egilbe
12-31-2017, 19:11
By my reckoning, I've logged over 6,500 miles on the AT, but I have yet to complete it! Is there a patch for that? What am I missing? About 60 miles of NH. I've done all the highlights, just haven't seen a need to connect the dots. Maybe someday.
You live in NH.

Slo-go'en
12-31-2017, 19:32
You live in NH.

Yea well, that's what makes it so difficult:) It's easier to just bag a summit as a day hike then hike between them. Plus I'd rather run over to Maine or Vermont and avoid the tourists hikers in NH. I don't need to add to overcrowding at campsites or deal with the AMC huts. Of course I've done some of the AT through NH, just not all of it.

egilbe
12-31-2017, 19:44
Those pesky tourists! Why cant they stay home and just mail the money in?

rocketsocks
12-31-2017, 20:12
Those pesky tourists! Why cant they stay home and just mail the money in?...or print there own, gotta be a program on the net somewhere that looks official enough.

tawa
12-31-2017, 20:22
A wise man once told me that what others think of you is none of your damn business!! Could'nt agree more!!
Its your hike so just go out and enjoy each and ever day of it and quit worry about labels etc





Why do people insist on worrying about what other people think? You didn't take up hiking to be judged. If that's what you're looking for join some competitive sport, cycling or swimming. When you're out there hiking put all that nonsense out of your head! Hike your hike for you no one else! If you section hike back and forth till you accumulate enough miles to match the miles of the complete trail and want to consider yourself a thru hiker that's you business. Be true to yourself, the hell with everyone else!

Highland Goat
01-01-2018, 09:01
When you get out on the trail you will find that people who have the little rocker under the patch have done all sorts of stuff that doesn’t seem like walking.
It is more a question of identity than of practices.

peakbagger
01-01-2018, 09:22
Yea well, that's what makes it so difficult:) It's easier to just bag a summit as a day hike then hike between them. Plus I'd rather run over to Maine or Vermont and avoid the tourists hikers in NH. I don't need to add to overcrowding at campsites or deal with the AMC huts. Of course I've done some of the AT through NH, just not all of it.

Same with me, I had 90% of the trail done but still had a bunch of short pieces nearby of trail that I missed while on weekend hikes. I spent one summer doing long hikes to pick up short sections. It was usually a day of hiking out and back to pick up a mile of trail.

4eyedbuzzard
01-01-2018, 14:54
Silly hypothetical question. Do the 2190 miles have to be consecutive. I have no intention of doing this but what if someone walked 1100 miles Of the trail, decided they didn’t like it and turned around and walked back the entire path they just walked. Does this count? Is a through hike specifically point a to point b or is it the completion of 2200 miles of appalachian trail?
The vertical distance from base camp (elev 17,958') to summit (elev 29,028') on Mt Everest is 11,070'.
The vertical distance from base camp to Camp 1 (elev 19,685') is 1727'.
So if I climb to Camp 1 seven times I will have covered 12,089' of vertical gain.
So I have climbed Mt Everest.
Um, NO.

Dogwood
01-01-2018, 15:31
Whoa folks. The OP seems to intentionally seek to be judged to qualify for "the completion of 2200 miles of appalachian trail", in context of qualifying for AT thru hiker completion status. What's wrong with judgment in this perspective?

If one wants to "officially" publicly qualify for that status from the ATC they need to abide by the ATC's qualifying conditions. The Elf clearly posted this highlighted qualifying conditions.

I wonder sometimes if the people who bristle at judgments related to themselves aren't some of the people quick to habitually engage in judgments about others and other things?


Want to qualify for a DL, bank loan, wed, job, career, friends, eat, hike, laugh, cry, go to war, make love .......it all involves making judgment calls.

Puddlefish
01-01-2018, 21:23
Whoa folks. The OP seems to intentionally seek to be judged to qualify for "the completion of 2200 miles of appalachian trail", in context of qualifying for AT thru hiker completion status. What's wrong with judgment in this perspective?

If one wants to "officially" publicly qualify for that status from the ATC they need to abide by the ATC's qualifying conditions. The Elf clearly posted this highlighted qualifying conditions.

I wonder sometimes if the people who bristle at judgments related to themselves aren't some of the people quick to habitually engage in judgments about others and other things?


Want to qualify for a DL, bank loan, wed, job, career, friends, eat, hike, laugh, cry, go to war, make love .......it all involves making judgment calls.

I didn't read the initial post in the same context as you. I saw nothing about official ATC certification in that post. A hike is a vacation. I think it's a bit silly to worry if you get a self reported merit badge for taking a vacation. Anyone who wants a badge can get one, just by requesting one.

We've had threads before about a purist thru hike vs. a "close enough" thru hike. In the end, the only opinion that matters is the hiker's.

I think you're reading way too much into the motivations of those who responded to the goofy question.

JJ505
01-07-2018, 12:52
And imagine the chagrin felt if, upon getting to the car, the hiker realized something was left behind at the turnaround point!

Is there a 4400 mile patch?

Well not a patch exactly, but there is an interesting guy--PJ Wetzel (don't know what his trail name is) who "day hiked" the whole AT twice. Parked his car at various places and hiked back to it (including the 100 Mile Wilderness) and never stayed a night in a tent or shelter because he hates them. They gave him some sort of special recognition as no one has ever done this before.

RockDoc
01-07-2018, 21:32
Same here, I logged way over 2000 miles on the trail before I ever completed all the sections. Just liked certain parts so did them multiple times.