View Full Version : How long before it’s a LASH?
jimqpublic
03-16-2021, 12:07
I ...was... planning to wait until retirement in a few years and then jump straight into thru-hiking the AT. Although I have backpacked hundreds of days, the longest trips have been just over two weeks, and never in hot, humid conditions (my trips have all been in the West)
It seems prudent to ease into longer trips and also learn how I handle the weather, terrain, bugs, and society of Appalachian trails.
For those who have done Long Ass Section Hikes (LASH), how long is enough to settle into the thru-hiker routine? 4 weeks off work at a time is about the limit for me.
Jim
greenpete
03-16-2021, 12:36
I ...was... planning to wait until retirement in a few years and then jump straight into thru-hiking the AT. Although I have backpacked hundreds of days, the longest trips have been just over two weeks, and never in hot, humid conditions (my trips have all been in the West)
It seems prudent to ease into longer trips and also learn how I handle the weather, terrain, bugs, and society of Appalachian trails.
For those who have done Long Ass Section Hikes (LASH), how long is enough to settle into the thru-hiker routine? 4 weeks off work at a time is about the limit for me. Jim
Hi jim...the term "LASH" is new to me, which probably shows how out of touch I am with the latest AT hiking subculture jargon! The longest section I did was 8 days. But I've been told it takes a good three weeks to get into prime hiking condition. I'll find out in May, when I start my thru-hike. If you decide to retire "early," like me, let me know. I'm starting May 2 from Amicalola.
Slo-go'en
03-16-2021, 12:41
In a month you can cover 300 or 400 miles, maybe more if you really push hard. That's a pretty long hike :)
Unless I've been doing a lot of hiking prior, I figure it takes about 2 weeks to get in to thru hiker shape, aka "trail legs". As for a "routine", not long at all. In fact day 1, but I have a lot of experience and it's like I never left...
colorado_rob
03-16-2021, 12:50
Just another vote, and totally arbitrary, but I would call 250-300+ miles a LASH, a little over 2 weeks. 2 weeks or less, falls short of my working definition.
Just so happens we're heading out in May to get about 280 miles done in 2 weeks for my wife's AT progress (~1000 to go). I'm reluctant to call this a LASH, though it's right on the edge. Pure semantics.
LoneStranger
03-16-2021, 13:04
The length of a LASH is personal and depends on the size of your A, but that isn't really what you are asking is it? :)
I find that the more I go on trips of any length, the easier it is to fall into the rhythm one finds on a LASH or thru hike. If I do enough 2 night trips when I go out for a few weeks the patterns are all familiar. It really only takes me the first two days to adjust and by the third day it is just a matter of cruising towards the next food bag because the mechanics are all worked out in advance. I just need to make the mental adjustment and that is a lot easier going out there than it is when I come home heh.
Big_Old_Dog
03-16-2021, 14:44
Since a LASH is a long arse section hike, it has to be several sections, I suppose?
It seems to me that if someone is working fulltime and then uses at least two weeks vacation to do a hike, it sounds like a LASH whether they cover 150 or 400 miles. For retired or someone not supporting a family, it would feel more like a month to me.
If someone does the AT in three 30 day LASHes over a 6-7 month period, can they call themselves a thruhiker? Do they get the badge....
:)
One Half
03-16-2021, 15:31
Personally I think 3 weeks is the minimum, in my mind, to become a LASH. If you take a "standard" 2 weeks vacation (yes, I know, most people do 1 week at a time but many have at least 2 weeks/year to take) and add in the weekends and maybe even plan it to get a long weekend at the end so you also have an extra Monday off, that works out to about 17 days. That's a really long vacation but not a LASH. If you take a full 3+ weeks, to me, that's a LASH. Totally arbitrary but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for someone to take a 2 week vacation from work whereas going past that amount of time puts you into that other category of LASHers.
Certainly depends on what kind of shape you are in to start.
What no federal government LASH distance requirement or guidelines.
thom
cmoulder
03-17-2021, 08:15
What no federal government LASH distance requirement or guidelines.
thom
Already there are folks who think it doesn't count if you don't get a Gold Star from the ATC. :rolleyes:
LittleRock
03-17-2021, 09:16
So I guess my 2 week/150-180 mile AT hikes would be MASHes then?
You can "identify " it as anything you want. Heck these days you can "identify" yourself as a unicorn and be the first unicorn to thru hike.
greenpete
03-17-2021, 11:24
You can "identify " it as anything you want. Heck these days you can "identify" yourself as a unicorn and be the first unicorn to thru hike.
Best answer yet. Thanks for that dose of truth, JN164.
Wilderness is where things work the way they're supposed to work - Walkin' Jim Stoltz
Big_Old_Dog
03-17-2021, 12:05
You can "identify " it as anything you want. Heck these days you can "identify" yourself as a unicorn and be the first unicorn to thru hike.
Does that come with two gold stickers?
Does that come with two gold stickers?
Everybody gets a trophy!
Everybody gets a trophy!
Thank you for the trophy . I just want world peace
Thom
All these definitions are arbitrary but if the question is when I start to feel like I'm in full "thru hiker mode", the answer for me is about two weeks. There's a big difference between a one week hike and a three week hike in terms of mindset. The resupply and town stop in the middle is a big part of it, getting from trail to town and town to trail, etc. My longest hike to date was roughly the southern 1/3 of the Pacific Crest Trail over about 6 1/2 weeks. My second longest hike was my 4 week Colorado Trail thru hike. In both cases, there was a difference for me after about two weeks.
LoneStranger
03-17-2021, 13:24
All these definitions are arbitrary but if the question is when I start to feel like I'm in full "thru hiker mode", the answer for me is about two weeks. There's a big difference between a one week hike and a three week hike in terms of mindset. The resupply and town stop in the middle is a big part of it, getting from trail to town and town to trail, etc. My longest hike to date was roughly the southern 1/3 of the Pacific Crest Trail over about 6 1/2 weeks. My second longest hike was my 4 week Colorado Trail thru hike. In both cases, there was a difference for me after about two weeks.
Are you saying it takes that long to feel it or that the trip needs to be that long for you to feel it? Do you feel it earlier in the long hike because you know you are out there for a month or does it really take two weeks to get there mentally?
No right or wrong answers as far as I am concerned. I am just curious to understand other perspectives :)
Are you saying it takes that long to feel it or that the trip needs to be that long for you to feel it? Do you feel it earlier in the long hike because you know you are out there for a month or does it really take two weeks to get there mentally?
I haven't thought about it that way but you're right that maybe the mindset is different from the beginning knowing that it will be a longer hike. The PCT section was supposed to be a thru hike so for sure that was very different knowing that I was going to be on trail for a very long time. But I still think that it takes a week or so of time to get into "thru hiker mode" whatever that is. That first resupply, hitching into a town, doing laundry, resupplying etc, makes it feel more extended.
That all being said I have a one week trip without resupply next month and looking forward to that section. Either Rockfish Gap through SNP, which I've done before, or Daleville to Rockfish Gap, most of which I haven't done before.
I'm fairly burnt out on thru hiking long-long trails. The last few years I've hiked the Tahoe Rim Trail which is 165 miles. It's great in that it takes about 8 days including a zero and since you're hiking in a circle you end up right where you started. To me this feels like a long section hike. Compared to Atkins to Pearisburg which I just finished at 90 miles felt more like a long weekend.
I doubt very seriously I'll ever go on a hike that's more than 2-3 weeks again.
colorado_rob
03-17-2021, 20:45
I haven't thought about it that way but you're right that maybe the mindset is different from the beginning knowing that it will be a longer hike. I hadn't either, but yeah, a totally different feeling thinking, at least, that you'll be out for quite a while. I had that situation last year starting the PCT pre-Covid, planned on 2 months, then wham the pandemic blossomed and it wound up being only a week. During that single week, before I knew how bad the pandemic situation was, I was already in the wonderful long-distance mental state, or nearly there.
But if it's only a planned 2-weeks or so, I don't get into that glorious long-distance hike mind set. 3 or 4 weeks planned, maybe.
I like this for a definition of a LASH. If you get into the "zone", it's a LASH.
jimqpublic
03-17-2021, 22:58
All these definitions are arbitrary but if the question is when I start to feel like I'm in full "thru hiker mode", the answer for me is about two weeks. There's a big difference between a one week hike and a three week hike in terms of mindset. ...
Thanks Coffee and everyone else. My "best ever" backpack trip was the John Muir Trail at just over 2 weeks. The last night at Guitar Lake was really bittersweet as I felt I had really hit stride and wished I could keep going. It will probably be easier to swing a couple three-week trips each year than one four-week trip.
Thanks Coffee and everyone else. My "best ever" backpack trip was the John Muir Trail at just over 2 weeks. The last night at Guitar Lake was really bittersweet as I felt I had really hit stride and wished I could keep going. It will probably be easier to swing a couple three-week trips each year than one four-week trip.
I had a similar experience southbound on the JMT in 2013. At the PCT/JMT junction near Crabtree meadow, I wanted to keep hiking the PCT to Mexico rather than summit Whitney and then end my hike. So two years later I started on the PCT at the Mexican border and it was a huge milestone when I again stood at that same JMT/PCT junction hiking northbound. Unfortunately my PCT thru turned into a LASH but I didn’t yet know that at the time.
Duration and intensity are trade-offs. You can go longer, happily, if you take it easy. But hard charging hikes are rough on you physically and mentally, especially if you are not young. I think it's foolish and stupid to commit to a very long hike and then be stuck with it, sort of like being in jail (as a PCT thru hiker put it to me one day).
I've stopped doing running events that went on after I wanted to stop (I used to run ultramarathons; lately half marathons are enough). Same thing with hiking. I spent a month in Virginia a few years ago, and that was plenty. More recently I did a hard 10 day section of the PCT, and got my fill no question.
So the question is, how much is enough for you to get your fill. Doing any more than that is optional IMO.
(Many hiker do way way too much and it shows in their personality, all they will discuss is how many more miles, and what they are going to eat next).
Duration and intensity are trade-offs. You can go longer, happily, if you take it easy. But hard charging hikes are rough on you physically and mentally, especially if you are not young. I think it's foolish and stupid to commit to a very long hike and then be stuck with it, sort of like being in jail (as a PCT thru hiker put it to me one day).
I've stopped doing running events that went on after I wanted to stop (I used to run ultramarathons; lately half marathons are enough). Same thing with hiking. I spent a month in Virginia a few years ago, and that was plenty. More recently I did a hard 10 day section of the PCT, and got my fill no question.
So the question is, how much is enough for you to get your fill. Doing any more than that is optional IMO.
(Many hiker do way way too much and it shows in their personality, all they will discuss is how many more miles, and what they are going to eat next).
You said it better than I did, thanks.
For so many years I enjoyed hiking for months plus. Then I felt compelled to because dammit I'm a hiker. One day it dawned on me that I could just do what I felt like doing and feel good about it.
LoneStranger
03-20-2021, 11:42
Knowledge is power. Knowing that you can go home without being a quitter frees you up to start longer trips. Why not plan a month just in case? You can always go home after a week if you've had enough, but having to go home before you're ready just because you didn't schedule a longer trip sucks. I hate reaching the "end" and wanting more :)
For the past few years I have started SOBO on the Cohos Trail (NH) with a plan that would allow me to complete the entire trail. So far I've always been done for one reason or another by the time I get to Stark. Didn't stop me from planning for the entire trail again this year though. Who knows? Maybe this year I'll keep going. Hike what makes you happy and call it whatever you want!
It's well worth going south from Stark.
LoneStranger
03-20-2021, 12:19
Last year the lack of water made me stop. The Killkenney was really dry. Well everywhere was really dry heh and that is why I didn't want to risk it. I could have loaded up with as much water as I could carry an hope I made it, but it didn't seem wise. The first year I went really late and it was getting really icy and colder than I had gear for. When it is right it will be great I am sure, but I really love the north end of the trail. Sometimes you don't see people for days if you are lucky!
Ahhh the Killkenney. Very dry and the stories I could tell.
jimqpublic
03-20-2021, 16:28
Duration and intensity are trade-offs.
...So the question is, how much is enough for you to get your fill. Doing any more than that is optional IMO.
...
There's the rub. I have no idea. In the past 35 years I've had 4 weeks off work twice and 3 weeks maybe four times. My longest distance backpacking trip was 220 miles on the John Muir Trail and my longest duration was 3 weeks with the family when kids were 9 & 11.
I like the idea of starting off on a trail with a direction in mind. If I decide to take a week off in every town that appeals to me then ok. The AT will be new on many fronts- I've only backpacked or camped near the west coast and my trips to the east coast have been few and short. It's entirely possible that I decide 3 weeks is enough and 0 weeks is enough in heat and humidity. On the other hand I might flip/flop, find myself at Springer in November and decide to keep walking to Pensacola. I just don't know but want to find out.
I think 4 weeks off work, probably 3-1/2 weeks hiking, is a good goal for 2022. 2021 is still up in the air- COVID and my youngest is off to college -somewhere- in the fall. (Waiting for acceptances now).
Odd Man Out
03-20-2021, 21:56
The length of a LASH is personal and depends on the size of your A...
Best reply of the year.
Bubblehead
05-13-2021, 16:41
I figure 3-4 weeks of hiking or about 200 miles to be a LASH...that seems to be the time/distance to get to "thru hiking shape"...IMO...
I figure 3-4 weeks of hiking or about 200 miles to be a LASH...that seems to be the time/distance to get to "thru hiking shape"...IMO...
I am a section hiker only to date. And I have section hiked anywhere from 3 days to 15 days.
My experience is, regardless of distance, you don't get your trail legs until the day before you reach the end . . .
I am a section hiker only to date.
You should be open to marriage or a more committed relationship....
Heading out for a SASH (4 days, 50 miles) this week.
globetruck
05-15-2021, 09:19
My 2 cents:
- Section hike: anything > 1 night on AT
- LASH: section hike long enough to require a resupply
Not that it really matters. Just get out there and hike.
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