View Full Version : back to back thruhike?
johnny quest
11-01-2006, 13:53
i apologize in advance if this is an already worn out issue, but i didnt find it in a search so here goes:
has anyone ever attempted a back to back nobo/sobo or visa versa? and if you were going to when would you leave and from where?
and please, dont respond with how i should worry about making it once before i think about such things. im just asking.
Cedar Tree
11-01-2006, 13:56
In 2000 Albatross did a complete yo-yo. He started Jan 1, and I started Feb 13. I caught him in NH, we summited Katahdin together. He told me he was yo-yoing, and I heard later he did finish. He started at Springer.
CT
johnny quest
11-01-2006, 14:12
thats cool. do you know if he has a journal online to read?
I hiked w/ Eagle for a while this summer, he was finishing up his triple crown, and will be 150miles short of 10,000. He has a desert survial company (DUST in fort davis tx) and since its too hot in the summer, he hikes, so he has done the pct, cdt, buckeye, and now the at. the buckeye and at he did only a few months apart, unfortunatly i don't remember how long he spent in btn. the pct and cdt and before he started the buckeye.
You should ask Ward Leonard about that subject. He can hike it twice in less time than you can once and he will be quick to tell you that too ! (my favorite: "You`ll never make it in those boots" lol ) His motif would be to start at Harpers ferry when everyone else was at Springer, no matter where he passed you at he would pass you again going north in about two weeks or so. I followed him north in `91 from Springer and read his shelter register entries all the way to Hot Springs , took him 7 days ! His self supported average is 54 miles a day. Talk about a machine, he has since been banned from the trail by the feds for his paranoid schizophrenic acts (harmless btw). I have met others that have done a back to back, just ask Nimblewill Nomad about such odysseys he has done that and much more.
RAT
From the 1990 edition of the "Philosopher's Guide" pg 145
"GREG KEY, 'The Traveler': Thru-hiked the A.t. GA>ME in '87, then became first person to hike the A.T four consecutive times. He started in '88 went GA>ME, ME>GA, GA>ME, finished ME>GA in Dec 89. Greg called it the Quad Hike. He made the turnaround and headed north again, going for 10K miles, but reportedly left the Trail in Jan or Feb '90"
We had the pleasure of meeting Greg on his NB '89 trip, great guy. Was hiking with Scott Gierson(sp), The Maineac at the time. For any of you who have seen a copy of the Natl Geographic book on the A.T., Scott is the fellow in the full page picture hiking in the rain full face to the camera.
Lone Wolf
11-02-2006, 08:33
Traveler was a scam. He didn't do the hike.
Maineac and Later Gator, Ga - Me in 59 1/2 days, `91, no scams, just crazy dudes !
RAT
Lone Wolf
11-03-2006, 21:44
Just Maineak did it. 55 days, 20 hours.
Just Maineak did it. 55 days, 20 hours.
When did Later Gator drop out ? I was at Blood mountain shelter eating breakfast when they came thru, they had just left Springer that morning before daylight ! Hell, it took me three days to get there , lol. I remember couple days later leaving Blue Mtn shelter going down into Unicoi Gap being passed by the marathon runner guy who did it in what 54 days ? Ward Leonard could beat them all hands down if he wanted to, esp if he has a road support crew !He did it in 66 days once just at his own pace.
HAIRNT !
RAT
Lone Wolf
11-04-2006, 11:58
When did Later Gator drop out ? I was at Blood mountain shelter eating breakfast when they came thru, they had just left Springer that morning before daylight ! Hell, it took me three days to get there , lol. I remember couple days later leaving Blue Mtn shelter going down into Unicoi Gap being passed by the marathon runner guy who did it in what 54 days ? Ward Leonard could beat them all hands down if he wanted to, esp if he has a road support crew !He did it in 66 days once just at his own pace.
HAIRNT !
RAT
Gator quit in Damascus. That first day they hiked Springer to Unicoi Gap. David Horton (The Runner) did it in 52 + days. Ward did it unsupported in 1990 in 60+ days. Maineak and I talked about offering Ward support for a record hike.
Thanks for those stats Wolf, amazing what a memory one can have when one doesnt smoke weed !!
RAT
warren doyle
11-06-2006, 09:39
Lone Wolf's statements on long distance hiking endurance record exploits, both the true and the fake, are very accurate.
Ward's average on his 'triple-thru' was between 30-35 mpd not 54 mpd as mentioned by a previous poster.
The only person who came close to that kind of average was Sam Swisher-McClure, a 19 y.o. who I supported on his record attempt in 1998. He walked from Springer from Lemon Gap in five days and was through Hot Springs by 10am on his sixth day - still the shortest time from Springer to Hot Springs (He also has the shortest time between Springer and Fontana Dam - 3 days).
As I have mentioned before, I feel the last great Appalachian Trail endurance challenge is walking it four times in one calendar year. That would be fascinating to follow.
chickadee
11-30-2006, 20:01
How do you get the money to do it that many times? I ran out of $ after 4 1/2 months.
I'd love to do al full thru-hike but I don't know if I could afford it let alone do a yo-yo..
How do you get the money to do it that many times? I ran out of $ after 4 1/2 months.
Borrow it from Lone Wolf, we recently found out that he is independently wealthy :D
lol RAT
As I have mentioned before, I feel the last great Appalachian Trail endurance challenge is walking it four times in one calendar year. That would be fascinating to follow.
Fascinating to follow maybe, but probably amazingly boring to do. Why someone would want to walk the AT 4 times, let alone twice in one yr, I'll never understand.
I still don't get so many peoples obsession with the AT. The scenary I saw on the PCT on day 1 was probably better than the best day on the AT, no exageration.
To each their own though, happily.
laniamore
12-01-2006, 00:29
Borrow it from Lone Wolf, we recently found out that he is independently wealthy :D
lol RAT
just how wealthy are we talking here? wanna pay for my hike? hahah :banana
just how wealthy are we talking here? wanna pay for my hike? hahah :banana
Nope he's already sponsoring me!:D
Lone Wolf
12-01-2006, 08:26
Fascinating to follow maybe, but probably amazingly boring to do. Why someone would want to walk the AT 4 times, let alone twice in one yr, I'll never understand.
I still don't get so many peoples obsession with the AT. The scenary I saw on the PCT on day 1 was probably better than the best day on the AT, no exageration.
To each their own though, happily.
Good observation. Most on the AT are there for the social scene. The "wilderness" feeling is secondary. It's all about shelters, town and hostels.
fiddlehead
12-01-2006, 09:08
Fascinating to follow maybe, but probably amazingly boring to do. Why someone would want to walk the AT 4 times, let alone twice in one yr, I'll never understand.
I never understood why people think it's boring to be in the woods (or above the woods) for a year at a time. There's threads here about the post hike trauma many times. Just keep hiking and there won't be any post hike trauma, except for recuperation time till the next hike!
I was out in 2001/2002 for 320 days straight and wasn't bored with any of the scenery. (some of the road walks perhaps in NM) Pushing yourself to your limits is rewarding in many ways. Most importantly, a sense that nothing is impossible!
Someone asked how you can afford to do something like this. It's called work, and save up for it. (the old fashioned way) We've been called "obvious trust funders" by some writer. Anyone that knows me got a good laugh out of that one.
Work is easy to find if you humble yourself to do anything.
Blue Jay
12-01-2006, 11:51
How do you get the money to do it that many times? I ran out of $ after 4 1/2 months.
I'd love to do al full thru-hike but I don't know if I could afford it let alone do a yo-yo..
It's hard to spend money if you stay in the woods. Only buy food and keep walking, it's really not so hard.
Spirit Walker
12-01-2006, 15:03
If you are doing a speed hike, you don't spend time in town, and that's where most of the money goes.
It's all about priorities - both pre-trail and on-trail. If you really want to finish, you'll work and save enough to get through.
warren doyle
12-01-2006, 18:00
Where there is a will there is a way. (and I mean the psychological will rather than the legal document)
Trying to walk 8,712-miles of the AT in one calendar year would be an amazing adventure to follow and a feat of continual endurance, adaptibility and fortitude
swantekkie
12-07-2006, 19:47
ill shovel **** against the tide if it pays right.