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View Full Version : What is Your Motive for a Thru-Hike?



illininagel
09-23-2003, 00:11
In Roland Mueser's "Long-Distance Hiking", he documents three fundamental motives of long-distance hikers. He notes that hikers typically identify one of these as their single, main reason for hiking:

Challenge and Adventure: This is the thrill of experiencing something totally new, of doing something totally different, and perhaps being noticed and admired for the achievement.

Love of the Outdoors: These people belong to a select group of career hikers who would like to spend 12 months a year on the trail. They truly love the trail and the wilderness. If we attempt to classify any motive as a pure one, this would seem to be it.

Escape and Simplicity: These hikers are not so much attracted to the challenge or beauty of the trail as they are repelled by what life is offering them at home. These backpackers seek a change in their environment and often stress simplifying their lives.

I'm not sure what this forum poll will show, but the author summarized his survey responses as:

Challenge and Adventure- 60%
Love of the Outdoors- 20%
Escape and Simplicity- 20%

The book also goes into more depth on this topic. I found the book to be very interesting.

chris
09-23-2003, 08:51
I wished for an all-of-the-above button, but had to settle with number 3. I could have been tempted by an option like, "I can eat any thing I want, even a tub of butter, and still feel healthy."

attroll
09-23-2003, 11:36
Yes I agree with Chris. I would have picked all the above button if there was one. But as it was I picked #2.

Spirit Walker
09-23-2003, 12:23
You definitely need an all of the above button. Most of us have mixed motives, not one sole reason for hiking.

TedB
09-23-2003, 13:05
How about "Simplify and Come Alive!"? Watching TV and shutting off your brain is escape, escape from reality, you are sitting there watching blinking lights and the recorded laughter of people long since dead. On the trail I'm escaping the unreality that much of our culture seems to embrace: the mindless pursuit of money and material possessions, the wackos on the freeway, the dreams of a vacation in the tropics where you drink your brains out, none of that is real to me. To push myself on the trail, to surround myself with nature, it is in effect the opposite of escape, it is to embrace what is real.

"... you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind. Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance, Neo. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember, all I'm offering is the truth, nothing more." -Morpheus

Kerosene
09-23-2003, 16:27
Another vote for an "All of the above" button.

illininagel
09-23-2003, 17:30
I didn't want to offer an "All of the Above" option since I thought that most people have several reasons for undergoing such an endeavor. I should have phrased the question a little better. I'm really looking for your PRIMARY reason for doing the thru-hike. I think mine would be for the Challenge and Adventure. Of course, I love the outdoors and wouldn't mind escaping from some things...but, my primary reason is for the Challenge.

Sleepy the Arab
09-23-2003, 18:40
My motives for thru-hiking? Well, it just seems like a good idea to spend 1/4 of the Bush administration in the woods. God help my knees should he be re-elected.

Virginian
09-23-2003, 21:41
My motivation for Thur Hiking changed as I headed down the trail. I started for the adventure and challenge,and though they both stayed with me the whole way, my underlaying motives changed from week to week. But the one thing that I never figured on, was that it just became such a cool way to live. I haven't been that free---------------ever!!!!

chris
09-24-2003, 08:47
That is what is making life in Indiana so depressing: Remembering the freedom lost. How far, oh how far I've fallen in just a month.

Colter
09-24-2003, 10:59
Of course my motiviations, or perhaps my PERCEIVED motivations are no more or less valid than others, but I'd like to say this:

I think people START a thru-hike for many different reasons, including love of the outdoors, escape etc, but I think most folks that FINISH do so because of the challenge and adventure.

I believe a thru-hike is still a bit of a "stunt" when you get right down to it. Walking down the trail does become your job to a certain degree, in that you have to put in the miles in all types of weather if you are going to finish in a year, whether you are in the mood to hike or not.

When I'd get up early on a rainy day to head north, I wasn't doing it because I loved the outdoors, (which I do,) I was doing it to continue my journey to Katahdin.

A thru-hike gives you freedom in some respects, and takes your freedom in others. I've often thought that if challenge and adventure WEREN'T the primary motivator, that a long summer spent out west, hiking stretches of the Rockies, would be a great way to go. Hiking when you want, camping and resting when you want, spending as much or little time in town as you want, and heading to an entirely different Range when the mood strikes you. That would clearly make your primary goal the enjoyment of your summer outdoors, and not following a certain route at a certain pace for a predetermined goal.

My thru-hike was GREAT, and I loved it, but for me it was clearly the challenge that was my primary driving force.

Colter
My Thru-Hike Webpage (http://www.bucktrack.com/Appalachian_Trail.html)

Doctari
10-10-2003, 22:23
I too would have picked 4: all of the above.

Plus: I need the excersize, I'm obsessive, and many other reasons.

warren doyle
10-21-2003, 11:23
I like walking through the Appalachians.

sloetoe
12-05-2003, 12:28
"... you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind. Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance, Neo. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember, all I'm offering is the truth, nothing more." -Morpheus

How about "Red Pill" button?

I loved Muesser's book, but have a problem with the choices presented -- just look at "Escape and Simplicity" for example: how many of us didn't follow Thoreau into the woods? And ultimately, how many of us didn't also *finish* following Thoreau as well?

"I went to the woods because I wanted to live life deliberately; to confront only the essential elements of it; to..."

I went to the woods to simplify and confront, not to escape and simplify.

OldPhartNote: And for that matter (having returned to the backpacking fold years later) I continue to live life as a "civilian" as close as practical to use-it-up-wear-it-out-make-it-do-do-with-out so necessary on trail. I just wish *I* could turn the TV off more often and do more "confront" action...

Sloetoe
GA->ME'79

Peaks
12-05-2003, 20:11
Well, in hind site, I think what motivated me to do the AT at the time I did it was to prove to myself that I was not disabled by cancer.

I think that for many, part of the healing process for cancer is to do a major physical challenge. For many, it's run a marathon, or do the 3 day walk for cancer and such. For me, it was to hike the AT.

I may not have been aware of the reason why hike the AT when I did, but as I look back on everything, it's become more obvious why I did it then.

squirrel bait
02-10-2004, 12:29
I just simply like walking. It's the one thing I don't suck hind t*t doing. :jump

Furlough
03-25-2004, 10:04
My primary reason is Love of the Outdoors. But, if given the option I would have chosen all the above. HH

gmu
04-06-2004, 08:49
How about: all of the above

Smooth03
04-07-2004, 00:36
I hear ya Chris. I'm moving to NYC in about three weeks and am excited because I will actually be CLOSER to hiking trails, mainly being the AT. Just nothing in Indiana. I can go down to Hoosier National Forest only so many times.


That is what is making life in Indiana so depressing: Remembering the freedom lost. How far, oh how far I've fallen in just a month.

retread
04-07-2004, 22:25
I am priviledged to know Bill Irwin. We are both from the same hometown and I went to high school with his two younger brothers.

I called Bill to talk to him about the trail after I decided to thru-hike. He asked me, "What's your reason for hiking the trail?" And as I was about to answer he said, "No...I mean the REAL reason."

Sure made me think.

weary
04-08-2004, 08:38
I'm not sure what this forum poll will show, but the author summarized his survey responses as:

Challenge and Adventure- 60%
Love of the Outdoors- 20%
Escape and Simplicity- 20%

The book also goes into more depth on this topic. I found the book to be very interesting.

I chose escape and simplicity, but probably my primary motive was curiosity. I was curious about the trail in the south. I was curious to see if I could really keep walking for six months at age 64.

I think also there is a distinction between the motive for a thru hike and why one persists in a thru hike. In 1993 I met a lot of people who after awhile genuinely disliked the trail experience, but kept going anyway, despite multiple plausible excuses.

I enjoyed my six months and three days in the outdoors immensely. Too much maybe. Because I was not driven by the prospect of a 2000 mile rocker. Just the desire to continue and to climb Katahdin as a proper conclusion to a wonderful season in the outdoors. I have picked up most of the miles I missed because of my quest to climb Katahdin before snow fall.

But somehow a rocker doesn't seem important anymore. I still think about another six months on the trail, but I've gotten so involved with the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust and its efforts to provide buffers for the narrow trail corridor in Maine that it's hard to break away.

Now if people would just get together and give us a few million dollars ....

We need $500,000 to purchase the summit ridge of Abraham and the route of it's blue-blazed side trail, probably 12 times that amount to create a proper trail buffer between Saddleback and Bigelow.

Most of the critical land is on the market and available to the highest bidder. Oh? Did someone ask for an address? It's MAT Land Trust, PO Box 325, Yarmouth, Maine 04096.

Weary

sgtjinx
07-21-2004, 13:25
For me it's the challenge to walk the entire trail. The reason is I'm a Disabled Veteran, I have walk thousands of miles while in the service. But to look at the top of Mount Katahdin would fill my heart with the joy being alive. :cool:

Sgt Jinx
US Army ret

fatmatt
08-23-2004, 11:03
i would pick all of the above if there was that choice

Pencil Pusher
08-23-2004, 20:07
I was planning on doing it for the women.:datz

fiddlehead
06-02-2005, 21:21
Rollie is a great guy, but i too was looking for the "all of the above" button. Of course, once you already do a thru hike, i think your reasons may change a bit for doing another one. 1st time, perhaps it's the unknown adventure. Second time is because you want to live it again. Third time, perhaps try a different trail to see if you get the same feelings, and after that, it becomes a lifestyle. You are asking people who (most of them) have already done it. fh

Nean
06-02-2005, 22:33
My real reason was time, I've always wanted to spend as little as possible working! After I got out of the navy I spent a few months each year traveling around the country in my car. One day I read about the AT and thought 6 instead of 3, months that is. 6 weeks later I was on the trail...and have been in love with the lifestyle ever since :jump

Heater
06-03-2005, 00:45
All of the above.

35% love of outdoors.
35% escape and simplicity.
30% adventure and accomplishment.

The Hog
06-03-2005, 07:33
Thoreau wrote, "There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living." I wanted to make sure that I wasn't one of the fatal blunderers.

Plus, I had a need to communicate to others what they're missing, so I carried a movie camera and produced North To Katahdin.

Oh, my girlfriend and I were having problems, so I wanted some time away to think about whether it was really going to work long term (as it happened, I met my future wife on the trail...).

Section hiking wasn't getting me very far. After ten years, I only had 300 miles. I realized that a thru hike was probably the only way I would accomplish my lifetime goal.

superman
06-03-2005, 08:34
In 1968 there was a two page spread in my local newspaper about a guy who thru hiked the AT that year. I’d just finished two tours in the 1st Infantry Division as an RTO/FO in Vietnam and thought hiking the AT would be a good way to unwind. I was dating the woman who would become my ex-wife. Her mother and I planned a thru hike using the newspaper article as our information source. Instead of hiking I went to college, got married, had kids, etc.

I retired, my child support payments ended, and my ex-mother-in-law sent me the very yellowed newspaper article from 1968. In 99 I hiked the LT to sort out what gear to use on the AT and to train Winter for the trail. When I started the AT most of the people said they were hiking so they could hug a tree, be one with nature or something like that. Latter people started talking about the real personal issues that brought them to the AT. Most seemed to be at a cross roads in their lives and were trying to sort it out on the AT. Some folks had a gap in their lives because of some life change in a relationship, career or health issue. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life. For the first time that I could remember I was free to do anything, go anywhere and I had enough money to do lots of stuff…but what? I spent many, many days deeply considering my options.

I came to no conclusion hiking the AT but when I finished the AT my life shot off in directions that I’d never considered. Hiking the AT was the biggest and best thing I’ve ever done just for me. What I didn’t know as I hiked was that my ex-mother-in-law vicariously hike the AT with me and lived for my journal entries. When she sent me the newspaper article she had been diagnosed with cancer and been given two years to live. She passed away shortly after I finished the AT.

Nean
06-03-2005, 12:49
That was a wonderful post Superman, thank you for sharing. BTW- do you remember the 68 hiker?

superman
06-04-2005, 08:29
No I don't remember his name and the paper got lost in relocating after the AT. Who knows...that newspaper may be found again. It was the New Haven Register, fall of 1968, 2 pages spread with pictures if anyone knows how to archive such things. Things have a way of working out in time and life is good.