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High Life
05-25-2008, 16:52
I want to hear from people who have done multiple thru hikes
Please tell me your reasons for doing so . along with trail names and years.
just curious about your decisions , did you change things year to year ?
:-?

minnesotasmith
05-25-2008, 17:09
I want to hear from people who have done multiple thru hikes
Please tell me your reasons for doing so . along with trail names and years.
just curious about your decisions , did you change things year to year ?
:-?

Hopefully in 2009, but if not then within a few years. Part of my reasoning is that I showed once I can do it, but now I want to do it well (in 5 months if possible). That, and I loved the Trail and I miss it.

Wolf - 23000
05-25-2008, 18:47
I’ve done several thru-hikes of the AT and of different trails. I have always gone by Wolf sense my first thru-hike. At first I look at it as a goal to walk from Maine to Georgia or Mexico to Canada or where ever. After a while, my goal change. It became more about being out there … a place I felt I belong. It was like coming home. It was exciting to meet new people each year but after a while the attitude of the hikers change. Leaving the trail was one of the hardest things I had to do. I miss it.

Wolf

fiddlehead
05-26-2008, 02:01
I've done a few. I like to walk.

rambunny
05-26-2008, 11:26
Like what you said Wolf. All of those reasons plus ,each day was differant-weather,people,my attitude. I was pretty badl;y injured in 2000,i limped from Va. to Maine,i wanted to see what it would be like uninjured in 2001.2002 was more of a physical thing -trying to get more miles as i wanted to yo-yo. Bad case of Lyme prevented the turn around. And then 2004 was about going southbound. Believe me Big K is a completely differant Mt. getting out of a car rather than hiking there fromGa.Now i'm living the dream of having a hostle. Atkins Va. We hope to be up and running for southbounders. You might be a repeat offender if ...when you get home you switchback the driveway. You still buy food that weighs very little and hang it in the kitchen.happy trails

Jack Tarlin
05-26-2008, 15:45
Speaking only for myself, I've come back to the Trail in order to repeat previous experiences and to re-visit favorite places......and also to discover new ones.

The Trail always provides something different. You either find something different, or you seek out something different, but in any case, it's never the same journey. If it were, I think us repeaters would probably be hiking somewhere else.

Sleepy the Arab
05-26-2008, 16:33
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived.

Spirit Walker
05-27-2008, 00:29
I hiked the AT first in 1988 and returned in 1992 because I wanted to find out if it was as good as I remembered. Second time around was better. I did change some things second time around - setting it up so I camped or sheltered in different places on my second trip, stayed at different hostels, etc. I still went northbound on both trips, mostly because I had a sudden opportunity to quit my job in March, and I took it. Gear was somewhat lighter second time around, but not that much.

In 1999 I went west and hiked the CDT. Again, I loved the trail and the experience, so we returned and hiked in again in 2006. That time we chose to go in the opposite direction and following different routes so it was as different as possible - but it was still terrific.

In 2000 we hiked the PcT. Someday we'll go back and hike it again, knowing that the second time is always different. The trail changes, we change, the weather changes, the people change. Each trip is different and unique.

That's why we keep going back.

At the same time, there are a lot of places to explore, and I'd like to see as much of the beauty of this country as I can while I can still hike, so I'm not willing to restrict myself to one trail - no matter how good. Which is why we spend most of our time exploring places we haven't been. My list of places to hike keeps getting longer instead of shorter. We just spent two months exploring in eastern Utah - and barely touched the surface.

I may someday go back to the AT, to see how it has changed, but not in the next few years. I have too many other places to see first.

High Life
05-27-2008, 11:02
thank you all for your input ..

bamboo bob
05-27-2008, 11:14
Far less philosphical. I thruhiked in 2002 just to see if I could do it after a near miss in 2000. So i've done end to end NOBO twice and I've been working on a SOBO for the past few years because I find it lonely to meet NOBO's for two minutes and only a rare southbounder. I like hiking a whole lot more than camping and would stay in hostels every night if possible. In PA you can almost do that. What I really like and come back for is the people. But alas I'm not a kid and I find many in the younger set to be boring and noisey. Hiking with earbuds doesn't appeal to me. In fact few of the habits of the younger set do. It appears they think they invented sex, beer, and dope. But I know I'm a curmudgeon. If anyone over 40 to 70 wants to hike SOBO from South Mt PA to Springer or part of that let me know.

Mags
05-27-2008, 12:00
Something I wrote in 2002 before doing the PCT:

So the question is, as it was four years ago, why go?

Why give up half a year’s salary to get sunburned, become thirsty, get rained and snowed on?

Why walk day after day with chafing and sore muscles?

Why be hungry all the time, only to have yet another mass of a soggy noodle dish for dinner?

Because the body heals. The pain is forgotten. The stomach eventually has its fill of food.

But the memories linger on: A sunset at Greenleaf Hut at the base of Franconia Ridge. A quiet campsite at the shores of a lake in Maine. Seeing ponies graze in the Grayson Highlands after a snowstorm.

I am going for the new memories I want to create.

The new experiences I have yet to have.

Four years ago, at about this time, I wrote an answer to the question of “Why go?”

Four years later, the trail may be different, but the sentiments still hold true:

“The most asked question about my hike is a simple “WHY GO?” I have several reasons, but I think the best answer is for the journey itself – all the pains and joys, all the experiences that comes with a 2160 mile walk in the woods”.

************

I wrote the italicized text over ten years ago before venturing forth on my Appalachian Trail thru-hike.

The trails may change, the equipment may change. But at its core I still go on these walks for the journey itself.

It is why I am a "repeat offender". The journey itself is why I continue to walk in the mountains. Why I may physically be at my desk but I am again remembering a sunrise over New Mexico, a quiet campsite by a lake in Maine, seeing the Sierra covered with snow and stretching out before me.

I've been lucky in life. Enough memories for a lifetime. But I want to create more. Experience more. Do more.

I readily admit it is an addiction; one I have yet to rid myself of. It is an addiction that I have embraced. Sometimes hesitantly; sometimes with full vigor. For better or worse, it is an addiction that has defined a good portion of my life.

santa
05-27-2008, 15:42
Something I wrote in 2002 before doing the PCT:

So the question is, as it was four years ago, why go?

Why give up half a year’s salary to get sunburned, become thirsty, get rained and snowed on?

Why walk day after day with chafing and sore muscles?

Why be hungry all the time, only to have yet another mass of a soggy noodle dish for dinner?

Because the body heals. The pain is forgotten. The stomach eventually has its fill of food.

But the memories linger on: A sunset at Greenleaf Hut at the base of Franconia Ridge. A quiet campsite at the shores of a lake in Maine. Seeing ponies graze in the Grayson Highlands after a snowstorm.

I am going for the new memories I want to create.

The new experiences I have yet to have.

Four years ago, at about this time, I wrote an answer to the question of “Why go?”

Four years later, the trail may be different, but the sentiments still hold true:

“The most asked question about my hike is a simple “WHY GO?” I have several reasons, but I think the best answer is for the journey itself – all the pains and joys, all the experiences that comes with a 2160 mile walk in the woods”.

************

I wrote the italicized text over ten years ago before venturing forth on my Appalachian Trail thru-hike.

The trails may change, the equipment may change. But at its core I still go on these walks for the journey itself.

It is why I am a "repeat offender". The journey itself is why I continue to walk in the mountains. Why I may physically be at my desk but I am again remembering a sunrise over New Mexico, a quiet campsite by a lake in Maine, seeing the Sierra covered with snow and stretching out before me.

I've been lucky in life. Enough memories for a lifetime. But I want to create more. Experience more. Do more.

I readily admit it is an addiction; one I have yet to rid myself of. It is an addiction that I have embraced. Sometimes hesitantly; sometimes with full vigor. For better or worse, it is an addiction that has defined a good portion of my life.

beautiful and inspiring. I cant wait to go in 2010. Btw boulder is a pretty chill place.

Mags
05-27-2008, 15:55
beautiful and inspiring. I cant wait to go in 2010. Btw boulder is a pretty chill place.

Thanks for the kind words.

I lived in Ft. Collins for a little while (~6 mos) and dated someone there, too for a bit. (Wow..almost 8 yrs ago..time flies. :O ) Nice little town. I must confess, I do like the *location* of Boulder, better in terms of outdoor stuff, but do love the quieter Ft. Collins itself.