JustaTouron
01-31-2010, 16:15
Since accidently stumbling on this forum about a week ago, I have a renewed interest in doing my childhood dream of thru hiking the AT. I have been discussing it with my wife and currently have it penciled in for 2020 (although if could be as early or as 2018 or might have to wait until 2022, depending on when I can afford retire.)
However, my wife doesn’t hike and neither of us like the idea of being separated for 5 months. But my wife doesn’t mind living in an RV, in fact her thought for when I retire is we take six months to a year poking around the country living in the RV and checking out quaint little towns. Six months of window shopping at quaint little towns’ gift shops is about 5.5 months more than I could handle without going nuts.
So we are thinking of having me “slack pack” the entire trip. She drops me off in the morning, I hike, she window shops, photographs quaint little covered bridges, etc. Then we meet in the evening and either dry camp on the side of the road with the generator or find a campground with hookups. We would need hookups about every 2 or 3 days.
I would not have to worry about mail drops, shuttles or other supply issues.
My first question is:
Are there roads frequently enough for me day hike from one road to the next or am I going to need to actually backpack some?
An occasional night away wouldn’t be a problem but if she is gonna be on her own for 2 or 3 nights on a fairly consistent basis she is not gonna be so willing to do this. Plus the idea of doing this without lugging a heavy backpack sounds real appealing to me. I am not getting any younger.
Second (group of) questions:
Anybody done this? How did it go? Where you accepted into the community of thruhikers or considered an outsider because you didn’t sleep on the trail? What did your spouse think of the experience?
She brought up the idea that occasionally we are going to want to treat my hiker friends that I make on the trail to a meal (probably by setting up a BBQ grill at a trail road intersection and cooking up some hotdogs and hamburgers) or a shuttle ride. The key word here being “occasionally”. She doesn’t want to become a full time support person for a dozen hikers. So…
Third question:
Any ideas or suggestions on how to set limits so folks aren’t asking for a shuttle ride at every town or yoging my wife for food every time they see the RV on the side of the road, without being a jerk and always saying “no” would be greatly appreciated.
I got plenty of time to plan this. Years in fact. But I am already getting excited about the idea. It’s like I am 15 years old again.
However, my wife doesn’t hike and neither of us like the idea of being separated for 5 months. But my wife doesn’t mind living in an RV, in fact her thought for when I retire is we take six months to a year poking around the country living in the RV and checking out quaint little towns. Six months of window shopping at quaint little towns’ gift shops is about 5.5 months more than I could handle without going nuts.
So we are thinking of having me “slack pack” the entire trip. She drops me off in the morning, I hike, she window shops, photographs quaint little covered bridges, etc. Then we meet in the evening and either dry camp on the side of the road with the generator or find a campground with hookups. We would need hookups about every 2 or 3 days.
I would not have to worry about mail drops, shuttles or other supply issues.
My first question is:
Are there roads frequently enough for me day hike from one road to the next or am I going to need to actually backpack some?
An occasional night away wouldn’t be a problem but if she is gonna be on her own for 2 or 3 nights on a fairly consistent basis she is not gonna be so willing to do this. Plus the idea of doing this without lugging a heavy backpack sounds real appealing to me. I am not getting any younger.
Second (group of) questions:
Anybody done this? How did it go? Where you accepted into the community of thruhikers or considered an outsider because you didn’t sleep on the trail? What did your spouse think of the experience?
She brought up the idea that occasionally we are going to want to treat my hiker friends that I make on the trail to a meal (probably by setting up a BBQ grill at a trail road intersection and cooking up some hotdogs and hamburgers) or a shuttle ride. The key word here being “occasionally”. She doesn’t want to become a full time support person for a dozen hikers. So…
Third question:
Any ideas or suggestions on how to set limits so folks aren’t asking for a shuttle ride at every town or yoging my wife for food every time they see the RV on the side of the road, without being a jerk and always saying “no” would be greatly appreciated.
I got plenty of time to plan this. Years in fact. But I am already getting excited about the idea. It’s like I am 15 years old again.