View Full Version : Any Regrets after taking a thru-hike
xbeatnickx
12-29-2004, 00:29
Anyone have any regrets after taking their thru hike? Anyone regret taking it?
How about the reverse? Anyone anxious about taking the hike and then realize that life wouldnt be complete if they hadnt taken it?
Thanks,
xbeatnickx
Yeah, skipping all those miles and sending for my certificate of completion!
TROLL CITY!!!
TRI :sun BES
Footslogger
12-29-2004, 00:54
Well ...my life would still be complete if I hadn't hiked the AT in 2003, but I'd always wished I had. I lived my dream in 2003 and I have absolutely NO regrets. Hiking the AT from end to end was something I had wanted to do for years. When I first got home after summiting Katahdin I wasn't thinking about another thru-hike. But, now that it's behind me and I've had a chance to realize and appreciate how much it meant to me I'm ready to do it all over again. In fact, the wife (Bad Ass Turtle - AT 2001) and I are planning to hike it again ...but this time together !!
Slogger
AT 2003
TROLL CITY!!!Yeah, two for the price of one (if they aren't both the same guy)
Wished I'd carried a higher quality, lighter digital camera and taken more pictures.
I don't know about the "life being complete thing" but I loved it and am so glad I did it.
Any regrets...none.
Anything I would have done different if I did another thru is something else.
One thing that I would do is take more notes about the places and people. I took very few notes in my journal during my hike. Just stuff like where I spent the night, tent, shelter or hostel, weather for the day and miles traveled.
My thru-hike was a flip-flop hike. I wouldn't do that again. Flip-floping allowed me the additional time to finish but it seperated me from a lot of great folks that I had hiked with. I also missed the thrill of finishing my hike on Katahdin with a lot of others doing the same. I finished my hike at the Doyle Hotel alone with no one to celebrate with.
Spirit Walker
12-29-2004, 10:54
Definitely no regrets. It did change my life, in that it gave me a totally new focus. After my first hike I said to myself, "That was nice, but I don't need to do it again." Then came April, and Springer Fever hit me hard. I started thinking about going back. It took four years to get the money together, but I did it. And a few years after that we went out to the CDT and then to the PCT and in 16 months we're going on another long hike. I discovered that I love the life, that I enjoy the challenge and being surrounded by natural beauty all day every day, and that I am happier on the trail than anyplace else. In other words, I became addicted to the life.
If I hadn't discovered long distance hiking, I'd probably have ended up as a world wanderer -- also satisfying, but in different ways. I can hike as long as my health holds up. It doesn't take a lot of money and is relatively hassle free. Trekking around the world takes money, patience with people and bureaucracy and a tolerance for urban envirnoments that I lack right now. I'm glad I discovered thruhiking.
...having to come back to the concrete jungle. I wished I had a digital camera, light with no electronic screen (to save on batteries). I could have mailed the memory chips home. I've got one now, maybe I can do the PCT or CDT with it.
My life too has been less neater, I tend to not shower or shave as much as I did before the trek. I miss the experience very much and think of it almost every day. I trail maintain, hike locally and sometimes for days, but its just not even close to being the same. My one big enjoyment is going to Damascus each year for Trail Days to try and find old friends and meet new ones.
gravityman
12-29-2004, 11:44
Anyone have any regrets after taking their thru hike? Anyone regret taking it?
How about the reverse? Anyone anxious about taking the hike and then realize that life wouldnt be complete if they hadnt taken it?
Thanks,
xbeatnickx
No regrets that we attempted a thru in 2001. Regrets about how hard I pushed myself and wife while out there. I blame myself for her foot injury because of that. I also wish that we had trained even somewhat before we went out. We have fixed a lot of the physical issues and trained for a marathon this past spring to make sure we had the foot issues licked.
Wish we had taken more pictures of PEOPLE! When you look through the pictures and when others look through them, few linger on the vistas, most linger on the people. Wish we had taken more time to make friends!
Gravity
None. My section hike on the AT in 2002 was the best thing I'd ever done. The PCT thruhike in 2003 topped it. Another section of the AT in 2004 and the GDT after that were marvelous. My life has altered dramatically since 2001, and for the better. No regrets at all.
Lion King
12-29-2004, 16:04
The only regret about hiking is that I never did it earlier in life, say right out of high school...my bad habits would have been fewer and my grand view of life and the beauty of humanity would have hit a lot sooner.
...that and not being smart enough to stop everytime I re-injure my ankle.
SGT Rock
12-29-2004, 16:07
I haven't thru-hiked yet, and that is my regret. Should have done it after HS and before the Army.
wacocelt
12-29-2004, 16:23
Top, if anyone on this site that hasn't Thru'ed yet and is going to it WILL be you.
Damn, I haven't completed mine yet, ahh well jinx be damned! We'll both make it!
xbeatnickx
12-29-2004, 18:20
Thanks for the input everyone. I really appreciate your very authentic answers.
Pooja Blue
12-29-2004, 18:32
My only reget is not switching to a warmer (and heavier) sleeping earlier in the fall.
hungryhowie
12-29-2004, 20:17
No regrets really, just things that I'll do differently next time. I'm happy that I did my first thru straight out of highschool. I spent more time on the trail absorbed in my own mind, sorting through my own thoughts on anything and everything, and defining who I am to me. Many people set off to "find" themselves...only, I did. Looking back, I have very little doubt that the longer one waits before undertaking a sojourn to find themselves, the less likely they are to do so.
After getting back from the trail, I was disappointed with the lack of photographs produced by me and a disposable camera. I've since gotten a little more serious and typically carry 5-10 pounds of photo gear with me on all my hikes. I'd certainly haul this stuff along next time. And eventhough I took a solid 6 months, I think next time I'd like to go a little slower, or at least stay out a little longer.
-howie
Jack Tarlin
12-29-2004, 20:31
Like Howie, no regrets, but certainly wishes that I had done some things a bit differently.
In detail, see www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showpost.php?p=54384postcount=9)
This is something I wrote moths ago but I got some good feedback on it.
Jack,
That's some good stuff.
xbeatnickx
12-30-2004, 00:03
Great info Jack - very thoughtful :)
Much like Jack, I wish I'd taken more time. I ended up with a time constraint, so I had to finish by a certain day. That made me end up hiking faster through Maine than I would have liked - I wish I could go back and take twice as long to hike NH through ME. On the other hand, I also took ten days off to go to Trail Days and Hardcore, so I brought it upon myself. Still, it took me five months to hike the Trail. If I were to do it again I'd make sure it took me six or seven.
Haiku.