View Full Version : What makes a successful thru hike?
Blissful
09-30-2011, 14:08
Take a look at this article and like to hear your thoughts on what makes a successful thru. May do a future blog on this topic.
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/complete_thruhike.html
4eyedbuzzard
09-30-2011, 14:33
Commitment, determination, and finishing it?
Two thing make for a sucessfull thru...Determination and luck.
Photo looks like Hawkeye, two time triple crowner, in Yellowstone. Here he is in Montana earlier that year (2007)...
1400814009
Mr. BuffaloMan
09-30-2011, 19:42
I have to agree with the article. The only thing that matters is the will. I did everything wrong on my thru hike except that I didn't stop. No matter what.
jersey joe
09-30-2011, 20:58
Determination put a slightly different way...stubbornness.
Monkeywrench
09-30-2011, 21:21
I have to agree with the article. The only thing that matters is the will. I did everything wrong on my thru hike except that I didn't stop. No matter what.
Hey Mr. BuffaloMan, you didn't do everything wrong. You picked a year to hike where the water supply was never in danger of drying up. You had the biggest, most luxurious tent I ever saw in the back-country (Did you really have a pool table in the basement of that thing?). You hung out with some good people. And, as you pointed out, you had the will and determination to keep going!
I was just thinking today that I feel like I am ready to go live in the woods for six months again. Can't even mention such a thing to my wife yet though. Someday...
johnnyblisters
09-30-2011, 21:37
Determination put a slightly different way...stubbornness.
I strongly agree with stubbornness. As LW said, its just walkin. Quit taking it so seriously...
XCskiNYC
09-30-2011, 23:36
Does an upbeat outlook help?
Shakespeare seemed to think so, or at least the Shakespeare character Autolycus from a Winter's Tale:
Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,
And merrily hent the stile-a:
A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires in a mile-a.
Q: what makes a succesful thru-hike? That's easy: Finishing it. Whether you loved every minute of it or cursed most of your steps most of the way, found it to be a vacation or six months of grueling physical hardship, had good weather or bad, tented, sheltered, or hammocked, hit every town and hostel or stayed in the woods - every completed hike is a succesful thru hike imo. and if you've read this board long enough, there are all kinds of opinions and experiences associated with a thru hike.
If your question was "what makes a successful thru-hiker?" (as opposed to thru-hike) then the answer is the hiker has to be of such a positive mental frame of mind that the hike is perceived as "fun" or a "vacation" or they have to possess the determination to keep going when the novelty has worn off as noted above.
Let me be the first to say that a walk from Springer to Monson or Springer to Damascus or Erwin to Damascus or whereever can also be considered a success as well but the question was specific to thru-hikes.
SassyWindsor
10-01-2011, 00:07
Enjoying the accomplishment. duh
Snoring Sarge
10-01-2011, 02:57
Just not being willing to quit.
Q: what makes a succesful thru-hike? That's easy: Finishing it. Whether you loved every minute of it or cursed most of your steps most of the way, found it to be a vacation or six months of grueling physical hardship, had good weather or bad, tented, sheltered, or hammocked, hit every town and hostel or stayed in the woods - every completed hike is a succesful thru hike imo. and if you've read this board long enough, there are all kinds of opinions and experiences associated with a thru hike.
If your question was "what makes a successful thru-hiker?" (as opposed to thru-hike) then the answer is the hiker has to be of such a positive mental frame of mind that the hike is perceived as "fun" or a "vacation" or they have to possess the determination to keep going when the novelty has worn off as noted above.
Let me be the first to say that a walk from Springer to Monson or Springer to Damascus or Erwin to Damascus or whereever can also be considered a success as well but the question was specific to thru-hikes.+1 The novelty definitely wears off VERY quickly!:eek:
Lone Wolf
10-01-2011, 06:06
there is no success or fail. it's just recreation
Doc Mike
10-01-2011, 09:42
there is no success or fail. it's just recreation
And everyday rain shine sleet or snow on the trail is still better than being at work!!!