If you could change one thing

[Emily Harper]

For those of you who had hiked the trail,

If you could change on thing about your hike what would it be?


Mine is I wish I had ultralight weight ray way pack.

[Blissful]

That I had more days and I wasn't so goal oriented and competitive with others that I can stop and smell the roses and not worry that I didn't do a "20".

[Don H]

I would take more pictures, I only took a thousand.

[Tenderheart]

That I had more days and I wasn't so goal oriented and competitive with others that I can stop and smell the roses and not worry that I didn't do a "20".

+1 to that

[bamboo bob]

I would/will care much less about pack weight and having the latest hip cool gear. I don't have a 50 pound pack but really does it matter if it's 18 or 22 pounds. I'll also stay in shelters less so I get a good nights sleep as much as possible. I wont care when i finish or if I ever finish.

[Jack Tarlin]

I wish I'd been more diligent about getting the names and contact information of the people I hiked with, met along the way, and especially the ones who helped me out in countless ways. There are all sorts of folks out there I wonder about and would like to know how they're doing, and lots of others who should have got completion photos and thank you notes.

[Praha4]

Ditto! This is the one thing I would also change on the next hike. It's not a race, nobody gets a gold medal for finishing first. I think another change would be to camp away from shelters more often. Another change would be to take more pictures of the hikers met on the trail, and less pictures of the scenery, most small cameras do no justice to the endless mountain vistas. When I got home, I asked myself, 'why did i take that picture?', and wished i had more pics of hikers i met on the trail. As far as clothing, i think I will stick with Darntough Coomax socks and not use gaiters.... that should help elimininate the big problem I had with foot blisters.



That I had more days and I wasn't so goal oriented and competitive with others that I can stop and smell the roses and not worry that I didn't do a "20".

[Jack Tarlin]

Incidentally, for folks who find this thread interesting, look in the "Articles" section of this website......there's a thread there called "What would you do differently?" or something like that, which contains all sorts of ideas and thoughts that might be helpful for prospective hikers.

[Lillianp]

So much of this is true-I wish I had kept my camera around and taken pictures of other hikers, I'd been less focused on competition, but, ironically, that I'd done more twenties.

That I'd taken the advice of the dude at Walasi-Yi and gotten that Granite Gear pack. Now have the ultralite version & wish I'd had the other one on Trail.

[Megapixel]

i wish i'd not acted on an impluse to leave the hike early. mental toughness and all that. i'll be remembering that on this years thru.