First thru hike- decision date to start date

[Gwals003]

I am interested(for curiosity and planning purposes), how long was it between your ultimate decision to attempt a thru hike and your start date? Further, how did you feel about this amount of time? Was it adequate planning time? Too long? Too short? Ect. Ect.

[Jeremy hess]

3 weeks very last min but it all worked out till injury

[max patch]

2 weeks, pre-internet, plenty of time.

[Blissful]

four years...

[Nutbrown]

Planning for an early retirement thru hike, in about 23 years...

[Del Q]

Nutbrown, in 23 years packs will weigh -16 pounds, pills will be 1000 calories each, water will be in pill form as well.............I think that you have ample time to prepare, focus on beer and pizza for the next 21 years, then get your fat butt in shape and get ready to hike!

[Double Wide]

I decided in 2011 to go in 2013.

But then 2012 happened, and after a car accident, then a couple of hospital stays, well, now I'm shooting for 2015. Not only will I be in much better shape, but now I'm using my company's stock plan to finance the whole thing. I've been buying up company stock at a 15% discount since last fall (automatically deducted from my paycheck, so I never see it or miss it--I just see that number on my account going up every month!). The only caveat is that I have to hold on to it for a year before I can sell it. By March of 2015 I should have a nice bundle saved up for not only a no-financial-worries thru-hike, but also a few grand leftover to transition back to the real world when I finish.

Now I spend my free time reading gear reviews, trail journals, and old threads here on WB. Oh, and sometimes I wander around in the woods a bit, too...:D

[Jim Adams]

6 weeks the first time(1990).......20 minutes the second time.(2002)

geek

[Spokes]

6 months for me. I'm convinced all "planning" does is allow you (and your family) a certain comfort level. So, after creating a three ring binder full of schedules, Excel spreadsheets, and other vital information it became useless about 3 days into the hike.

I ended up discovering the most important thing was learning the "ebb and flow" of trail life was and the "cycle" of how to do maildrops/bouncebox etc.

Once you get that nailed down it's easy-peasy.

I found this 10 page article on hiking the AT the most helpful and referred back to it often:

http://www.backpacker.com/november_2008_american_classic_hiking_the_appalach ian_trail/destinations/12530

Ignore the pop-up....

Cheers!

[Gwals003]

Great article, Spokes. I bookmarked it.

[TrekkerJeff]

We started planning in 2009 for our 2011 hike. That allowed a good amount of time for research and rounding up lighter gear. Needed to wait to retire before we hit the trail.

[BarFight]

Years, but I was in college when I decided to hike and I set a date for several years after graduating. Then I followed through with saving money and getting gear. It worked for me.