View Full Version : What would you do?
Planning a thru hike NOBO. I've already completed NJ/NY section. I live locally to the NJ/NY section of the AT. My question is should I repeat this entire section or zero for the days it would take to complete it and spend time with friends and family and relax for those days?
You'll find the AT becomes your home on an AT thru-hike and you won't want to be away from it for long.
If I were you I'd plan on not skipping that section since you'd be a section hiker on the AT rather than an AT thru-hiker as you seem to intend to be.
Datto
max patch
04-13-2013, 12:53
You don't have to ask that question here -- you'll know the answer when you reach NJ.
I'd keep hiking and I bet you do too.
coheterojo
04-13-2013, 15:27
It wouldn't be a thru-hike if you left out a big chunk. It would just be a couple of long section hikes. That's the way I would look at it.
You can still take some zeros with the family but pick right back up where you left off.
Do what is better for you and your family combined. Do what makes you feel content.
Kerosene
04-13-2013, 16:41
There's no right or wrong answer, just opinions. You'll do what you want when you get there.
I'm almost done section hiking the entire AT, over many years, both north and southbound, in hikes ranging from a few miles to hundreds of miles. I think that you would find it refreshing to re-hike a known section after being on the trail for so long, perhaps at a different time of year. Plus, you get to say you're a thru-hiker instead of a 2,000 miler, which may or may not mean anything to you. It's a nice decision to have to make!
Cookerhiker
04-13-2013, 19:20
... you'd be a section hiker on the AT rather than an AT thru-hiker as you seem to intend to be...Datto
It wouldn't be a thru-hike if you left out a big chunk. It would just be a couple of long section hikes....
You may not be a "thru" hiker but you still will have hiked the whole trail. When you meet your fellow hikers through New England and stand with them on Katahdin, no one - not your fellow hikers, not your family, not your friends, no one - will say anything about you not being a thruhiker.
coheterojo
04-13-2013, 19:45
No argument there. The original poster asked what I would do and I told him what I would do. HYOH
as others have said, decide when you get there. I would imagine you will see the hike from the NJ to NY borde a bit differently after you have walked well over 1,000 miles to get there. That hike will seem like a pleasant stroll through a park with friends by then. As a side note, I tthe NJ hike was one of the more enjoyable and scenic sections...vastly underrated imo. Only downers were the busy freeway crossing and the grumpy sandwich shop guy.:)
Montana Mac
04-13-2013, 20:08
First of all ALWAYS HYOH!!!
I know for me personally I would not feel like I did a true thru hike. I grew up very close to the AT and have “sectioned hiked” the entire trail except Katahdin.
In 2007 I hiked about 500 miles of the trail with my brother when he did his thru. In 2009 I attempted a thru hike and “re-hiked” those same 500 miles. Unfortunately due to an injury I had to terminate my thru attempt in NH. Even though I had hiked the remainder of the trail previously I still have this “hollow feeling” of an uncompleted goal in my life. Strictly from my personal view I would say hike it. The real decider is if you can look at the face in the mirror and be happy with the person you see.
WingedMonkey
04-13-2013, 20:11
Planning a thru hike NOBO. I've already completed NJ/NY section. I live locally to the NJ/NY section of the AT. My question is should I repeat this entire section or zero for the days it would take to complete it and spend time with friends and family and relax for those days?
I had already hiked all of Massachusetts three or four times before my thru hike because that was where my friends lived next to the trail.
When I got to Massachusetts on my thru I spent most nights in the houses of those friends and I took them on the trail to hike with me and I still carried my pack so I could fix them meals and share what it was all about.
It added time to my hike but it also was a continuous hike and the days with them are part of my memories.