The Coolest Thing About A Thru Hike

[Chair-man]

First of all, I've never thru hiked myself, but as I prepare for my thru I've been reading a lot of trail journals at trailjournals.com (http://www.trailjournals.com/)and one of the things that almost everyone mentions is how they met other hikers early on in their hike and then unexpectedly run into to them again 500, 1000 or 1500 miles up the trail. That's got to be the coolest thing and one that I anticipate might happen to me when I attempt my thru.

[Just Bill]

The coolest thing about a thru hike is that you can't believe how many "coolest" things happen, and how often, and that every cool thing that happens is cooler than the last cool thing. If you're lucky, you'll see so many cool things that your head will explode. That, falls into the category of "mind blowing things", and in my humble opinion; that's the coolest thing.

[kidchill]

Yah, I was told this would happen at the beginning of my hike, and I didn't really believe it. I pretty much saw no one from Boiling Springs, PA until Southern VA...but, once I hit Damascus, people were popping up left and right. I think this happens for a few reasons...Number 1, towards the end, some people slow down and some speed up...Number 2, I think hurricane (or superstorm, wtvr they were calling it) Sandy kind of created a bottle-neck.

[Dogwood]

The Coolest Thing About A Thru Hike.....is that it better prepares me for doing the next one.

[evyck da fleet]

The Coolest Thing About A Thru Hike is......it stays with you the rest of you life and you think back fondly of it (just about) every day.

[Papa D]

you get to keep your life and live another life at the same time - - the whole thing is a giant bonus to your life. I thru hiked many seasons ago (I'm now re-hiking the trail in long sections) but I still go to bed at night and remember my thru- - shelter to shelter, campsite to campsite other hiker I came upon and by other hiker who I passed, stormy day, hot day, clear day, little town, laundry, postcard received by mail drop until I forget their names and all the details and fall asleep....

[Malto]

The coolest thing about a thru hike is something you won't be able to understand until you do it. No really, not just a smart a$$ed answer.

[slbirdnerd]

I just finished David "Awol" Miller's book (a must read) and he ran into a guy on the AT during his through. I believe he ran into him up north, the guy was SOBO hiking a series of trails from Canada to Key West (I think I have this right). So Awol is back in Florida long after his thru and sees a hiker walking on a road. Being a hiker himself, Awol stops to talk to him--it's the guy Awol met up north on his thru, still on his hike! That is indeed VERY COOL.

[Drybones]

Coolest thing about the hike is the people you meet. I asked someone once what thier take away was from thier thru hike and they said "the people he met and the friends he made", decided right then I'd try it. For me the hikers you meet is 70% of the journey...some great folks out there.

[Double Wide]

While I was sitting atop Springer Mountain enjoying the view one sunny afternoon, a hiker came up the Approach Trail and asked me how far it was to the Springer Mountain shelter. I told him he was almost there. Later that afternoon, he passed me up as I was sitting on that huge log alongside the creek just before you round the bend and get to the Stover Creek shelter. We ended up staying hanging out there for the afternoon and both spent the night at the shelter. He told me his name was Littlefoot, from Eastern Pennsylvania.

A few weeks later I was reading a Trail Journal, and some hikers were talking about how they made that huge climb out of Palmerton (?), the one where it's about a thousand foot climb into the old zinc factory Superfund site--no shade, no water, nothing but heat, ticks, and rattlesnakes. Anyhow, they were pretty hot and tired when they got to the top and came upon a guy dropping off coolers full of cold water jugs for the thru-hikers. Said his name was Littlefoot.

And I said to myself, Hey--I know that guy!

Life on and around the Trail is pretty cool indeed.

[Dogwood]

Just Bill is right. When I look back on thru-hikes no one coolest thing comes to mind. Lots of things come to mind. And, as I think about those things more things come to mind. One of the things that has happened to me since completing my first long distance hike is that I've ceased looking at things in terms of their singularity or by describing them in terms of superlatives. I've learned to live more "in the moment" and understand how more is connected than I originally perceived.

[RED-DOG]

Theirs a lot of COOL things each person will experience while undertaking a Thru-Hike, but for me The COOLEST thing on all three of my Hikes was Finishing, Theirs nothing like the feeling you get when you just finished hiking 2000+ miles and you walk out on top of Baxter Peak and you see the terminus sign, and you realize what you just accomplished. that to me is the up-most COOLEST thing about hiking the AT

[Meriadoc]

. . . I've ceased looking at things in terms of their singularity or by describing them in terms of superlatives. I've learned to live more "in the moment" and understand how more is connected than I originally perceived.

This. The coolest thing is that the word 'coolest' becomes meaningless. The internal change makes every moment the coolest.

[rtfi]

This is a section-hiking story, but in the same vein. One year I was resting at a shelter before going to pump my water for dinner when a woman showed up and I said to her, “Hey Kathy!” Needless to say, she was surprised to be addressed by name but then laughed when I told her I remembered her from the prior year when we were both section hiking at the same time of year further south. We had hiked together for awhile on a road walk and stayed at the same shelter on a couple of nights, so I remembered her.
Next month, I am going to visit with a woman who I hiked with for a week on a section hike. We have exchanged letters every once in awhile and Christmas cards every year. I just happened to have plans to drive by her city even though it is a few states away from where I live. She has ended her long distance hiking career after crossing the 2,000 mile mark on the AT and I am looking forward to congratulating her in person.