View Full Version : Downsides and Lowpoints
I would like to open this thread up for feedback from past Thru hikers whether SOBO, NOBO , or Flip-Floppers. What were the negative aspects of your thru-hike. what were some things that you encountered and weren't prepared for. Both physically and pschologically. My intent is to better prepare myself for my own thru in '07. I am interested because I want to (mentally) appreciate the hardships involved. To try my best to approach the undertaking without any preconceptions , subconcious or unconcious. If you can put me in your shoes and try to communicate your experience when you were down and considering dropping out. My goal with starting this thread is to maybe say to myself during my own hike "Well so and so told you there was going to be days like this" to be forewarned is forearmed. Thanks in advance for your help.
Gerard
MisterSweetie
07-28-2005, 19:42
A question I've always wondered regarding your topic is this... Do knees ever recover from the hike? I understand it's pretty hard on knees, but did you ever recover from it? Do your knees still feel like sandpaper is between your joints?
Or maybe I'm overrating that problem. Is it hardly an issue at all? For the average person, I'm talking about, I know there are extremes. In general, how does the hike affect knees?
tlbj6142
07-28-2005, 21:52
Do knees ever recover from the hike?Obviously this would be different for everyone, but my youngest brother (23 yo) did his thru in '04. Even a 6-8 mile day hike causes him quite a bit of pain.
I think his knees hurt quite a bit on the trail but he drugged himself through it. And wore a couple of braces.
Probably end up with knee replacements in his 30's:D
ksdave48
07-29-2005, 00:31
In '82 I attempted a thru hike flip- flop starting in Pa. where I lived south of Port Clinton. I was in great shape and spent a lot of time on the trail. I took off too fast with too much weight and shocked my body and knees within the first week ( 50 lbs. 15-20 miles a day). That was the biggest surprise. I stopped 1000 miles later when I could only walk 1 day 5-10 and rest the knees the next day. Pain that didn't stop. My knees healed in a few years. I'd love to go again, lighter and take more time to break in. Shorter miles and more days off for the first month. In my opinion bugs are occasionally the biggest mental challenge beyond continuing the hike itself. And stinging nettles and the constant hunger even after gorging oneself. The rewards are great. You'll never be the same. You'll always want to return. I've spent plenty of weekends and vacations on the trail but the best time of my life was on the thru attempt.
A question I've always wondered regarding your topic is this... Do knees ever recover from the hike? I understand it's pretty hard on knees, but did you ever recover from it? Do your knees still feel like sandpaper is between your joints?
Or maybe I'm overrating that problem. Is it hardly an issue at all? For the average person, I'm talking about, I know there are extremes. In general, how does the hike affect knees? dude! , start your own thread.
I read a business book called "Good to Great" where the author wrote of the "Stockdale Paradox". If I remember it correctly it had to do with POW Admiral Stockdale (later Ross Perot's running mate). The gist of it was the idea that those who did best were the men who had an enduring faith that they would prevail in the end, but who also were very realistic about the magnitudue of the difficulties which lay ahead. A google search would bring up the details and context.
I think that holds true for a thru hike-- unless you are one of those incredibly lucky people who were just born to enjoy one. There are clearly a few on this list, but I think they are the exceptional ones.
I guess this is my way of saying that I think your question is a good one. Hiking can and does hurt. A lot. Whats more, life on the Trail can bring its own presures. Even simple stuff like racing to a shelter and hoping its not full can take its toll. So can your own thoughts about home, food or whatever.
Hiking sucks.
By knowing that (and by knowing you will get to Katahdin), I think anyone can have a great 2000 mile walk. Thats a paradox, too.
Blue Jay
07-29-2005, 09:56
IMO and I believe many others, the largest problem by far is reaching the Big K. You have had some of the most joyous times of your life, building to a massive emotional climax, then you're sitting in a car, bus, train or plane with the rug pulled out from under you. Once you touch that sign, the money world says "you're mine". My advice, don't touch it. Take your picture near it, but what ever you do don't touch it. Flip to someplace else, take a butt load of zeros and start again.
Footslogger
07-29-2005, 12:45
I was a 2003 northbounder. The high point was the realization that I was actually "Doing It". After all the years of talking about it and thinking about it I was really out there.
There were 2 low points for me. First was the onset of kidney stone symptoms just prior to Irwin, TN. I had previous episodes so I knew what was happening but my first thoughts were that my hike was over. Being the hardheaded type of person I am ...I decided to gut it out and hope for the best. Unfortunately the rest of my hike was somewhat overshaddowed by the daily bouts of nausea and cramping and even an episode of hypothermia in New Hampshire. The good news is that I was able to deal with and climb over the ordeal and make it to Katahdin. Of course, when I got home it was off to the urologist and 2 surgeries to remove the build up of kidney stone debris in my plumbing.
The second low point on my hike occured in southern Maine. Don't get me wrong ...I truly enjoyed hiking Maine, but the closer I got to the end the more I wanted the hike to last. I remember vividly getting up each day during those last 2 weeks and feeling somewhat torn over wanting to be back home and seeing my wife and NOT wanting the adventure to end.
'Slogger
jackiebolen
07-29-2005, 13:58
I wasn't really prepared for the mental challenge of it. It was harder and harder to get out of my sleeping bag every morning and hobble to the bathroom in the cold weather or the pouring rain. I thought walking would be easy and fun everyday but it quite often wasn't. As for knees recovering after a hike, give it a month or two and you'll be fine. A year later, I'm running and playing beach volleyball and all that and better than ever. Right after I finished my hike, I could barely walk.
I'm "only" a section hiker, but my "Lows" present themselves as homesickness. ALL of my problems present as me being homesick. If I am: tired, hungry etc. I don't actually feel all that tiredhungryetc. just increasingly homesick. This has caused me to cut short a few sections. And all were preventable. Part of my problem (for ME) is I didn't realize the cause untill 3 weeks after getting home last trip. :(
My "cure" for the blues or homesickness is to take a FULL day off, rest and eat. Hopefully this will help, but I will not know till around March of next year when I get a 2 (or 3) week vacation.
I think this may not be an accurate test, as my wife will not be home, she is dropping me off at Kincora hostel then going to visit a friend in NC. On my longest hike I was starting to get those feelings of homesickness, when my wife left on her own vacation, there was no one home to miss, so I became: tired, hungry & etc. easy enough to fix, problem solved. I think this proves my theroy tho.
As many state, the hardest part of a long hike is the mental strain. Overcome that, & your hike will go alright. Now if only I could listen to my own advice. :p
Doctari.
The Solemates
07-29-2005, 15:46
Hiking sucks.
what?!
to me thru-hiking was easy. it wasnt that big of a physical challenge and there was no mental challenge because there was nowhere in the world i would have rather been except there with my wife hiking down the trail. i long for it still.
Spirit Walker
07-29-2005, 17:12
You say that you want to do your hike without preconceptions, but you are looking for reasons why others were unhappy. Isn't that a way of creating preconceptions of what your hike will be?
It's kind of like the people who constantly ask, "why did you leave the trail?" - it sounds as if they are setting up their own hikes for failure. I understand wanting to avoid illusion/delusion - but keep in mind, your hike will be different because you are different. However much you prepare, however much research you do ahead of time, reality will be different, both from my experience and from your expectations.
Then there is the difference between head knowledge and real experience. You can read all the journals - and you still won't know what your hike will be like. Even when your head remembers something from past trips, the reality is still more than you expect. Knowing it may rain one day in three on the AT is not the same as having to put on a wet tshirt and wet boots day after day. I can remember that pain is a part of a long distance hike, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with leg cramps that keep me awake at night, or raw feet from hiking too many miles.
I can say that I had constant pain for the first 300 miles of the AT - that doesn't mean that you will. I can say the AT may trash your knees - but I know young hikers who never took an ibuprofin the whole way. Someone who hiked in a wet year can say that the rain was a cause of unhappiness - but I have known folks who managed to have a terrific time despite really horrible weather. In fact, I have really good memories of a very wet stretch in NC where my companions kept me laughing for three very grey days. And you may end up with less rain - or more. Some people get the Virginia blues - personally I loved Virginia with its good trails, frequent views, spring flowers, etc. Pennsylvania had lots of hostels which made it a lot easier to deal with summer heat. New York had real mountains again, which made me happy. Every state had something that I valued. But others get bored, or get tired of the pain, or the stink or the hiking. While I got "tired of being tired all the time" there are others who love pushing themselves to the limit every day, cranking out bigger and bigger miles. What was true for me may have no bearing on your reality.
When we did our first workshop on hiking the CDT, I was surprised to get so much contradiction from people in the room. Every time I said, "The cdt is ..." someone would say, "for me that wasn't true." After a while I came to relish those contradictions - because I learned a lot about thruhiking the trail and about how much the experience can vary, year by year, season by season, northbound vs. southbound, and depending on the individual's attitudes and companions.
Your hike will depend so much on you and your attitudes. And at this point there really isn't a lot you can do about that. Go into it open to whatever comes. The trail is what it is. Accept it for what it is and don't expect it to be any different. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's wet and sometimes it's dry. Sometimes it's fun and sometimes it's a trial. Kinda like in a relationship - the key to happiness is unconditional acceptance/love.
You say that you want to do your hike without preconceptions, but you are looking for reasons why others were unhappy. Isn't that a way of creating preconceptions of what your hike will be?
. Yeah actually it is I guess , but I am cool with that. and frankly I still want to know so keep those responses coming.
ok so only 9 or 10 negative responsives so far , thats all? I mean this is where I am asking people to complain . actually expecting it ! well enough complaining.
Gerard
Complain? I loved it! Well, not everything...
muddy slippery cavernous trenches in the Great Smoky Mountains in April earned my respect...
rocky white boulders to climb with treacherous slippery rocks were interesting....
bugs including noseeums in my eyes, ants in everything, mosquitoes - ugh....
falls, not the water kind, but face plants and subsequent stitches...
being so tired that I felt I couldn't move another inch, but knowing that there was still at least 5 more miles to the next shelter or camping area, when everyone else just pushed on with plenty of energy was frustrating...
hiking alone and feeling lonely was, well, lonely...
calling home to talk to my husband and getting the old "when are you coming home?" speech was frustrating
being slow and feeling like I would never get anywhere was disappointing...
hiking Unaka mountain and Dragon's Tooth in lightening storms were both scary...
But with all that, I will be back hiking again soon, it is all worth it!
Red Hat aka Oldkathy
Whistler
08-02-2005, 23:05
I'll take a stab at it. The downside for me is that a lot of the trail is UGLY. No other word for it. Interstates, trashy campsites, electric meadows, vistas that gaze on neighborhoods and clearcuts. Yes, it's beautiful, but not always.
-Mark
Dream--
To quote Warren Doyle, "the trail is a trial". While obvioulsly not everyone agrees with that (or, more probably interprets such words very differently than I do), I see some wisdom in what he writes. YMMV
He also suggests that you "Expect the worst. If after one week on the Trail you can say that it is easier than you expected, then you will probably finish your journey."
At a minimum, an intereresting perspective to ponder. YMMV. No one can argue that his students enjoy a remarkably high completion rate. Click on his "book", which amounts to about 500 words, here:
http://www.warrendoyle.com/
I think you might find a great deal of value in a different perspective outlined in Jim Owen's thru hiking papers. Its been around for some time but remains some of the very best stuff written about the hiking the AT. Its worth reading a few times over. Part 5 applies directly to this thread, but you probably will want to start at the beginning.
http://trailwise.circumtech.com/thruhikingpapers/
Rick B
The thing about many low points and the downsides is that once they pass, your high points and upsides are higher than they would have been. Anyone who's experienced several days of cold rain is next to ecstatic when the sun reappears. A dehydration experience makes one rapturous about having a simple cup of water to drink. A steady diet of blah hiking food can make you giddy about town food.
At home, your thermostat is set to 72 degrees, you're seldom really hungry or thirsty or bugbit or soaking wet, and you can have a hot shower any time you like. And you start taking all this for granted and over time lose some of the pleasure in these simple things.
All it takes is a long hike to snap you back into immediately being grateful beyond measure for being cozy and warm, for some hot food, for a cool drink, even just sitting down and taking the load off is bliss.
Is this why some of us feel more alive on the Trail?
Spirit Walker
08-03-2005, 09:17
The Thruhiking Papers have been updated a bit, and part II is also included on the website at www.spiriteaglehome.com
I attempted a thru this year (hiya again RedHat! ;) ) and I had some lows and some highs...
The lowest was leaving the trail the first time and finding out I had fallen - yet again - for my mother's guilt trip.
The high was hiking again with my husband two weeks later.
Another low - leaving the trail in Erwin to come back to England.
Another high - taking my husbands kids to Virginia to hike for two weeks and meeting up with old trail friends.
Another low - leaving again.
Another high/low - booking yet another international flight to go to Maine to summit with my husband. It's a low because I am not there right now - sticking it out with him. A high - because I am going to be there when he finishes.
It's been a year of ups and downs - but I will go back to the trail again. For as miserable as I was at times - I miss it more and more - it gets in your blood - and that is a HIGH! :)
How right you are Jackie/Icicle! My first year (03) I planned on 450 miles, and only made a little over 100. In 04 I planned on doing Georgia for a week at Spring Break but only made 40 miles. This year I was determined to finish it, but as you know did about 600 miles. It's still in my blood, though, and I will finish it! When I'm out there I get frustrated, but when I'm home I'm frustrated that I'm not hiking! Red Hat
Programbo
08-06-2005, 13:50
I think the one low point that most people don`t take into account on hikes like this is the one several people have touched on..That feeling you get when you are done or within days of being done the complete hike..You know if you hike x amount of miles per day eventually you`ll arrive at the end but you aren`t prepared for it to be over (Unless you`ve had some real problems along the way and are grateful for it to be over)..But for most it is something they`ve given little thought to and they are unprepared for the emotions that come at this point
:jump I started a thru-hike in April 2000, after I retired at age 65. My first low was having to leave the trail after hiking less than 200 miles. I had a bad stress fracture in my lower left leg. I took three "O" days at Fontana Dam hopeing that my pain would go away after a rest. I tried to continue but could not. I left the trail and went home. A definate low point for me.
The following April, 2001, I started again. This time from where I left off, at Fontana Dam. The lesson I learned, the first time, was to take it easy, do low milage days and take a "O" day every 5 days or so until I got into trail shape. Everything worked out during this attempt. I had no physical problems and finished the AT that year.
My second "low point" was when a hiker, I had met on the trail and hiked with for 800 miles decided to return home. We had become good friends and my determination to continue was lessoned when he left. I had planned to hike to Harpers Ferry and call home to have my wife come and pick me up and end my hike. When I called home my wife informed me that my friend, from the trail was returning to hike with me again. This info. changed a low point into a high.
I returned home, for a week, met up with my hiking partner and than flipped to Maine to continue as a SOBO. My friend eventualy left the trail again but I continued to finish the AT.
My final low was when I finished my hike at Duncannon, PA. I checked into the "Doyle" wanting to find someone to celebrate with. The only folks around were a couple of locals who were not interested in what I had just accomplished. I had a few beers alone and went to bed.
I have met a lot of thru-hikers who have related the experience of finishing a thru at the top of Katahdin. It must be one of the great joys in life. I will always regret not having that moment to remember.
docllamacoy
08-10-2005, 10:40
Hmm. I can't think of any negative aspects of my thru-hikes. Okay...well, maybe the mosquitos in August, but that's nothing.
I loved the trail.
Auntie Mame
08-30-2005, 00:02
Hiking makes me feel more alive at home, too. I can't turn a faucet on without appreciating its marvelous capacity to ferry water into my sink.
Downunda
09-29-2005, 02:58
My memories of my AT hike are where the positives far outweigh the few negatives... However, to answer the question and looking back 3 years the worst thing about the hike was trying to contend with the hoards of mosquitos.
C-Stepper
09-29-2005, 08:23
I'm "only" a section hiker, but my "Lows" present themselves as homesickness. ALL of my problems present as me being homesick. If I am: tired, hungry etc. I don't actually feel all that tiredhungryetc. just increasingly homesick.
Doctari.Thanks for sharing this, Doctari...this is my worst problem on the trail as well.
I am a fairly new backpacker (though I've spent a lifetime hiking). I recently had to cut short a trip due to homesickness. Four months of planning went into an 8-day trip, and I quit my midday the 3rd day. I can still hardly believe it (I'm 35 years old!), and it worries me as I plan to eventually thru-hike the AT after my kids are in college. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one! :o
the goat
09-29-2005, 10:45
i sobo'ed in '01 & '03....aside from problems with the knees & ankles, and the trail being completely empty down south, the most overwhelmingly hard part of doing a thru for me was to finish it & have to return to the outside world.
Spirit Walker
09-29-2005, 12:26
My memories of my AT hike are where the positives far outweigh the few negatives... However, to answer the question and looking back 3 years the worst thing about the hike was trying to contend with the hoards of mosquitos.
Funny, we only had a few nights on the AT where the mosquitos were bad - I can remember Brinks Road in NJ and a couple of days in CT/MA. The rest of the time they weren't an issue at all. That was true on both hikes. I carried a bottle of DEET and probably only used 1/8 of it, if that. I have much worse problems in my backyard at home.