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View Full Version : How do you spot a thru hiker, anyway?



rickb
08-10-2005, 10:31
Used to be so dang easy: Thin, facial hair, fast, and a stick.

Then I did OK looking for 2 Poles, a bandana, and socks hanging from the pack.

Now I hardly have a clue. I did manage a quick hello to three thru hikers coming off of Mt Washington over the weekend, but that was only by chance-- and after more than a couple "false positives".

Perhaps I just won't bother looking. Still, it doesn't seem right just walking on by. Are there any dead give aways in thru hiker appearance these days?

Rick B

Footslogger
08-10-2005, 10:37
Might be getting tough from a distance ...but just get close and the hiker stank should give them away.

Funny you should mention this though, because I live in a small college town (Laramie, Wyoming) and near half of the students who walk back and forth across campus "look" like hikers.

'Slogger

Frolicking Dinosaurs
08-10-2005, 10:43
I don't know that there are any absolute signs, but my heart makes a connection nearly every time I see a thru-hiker even though I'm not one myself. I don't know how I know, I just do. There's just something about the way current and former thru-hikers carry themselves - an air of quiet confidence and determination.

Lone Wolf
08-10-2005, 10:43
Who cares.

Youngblood
08-10-2005, 11:50
How do you spot a thru hiker?

Put an M&M on the trail in front of suspects... and watch.

TakeABreak
08-10-2005, 14:11
Their packs are usually smaller and lighter than the weekenders. They also have bulging calf muscles and look like they could use a really good meal.

Skyline
08-10-2005, 14:46
Men wearing kilts who smell bad.

Lilred
08-10-2005, 17:04
I don't know that there are any absolute signs, but my heart makes a connection nearly every time I see a thru-hiker even though I'm not one myself. I don't know how I know, I just do. There's just something about the way current and former thru-hikers carry themselves - an air of quiet confidence and determination.


You know when you make eye contact. The connection comes then. It's like an unspoken understanding that takes place between Long distance hikers.

weary
08-10-2005, 18:29
This is an old one, but a cold one.

To spot a thru hiker toss a few M&M's in the mud. A weekend or section section hiker will step over them. A thru hiker will bend to pick them up, blow the worst of the mud off and pop them in his mouth, eyes all the time searching the ground to make sure he didn't miss any.

Weary

Youngblood
08-10-2005, 18:53
This is an old one, but a cold one.

To spot a thru hiker toss a few M&M's in the mud. A weekend or section section hiker will step over them. A thru hiker will bend to pick them up, blow the worst of the mud off and pop them in his mouth, eyes all the time searching the ground to make sure he didn't miss any.

WearyIs that the way it goes? I thought it was like this:

A weekend hiker will step over it.

A section hiker will pick it up and eat it.

A thru hiker will pick it up, eat it and root around looking for more.

A-Train
08-10-2005, 19:06
Is that the way it goes? I thought it was like this:

A weekend hiker will step over it.

A section hiker will pick it up and eat it.

A thru hiker will pick it up, eat it and root around looking for more.

And a ridgerunner or maintainer will pick it up, put it in their garbage bag and complain about the thru-hiker who dropped it :cool:

SGT Rock
08-10-2005, 19:16
And a ridgerunner or maintainer will pick it up, put it in their garbage bag and complain about the thru-hiker who dropped it :cool:Naw, we blame it on the day hiker, then look for a thru-hiker to unload them on :D

And then it is called trail magic :jump

weary
08-10-2005, 20:53
Is that the way it goes? I thought it was like this:

A weekend hiker will step over it.

A section hiker will pick it up and eat it.

A thru hiker will pick it up, eat it and root around looking for more.

One of the hazards of a life in the newspaper business is that one gets so tired of cliches that one can hardly say "hello" any more, right alone the original version of a joke. The "mud" was my private invention. But you are right it does nothing for the "joke."

Weary

TOW
08-11-2005, 06:03
Who cares.i'm with you on that one....even though i have not done the entire trail yet, i was met with responses like "you don't look like a hiker" or "you're too fat, hikers ain't fat" and i would always reply with "well, what does a hiker look like?" or "have you met Wee Willy Prince of Whales yet?"

Lone Wolf
08-11-2005, 08:07
Some people think through hikers are special, elite, should be put on a pedestal whatever. A hiker is a hiker.

rickb
08-11-2005, 13:41
Its not about being special, Wolf. Its about connection.

Finding connections with people is cool in all sorts of situations.

Nothing wrong with that.

teachergal
08-11-2005, 16:22
I have done some trail maintaince in Shenandoah National Park in VA and I can almost always spot the thrus by the smell - they come up on me and I take a whiff - if the air has that "smell" I say "So, you a thru hiker?"

Now since the section I work on is in the northern part of SNP I sometimes get folks who have thru hiked the park with this method as well!

Slimer
08-11-2005, 17:14
Wolf's right.........A hiker is just a hiker.
There's also alot of truth in Lilredmg's post........not in the elite sense..........but in the sense of knowing that one hiker knows what the other is going through.

Lone Wolf
08-11-2005, 17:22
On my thru hikes I always felt more of a connection with the weekend/section hikers.

dougmeredith
08-11-2005, 18:15
On my thru hikes I always felt more of a connection with the weekend/section hikers.
That is interesting. Why do you think that was?

Doug

UCONNMike
08-12-2005, 01:28
This is a funny question that us current SOBO's have spent days talking about...we came up with a pretty comprehensive list of things that determine if someone is a thurhiker. I can't remember all of them (we talked about this is early NH) but I'll list a few i do recall.

1.the smell
2.facial hair
3.hair on their head is either long and or dirty and sticky looking
4.dirt all over the inside and back of the legs
5.footwear looks pretty crappy
6.salt lines on the pack/shots/shirt/etc.
7.they never know the names of things anymore without looking at their guide book
8.but.... they always know the distance between their start and finish
9.they pass by viewpoints
10.their trekking poles have duck tapped wrapped around the top
11.there is some amount of dryed blood on their body, that hasn't been cleaned off
12.they never know what day it is

those are some I could remember...and they keep us all laughing through our time in the whites

Slimer
08-12-2005, 01:56
Those are some good ones!........LMAO..........

Flash Hand
08-12-2005, 23:30
How do you spot a thru hiker?

Put an M&M on the trail in front of suspects... and watch.

LOL! GOOD ONE! you made my day!


Flash Hand :jump

Flash Hand
08-12-2005, 23:42
The only one I can think of...

If you are at shelters and listening to other complains about different things, then thats Thru-Hikers.

(that what I was told by section hikers)

Flash Hand :jump