My neice dreaming of thru hiking the AT.. what advice to give

[DavidNH]

Hi everyone, me again:

I have a niece who lives now in Massachusetts and is in her late 20's. She's been dreaming about and reading books about hiking the entire Appalachian Trail since she was in her elementary years. Now she is out of college and seminary and is an ordained Episcopal priest and is scheeming to have a six month transition period a few years from now when she would hike the trail. She plans to visit me in coming weeks to ask questions and get advice.

She is overweight and chunky but that is not a big concern of mine. She can condition in coming years and of course really get in shape on the trail. What is concerning me now is that to my knowledge she hasn't ever done any extended backpacking, not even weekend over nights. She has done some day hiking with her father and with girl scouts when younger. She has, at least for now, a fairly OK very sedentary though busy life style and lives in a very suburban environment where near by walking opportunities are limited due to all the busy traffic.

Shouldn't one do some backpacking before attempting a six month thru hike if for no other reason to know if one really likes hiking in all conditions, can carry the load, has the stuff to get through the bad times?

Should I break her romantic dreams of AT hiking and give her a dose of reality? or can I find a way to be more supportive and encouraging? Remember.. she's my niece.. close family! I don't want to rock the apple cart too much.

Thoughts appreciated!

DavidNH

[Ashepabst]

it's a fairly expensive foray --seems like the best advice you could offer is to try backpacking before committing to a six month trip

[illabelle]

She plans to visit me in coming weeks to ask questions and get advice.

Suggest you make sure those questions are asked and answered on the trail. Take her out in the woods and open her eyes. Let her experience an easy trail (is there anything easy in NH?) and trail food and bugs and sweat and weather and all that. That dose of reality might steer her away - or it might just draw her in!

[gsingjane]

I'll bet your niece didn't decide to become a priest without ever having attended a church service... tell her deciding to go on a thru without ever having hiked is pretty similar!

Jane

p.s. I side with the others - experience, especially experience prior to investing in tons of pricey gear and putting off career progress, is key.

[The Cleaner]

Sometimes the truth hurts.Without a big lifestyle in her activity level and training hikes-she'd never get far....

[Just Bill]

Ironic.
Not to be a Richard Cranium, which is of course code for I'm about to be…

So is pointing out her career choice and lifelong interest in the trail meant to be a qualifier that she is one of the pure ones? With sufficiently good reasons, if not ability to perhaps enter the pearly gates of the AT?

Or should you advise her to seek a different trail or stay home as you pondered that possibility for others?

But that is neither here nor there, nor your task to instruct.

I would suggest as Illabelle does. Load up your pack with enough gear for two. Let her dayhike alongside you or slackpack if you choose. Surely you know a local easy overnighter you could take her on. Something in reach, but real enough. And while nearly anyone can take a dayhike to a scenic overlook we all know that the second day is when reality takes place.

Perhaps on that hike at some stunning vista or quiet campfire you can share your own words-

"I had been reading books about the trail for years watched several movies on it and attended the LDHA gatherings in Hanover a couple times. For me it was the chance for adventure the chance to experience wilderness for an extended period of time. Going out west to do the PCT would have been logistically a lot harder and probably more than I was up for. If I could reverse time and go back.. I probably would do a different trail.. something perhaps like the Colorado Trail which only takes a month or so but has spectacular scenery. Or maybe Id just do the New England portion of the AT. Had I known before that the AT had become the party trail that it is I would likely have changed plans. But that is all water over the bridge. I DID do the trail and have a lot of great memories of it. Ive seen the best of eastern wilderness."

Pasted from <http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php/113264-why-do-Most-people-really-attempt-an-AT-thru-hike>

I always find it fascinating that the trail bends in just the right direction to teach us what we need to learn. As you noted in your other thread, the trail does a pretty fine job of sorting out who belongs and who does not. While those who stay bear the burden of keeping it up for the next time around, the AT seems to handle this job pretty uniquely considering that it accepts more than it's share of folks who can't handle something logistically harder.

While the AT stops many from finishing, I note it stops no-one from starting.

So let the trail choose. Let it advise. As your niece seems practiced in hearing a subtle call likely she'd appreciate hearing straight from the source. Might even be that since she just finished being instructed by others on how to think, speak and act in her new career- she's looking to talk directly to the fella that owns the place.

As fer you; That be a fine gift for an Uncle to give a treasured niece. Maybe as a reward there's a few answers to be found fer you too.

I can't say I've met nor have a particular belief in the fella that owns the place. Nor that I have yet to fetch up in any particular camp. But I find it a fine place to ponder the question. If I were to advise anything strongly, never discourage or limit another's opportunity to do so as well. As you know; a bit of reading and study on any subject prepares you very little for the real thing. Nearly all the useful bits are learned once you close the book and walk out into the world.

A quote for you and your niece that that each may find helpful…

“Don't run away with a false idee, friend Cap, don't run away with a false idee. These things are only skin-deep, and all depend on edication and nat'ral gifts. Look around you at mankind, and tell me why you see a red warrior here, a black one there, and white armies in another place? All this, and a great deal more of the same kind that I could point out, has been ordered for some special purpose; and it is not for us to fly in the face of facts and deny their truth. No, no; each color has its gifts, and its laws, and its traditions; and one is not to condemn another because he does not exactly comprehend it."

"You must have read a great deal, Pathfinder, to see things so clear as this," returned Cap, not a little mystified by his companion's simple creed. "It's all as plain as day to me now, though I must say I never fell in with these opinions before. What denomination do you belong to, my friend?”

“Anan?"

"What sect do you hold out for? What particular church do you fetch up in?"

"Look about you, and judge for yourself. I'm in church now; I eat in church, drink in church, sleep in church. The 'arth is the temple of the Lord, and I wait on Him hourly, daily, without ceasing, I humbly hope.”

James Fennimore Cooper- “Pathfinder”

[nsherry61]

Remember.. she's my niece.. close family! I don't want to rock the apple cart too much.

Seriously?! Do you really have a family where you wouldn't jump at the opportunity to rock your sister's or brother's apple cart? What planet are you from? ;-)

Whatever you do, you will be doing with love and and a blood bond. Rock the cart! Shake the heck out of it.

If what you do is open your nieces passion wide open and change her lifestyle to being more outdoors and more active, you win. If you open your niece's eyes to the reality of outdoor living, and she doesn't like it, well, now she can move on to other great things and share her wisdom with her parishioners when the time is right.

OR, are you maybe scared of not being up to the task and therefore she may not be either? If that's the case, be her buddy. Go out with her. Learn together. Let her dreams challenge you and you'll both be better off, regardless of the outcome.

[Slo-go'en]

Load her up with gear and send her off to the Long Trail for a week. See if she how she feels about it when she comes back

Since this might still be a few years off, she should take Warren Doyle's AT course and then go on some backpacking trips. That way she would find out a) if this is something she would actually enjoy doing and b) give her the skills and confidence to do it.

[Coffee]

I really disagree with the idea that getting in shape on the trail is an acceptable way to start a long distance hike. Starting out of shape increases the probability of misery leading to failure. In my opinion it is well worth the effort to get in good shape prior to a hike since it makes everything more enjoyable. All of the other suggestions regarding shorter trips to make sure she actually likes backpacking make sense as well, of course.

[Mags]

• Get in moderate shape before (at least).
• Go on weekend backpacking trips to see if backpacking is enjoyable
• Try a two week trip somewhere, with resupply, to see if the longer backpacking trips are for her.

I suspect the romanticism of the long hike often overshadows the reality. If my now five year old niece approached me in 20 years, I'd give the same advice I just listed.

[Another Kevin]

I really disagree with the idea that getting in shape on the trail is an acceptable way to start a long distance hike. Starting out of shape increases the probability of misery leading to failure. In my opinion it is well worth the effort to get in good shape prior to a hike since it makes everything more enjoyable. All of the other suggestions regarding shorter trips to make sure she actually likes backpacking make sense as well, of course.

I think I might agree with you regarding long-distance hiking, if I ever did that. A 70-mile section, about half of a planned 135-mile hike, is the biggest I've ever done. And it was something other than lack of conditioning that got me off trail. But for me, hiking is how I get into good shape for hiking. I make it a point to do two miles a day with a backpack, so I'm never totally unready to hike, but I don't do the gym thing, or crossfit, or any of that.

I'm never in awesome shape. When I do a weekend or short section, I just go slow. I imagine that after a couple or three weeks of going slow, I'd go faster. And I have fun. I don't really know whether I'd be miserable with long-distance hiking. But it's not obvious that I would be, since I understand that for most the misery starts practically right out of the gate, in the first few days at any rate. I get through a few days with a smile on my face.

[rafe]

Start small, work up to bigger adventures. The trail in MA is pretty mellow and accessible, it's a good place to find out if she likes it or not. Doesn't appear to be any hurry...

[Coffee]

I guess it is a matter of degree. I don't think being in awesome shape is a prerequisite, and there are many degrees of suboptimal shape. But I do read many comments (not necessarily in this thread but in general) along the lines of "the way to get in shape for hiking is by hiking" and I wonder what the outcome is for people who take that advice and are mostly sedentary.

[TheCheek]

Screw working up to it. Passion matters more fitness, by a longshot. Injury, or lack of, is the only thing that affects outcome more than passion. She can do it. If she believes in herself, let her go. Don't imply to her she shouldn't try because she's not fit enough.

[Heliotrope]

It's easy to be seduced by lofty goals. I think it is food for the soul to imagine doing something spectacular and rare. For many folks the dream is all it will ever be. The small steps that it takes to achieve anything great are much less glamorous. I have a friend who wants to climb Everest yet he has never climbed mt Katahdin let alone a smaller glaciated peak than Everest. Yet sometimes it is the person who doesn't have the natural talent that ends up going the distance.

So encourage her dream by shopping for gear and planning a small trip. Help get her outside.


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[Lone Wolf]

she oughta shoot for a CDT thru walk. much less crowded. real navigating. the AT these days is so cliche'.

[MuddyWaters]

Shouldn't one do some backpacking before attempting a six month thru hike if for no other reason to know if one really likes hiking in all conditions, can carry the load, has the stuff to get through

DavidNH

If many did, they would never attempt a thru hike.

Yeah, it gives an increased chance they will make it out of GA though.

[rickb]

One approach among many--

Give her a membership to the AMC and observe that the action takes place at the chapter level-- activities for all levels of experience and at no cost.

Tell her that she is always welcome to borrow your equipment -- you can show her what you have -- and remind her that if she can pick it up in NH, it's easy to send via UPS.

Then go out to breakfast and let the lord show her the way.

[Feral Bill]

If possible, here's the script: "That's wonderful. I'd love to do some preliminary hikes with you. I'll see to rounding up gear and help you pick up the personal things like clothes. How about this fall to start? Maybe a long weekend at (insert a place near where she lives)"

Then follow through.

[Fredt4]

The only thing that stops most from finishing a thru-hike is not having the will to finish. This assumes that responsibilities are squared away before you started. Yes, you might find it a bit more uncomfortable than you imagined, but that won't stop you, it's just a reason to give up. I would tell her that she should learn to accomplish goals, especially if they become difficult. If that's the person she wishes to become then thru-hiking the AT, or any long trail, is a way to learn this. Being in shape may be a nice starting point for some, being an experienced hiker might be important for some, but neither is required for a successful thru-hike.