Top 10 mistakes beginning thru-hikers are making

[twistwrist]

Very good post. While you are greeting these new thru hikers are you asking them if they are White Blaze members or at least if they visit the forum or other forums concerning hiking the AT. I would like to know how many have done research before the hike.

Good idea! I do typically ask how much preparation they've done, but honestly, one can infer a lot about that just by seeing their packs.

For some reason such backpacking is not official like a completed thruhike and there's no recognition and no patch and yet they all have the time to do such trips. It must be the social aspect and town support and the shelter system which these backpackers find so attractive. It's definitely not about getting an unbroken amount of time out in the woods.

Backpackers who section hike are qualified to receive the same 2,000 mile patch that I received after completing my thru.

[GreenBlaze]

It's an offshoot of the pecking order: Thruhikers are at the top of the rung, section hikers far below, and mere weekend backpackers don't rate. Just my opinion.

Are you saying this is how you view the pecking order or how it's often perceived by others on the trail?

[Dogwood]

Enjoyed it Tipi, though, as you say, there are exceptions.

Listen, consider, design/define your own hike. Doesn't ultimately matter all what everyone anyone else says or does. This is one of the wonderful aspects about backpacking. You individually can be ultimately responsible for YOUR hike. What a concept.

Enjoy the journey, the certificate, the 30 days out without a town stop, stopping in town every third day, the 50+ lb haul, the 10- lb haul, big mileage days, short mileage days, no mileage days, etc.

I went NOBO out of Standing Bear at 7 a.m. in a non stop light drizzle in a gung ho gung ho let's do this thing let's maintain a 28 MPD avg fast and light thru-hiker mentality. LOL. At 8 p.m. I had gone less than 4 miles with more than 100 thru-hikers zooming by me like they were driving well above the speed limit on I 95 but I identified, described, and sketched every wildflower and plant I crossed in those miles. I loved it. Next day I did my first 38 mile day. It was also the day I was coined with my trail name Dogwood because many of those who passed me the day before who I had by then caught up with I had enjoyed conversations about discussing their AT plant life questions. Who freakin cares? HYOH. Do no harm. Leave the trail, the community, every town, every campsite, and every person perhaps a little better.

[Tipi Walter]

Are you saying this is how you view the pecking order or how it's often perceived by others on the trail?

I believe this pecking order is how Thruhikers perceive it.

[WingedMonkey]

Mistake #1......Not taking hiking blogs with a grain of salt.

[Tipi Walter]

Nicely said, although carrying 30 days of food is nothing short of impossible without animals.

After careful study and experience I would have to say this is incorrect. With careful meal and menu planning, a normal healthy adult can carry 30 days worth of food in one load without resupply. My longest such trip was 24 days and I still had several days of food left. Tweak it a little and 30 days is doable.

You just have to wrap your head around being in the woods for a month and not touching folding money or sleeping in a bed or interacting with "civilian" non-hikers etc.

Well, the whole point of a thru hike is to go from Point A to Point B, not to base camp and wander around one area for a month. There is nothing wrong with base camping, but it's not thru hiking.

No one mentioned basecamping. I didn't mention basecamping. Basecamping is coming in with your load and setting up camp and sitting put for a month and not backpacking until the last day to exit the woods. I equate basecamping to car camping.

My recommendation was to pull a 30 day trip into a given area (let's say the Cohutta/Big Frog wilderness) and pull all the trails in that area and then use the Benton MacKaye trail to exit the area to link with the Citico/Slickrock wilderness and spend the rest of the trip doing all the trails there.

Move every day, backpack every day. Zero days only for terrible weather, severe cold, or deep snow.

You could call it a Thruhike if you wanted, or you could call it an Expedition trip. You could hike 5 miles a day or 15, or as far as you can go with your food load (around 55-60 lbs for 30 days). Personally I like to move every day as it keeps up the trip's momentum.

My quandary is this: AT thruhikers have this block of time already arranged, in fact they probably have 4 months arranged for the woods and their long hike. Why not then pull a 30 day wilderness trip as mentioned and really experience the forest and what's left of the "wilderness"?? It's a great opportunity to explore the mountains without interruption.

[Puddlefish]

After careful study and experience I would have to say this is incorrect. With careful meal and menu planning, a normal healthy adult can carry 30 days worth of food in one load without resupply. My longest such trip was 24 days and I still had several days of food left. Tweak it a little and 30 days is doable.

You just have to wrap your head around being in the woods for a month and not touching folding money or sleeping in a bed or interacting with "civilian" non-hikers etc.



No one mentioned basecamping. I didn't mention basecamping. Basecamping is coming in with your load and setting up camp and sitting put for a month and not backpacking until the last day to exit the woods. I equate basecamping to car camping.

My recommendation was to pull a 30 day trip into a given area (let's say the Cohutta/Big Frog wilderness) and pull all the trails in that area and then use the Benton MacKaye trail to exit the area to link with the Citico/Slickrock wilderness and spend the rest of the trip doing all the trails there.

Move every day, backpack every day. Zero days only for terrible weather, severe cold, or deep snow.

You could call it a Thruhike if you wanted, or you could call it an Expedition trip. You could hike 5 miles a day or 15, or as far as you can go with your food load (around 55-60 lbs for 30 days). Personally I like to move every day as it keeps up the trip's momentum.

My quandary is this: AT thruhikers have this block of time already arranged, in fact they probably have 4 months arranged for the woods and their long hike. Why not then pull a 30 day wilderness trip as mentioned and really experience the forest and what's left of the "wilderness"?? It's a great opportunity to explore the mountains without interruption.

Perhaps they go on mini expeditions as well? I don't think all thru hikers are only thru hikers. I hiked most every day this last spring summer and fall, but I live in a house in the woods, so I rarely camp. I don't have to worry about arranging shuttles, parking my car overnight, or really all that many logistics. I pick a mountain or trail, do my thing and sleep in a real bed at the end of the day. I don't feel poorer for watching the stars from my porch rather than from the trail.

My thru hike will just be a different way of seeing different places for me. Same amount of free time essentially. I have no idea how it will turn out, what side trails I'll explore, how far along the trail I'll get. When I'm bored or cold or injured I'll go home. Maybe I'll try your method next year now that I have more camping gear and see how I enjoy that.

I suspect you're making the same mistake you're accusing "thru hikers" of making. You're lumping them into a single category as if they all think and act in a single manner.

[Snowleopard]

but I identified, described, and sketched every wildflower and plant I crossed in those miles. I loved it.

This sounds like a great day. I hope you have many more like it. As I get older and less able to do fast high miles, I'll be forced to do this sort of thing. Fortunately I love it (photography, not sketching but same idea).

[RockDoc]

re the pecking order...

So a 60 year old section hiker with 50 years of hiking experience and tens of thousands of miles hiked all over the world is lower than a newby "thru hiker" with shiny boots? Give me a break.

[Another Kevin]

re the pecking order...

So a 60 year old section hiker with 50 years of hiking experience and tens of thousands of miles hiked all over the world is lower than a newby "thru hiker" with shiny boots? Give me a break.

That's the way some seem to think of it. Which is why I'm careful to place myself as a "clueless weekender." About fifty years of clueless weekending (with the occasional short section thrown in) ... maybe it adds up to something.

[nsherry61]

Originally Posted by RockDocre the pecking order...

"So a 60 year old section hiker with 50 years of hiking experience and tens of thousands of miles hiked all over the world is lower than a newby "thru hiker" with shiny boots? Give me a break."

I don't know. I used to think that people that hiked the PCT and/or the AT (we didn't call them thu-hikers back then) were a bunch of ninnies that somehow though hiking a popular trail for months on end was a wilderness experience. Is it really a wilderness experience if you are following a man-made trail? Are you really tough even if you don't climb high mountains that require technical gear? Since when is a town stop, a resupply? Resupplies are those things the airplanes drop for you every two or three weeks. Thru-hiking a long trail is to wilderness backpacking what McDonald's is to fine dining.

Then I grew up and realized how much I could learn from all kinds of people with all kinds of experience and all kinds of expectations of themselves. I realized that a lot of our most beautiful places are scared with trails that provide the easiest and most environmentally friendly access. Now, I kinda like the idea of checking out and hiking for any length of time, a day, a week, a month, a 1/2 a year, or more across some of our most beautiful wild areas. I'll still wonder off trails when trails don't go where I want. But, as a good citizen, trails enable me to see wild areas with minimal impact, and I like that.

[Tipi Walter]

re the pecking order...

So a 60 year old section hiker with 50 years of hiking experience and tens of thousands of miles hiked all over the world is lower than a newby "thru hiker" with shiny boots? Give me a break.

You see the correct position, obviously, but many newb thruhikers do not, ergo my mentioned ranking system. Get on the trail in June in Virginia and you'll find many of these thruhikers who started in Georgia and have now become "old hands" and will now take your questions etc. Set up your tent a hundred yards from a box shelter and dayhike over to it at dusk and dinner time. Study hiker behavior.

Newb Experts holding court are easy to spot. They will gladly receive questions from adoring onlookers, but never themselves ask these onlookers a single question. In my jaded opinion the more experienced a backpacker is, the more questions he will ask. Just the opposite of these newb experts.

[evyck da fleet]

Good post. I'd have to agree with most of what you've stated.

As far as mistakes go, since most thrus are newbies, it's all good as long as they learn from them. I could blast the people who spend thousands of dollars on guided hikes so they can stare at their feet while I bound past them doing 360s as they think I'm a goofball not realizing I'm taking in the views behind us as well. But if they enjoy their trip and if it makes them get in better shape for the next one so its not as difficult, that's great.

To address Tipi's point(s) what he does is about as opposite of a thru as can be done. I don't expect any newb to just go out and do a 30 day hike in the wilderness. And so I'd expect to disagree with most of what he says: plenty of blue/yellow blazing, still applying for the patch anyway, enjoying town stays because the AT is a social hike through the most populated part of the country and paying attention to miles cuz Baxter closes around 10/15(for a tradition thru). Some things I agree with(love of town stays - it shouldn't take any young or in shape person six months to hike the trail - and I've seen a few people full of their accomplishments though I usually didn't stick around to see if I caught them on a bad day or if they were always like that) but I'd stop far from saying the majority of thrus do it. It's kinda like bad behavior it doesn't take a majority for perception to change.

I usually enjoy his posts so I'm not trying to pick a fight.

[Tipi Walter]

Nothing to fight about in this discussion. It's just my opinion with a touch of the ridiculous. Opinion and Ridicule---the last American freedoms.

[rocketsocks]

Nicely said, although carrying 30 days of food is nothing short of impossible without animals. I fully admit that I would prefer to worry less about towns and resupplies...I go hike in the woods because I want to be in the woods, not in town. I do like meeting new people on the trail though.

another option once used quite a bit is the cache method, hardly ever employed anymore.

[Traveler]

That's the way some seem to think of it. Which is why I'm careful to place myself as a "clueless weekender." About fifty years of clueless weekending (with the occasional short section thrown in) ... maybe it adds up to something.

I have seen you describe yourself this way for a while and wondered where that came from. Thanks for the explanation! I'm not much on activity related social politics so I tend to be oblivious to that level of thinking. It kind of reminds me of the fellow who, when asked what he attributed his success in wandering the backcountry to, replied, "to the fact I ain't died yet".

[tflaris]

I'm not smarter than you....
I've just screwed up more stuff than you have!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[GreenBlaze]

I believe this pecking order is how Thruhikers perceive it.

I agree 100% with this, and while every thru-hiker doesn't share this mentality, I believe most do. I think it's a natural way to feel about it because let's face it.. the adversity and challenge required far exceed short section or weekend backpacking. Having said that, a little more mileage in life with rest stops under the tree of wisdom seems to incite a more thoughtful understanding of others. I remember the days when I was headstrong, had put in the hard work, and felt more "special" than others that were exploring the same paths. As the years wore on, the landscape changed, and I started to recognize that what I was doing as merely a drop in the ocean, I developed a more didactic approach to my way of thinking. This change has enriched me in more ways than I can count, and I wish I had realized it sooner.

"Every thru-hiker was once a section hiker, a day-tripper, a weekender, a shortimer.... and when their journey is over, every thru-hiker will rejoin these ranks, and become a section hiker once again."

[GreenBlaze]

nothing to fight about in this discussion. It's just my opinion with a touch of the ridiculous. Opinion and ridicule---the last american freedoms.

..... :d .....

[Tipi Walter]

I agree 100% with this, and while every thru-hiker doesn't share this mentality, I believe most do. I think it's a natural way to feel about it because let's face it.. the adversity and challenge required far exceed short section or weekend backpacking. Having said that, a little more mileage in life with rest stops under the tree of wisdom seems to incite a more thoughtful understanding of others. I remember the days when I was headstrong, had put in the hard work, and felt more "special" than others that were exploring the same paths. As the years wore on, the landscape changed, and I started to recognize that what I was doing as merely a drop in the ocean, I developed a more didactic approach to my way of thinking. This change has enriched me in more ways than I can count, and I wish I had realized it sooner.

"Every thru-hiker was once a section hiker, a day-tripper, a weekender, a shortimer.... and when their journey is over, every thru-hiker will rejoin these ranks, and become a section hiker once again."

I think you're my new best friend. Or at least I think I agree with your post. Why wouldn't I? Perception is a tricky thing; what I see and understand about trail behavior will be different than what someone else understands, or even sees. So maybe GreenBlaze and I perceive thruhiker mentality in somewhat the same way.

"A little more mileage in life with rest stops under the tree of wisdom seems to incite a more thoughtful understanding of others."

This neat quote applies well to backpackers as I like to sit under a literal tree and observe. And then somehow find a way to put in my a trip reports.