it's not just walking
it's not just walking.
hiking the Appalachian Trail is hard.
period.
saying it is otherwise is doing an injustice to the novice and naive on this forum.
Time to grab some popcorn...
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
who or what are you addressing
I did some glissading over the weekend just north of Greylock does that count?
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
It's walking with camping gear and food. Sometimes in crappy weather.
Did I miss something?
i was a novice and naive once. didn't have the interweb, books or movies when i first walked the AT. it was just walkin' to me. i didn't find it very hard physicallyOriginally Posted by Pages
Yes,It's walking with camping gear and food. Sometimes in crappy weather.
Did I miss something?
Usually it's walking where it's okay to pee.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
over the years I have read here (and peculiarly enough, only here on WB) that it is "just walking" and agree with you...paints a false picture of the task at hand. Maybe it IS a lark for a lucky few. But for most, especially the 3 of 4 who don't finish the thing, it is anything BUT a stroll in the park. Or perhaps I should say a 'walk in the woods" instead. I have always felt those who use that term, especially vis-a-vis a thru hike, are being a bit disingenuous for whatever reason they might have. now if you will excuse me, I think my popocorn is ready too.
for the 20% who drop at neel and the 50% who drop out by the time they get your neck of the woods, lone wolf, they might feel differently.
if you are lucky enough to find it a stroll then in my opinion you are very lucky indeed.
i romanticized the trail for 40 years. when i finally got out there with a somewhat older body, it was no longer soft pine needles under my feet and birds singing in the trees.
it was cold. it was wet. it was rocky. it was slippery. it was muddy.
it was also beautiful beyond words.
but it was never "just walking."
Just my two cents for people shooting for this year.
Nobody said hiking AT is easy but it is still walking . OP is venting for no reason mentioned.
we're all different. i'm a Marine. it makes a difference
Is it just walking? Of course it is. But the analogy is a lot like saying playing in the NFL is just another form of exercise. (and maybe it is to some of them). Or differential equations or chaos theory is "just math". (and maybe it is to a few mathematically gifted people). if you found it easy, that is wonderful...just that most don't. No need for boasting about it. For me, the thing was work...and a challenge...and I loved it. But it was a challenge.
Its just a path in the woods
Its as hard, or as easy, as YOU make it.
I see groups of geriatrics out for dayhikes frequently, enjoying themselves.
We were born to walk. Humans are the most amazing walking machines that ever existed on earth. "Back in the day" we could basically hunt much faster 4-legged animals simply be out-distancing them, because we burn way fewer calories and can stay warmer and cooler. If you embrace this fact that we have this amazing innate ability to walk a very, very long way, and make walking a major part of your lifestyle, meaning you stay fit and don't just sit in a chair most of your life, the AT really is just walking. If you have found that walking the AT is that difficult, well, either change your lifestyle (and thus lose weight and get back into shape), and learn a few things about hiking/camping, or choose another hobby.
I somewhat agree with your premise.However, when you say we are hardwired to walk along ways, I don't think any model was predicated on 5-6 months of continuous 12 hours a day of walking. Our ancestors, like most hunter gatherers, had brief periods of intense work interspersed with equal amounts of rest. Besides, why pursue a hobby that isn't in some ways challenging? I like golf for the very same reason. But to some,golf is just "hitting a round ball into a small hole".For the record, I can walk better than I golf.
It was just walking.
I found hiking very hard at first... with my big pack, walmart gear, etc. So what did I do to train and remedy this?
More walking, because in fact it is just walkin'. Just a special kind that you need a few tools and some mental strength
Walking is one key element of backpacking but the two are not the same. Walking the dog a 1/2 mile, always within 1/2 mile of the house, in your Spiderman PJ's and Sheepskin liner slippers wearing no backpack or carrying little or no gear, with no need to independently make it on your own through several days and nights is walking. Walking is taking the garbage cans to the curb. Walking the garbage cans to the next state 300 miles away is something else.
If they were the same "just walking" you wouldn't recognize any difference between a 15 miler toting a USMC ILBE with 120 lb load out or 90 lb MARPAT Assault ready up and on your person air drop to the LZ with a 15 miler back to barracks with a 15 mile stroll across the farm around the perimeter and to the mess hall in just fatigues.
The OP may have been responding to a response on another thread. Maybe not.
The "It's just walking" mantra is used to deflate the mostly newb backpackers who get overinflated like balloons---about all aspects of their planned AT thruhike---Endless parsing over their gear lists and shuttles and mail drops and diets and clothing and data books and "how cold is it in March" hysteria. They cyber hike their hike to death and so experienced "old hands" throw up their arms in frustration and say "It's just walking!!"
In other words, give it a rest and just get out there and start walking. Don't overthink it. If you pull a week and that's all you want to do, well, pack up and go home.
I define backpacking as Managing Discomfort. Of course it's going to be cold and wet and rocky and slippery and muddy and other stuff alot worse. But for the highly interrupted AT thruhikers it's also going to be about motel rooms and AYCE buffets and hot showers and full rat-box trail shelters and crowds and dope smokers and crowds. Did I mention crowds? It IS just walking, but it's also "just" spending money in towns etc. Take your pick of the definitions.
And btw Pages---What happened to your blog?
Last edited by Tipi Walter; 03-03-2017 at 23:06.
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