Short But Enlightening Experience.

[El JP]

My time on the AT was laughably brief. Approach Trail on Wednesday, off trail today.
I have a few long nagging physical condition/injuries that I've been long overcome by learning to live with them.

The AT shattered all illusions of sheer will being up to the challenge. For the first time in my life I was completely defeated. My legs could barely flex for most of the time going uphill. A part of my lower back where I tore a muscle was set off for the first time since recovery. I could actually feel the scar tissue when the muscle moved.

Two falls shook everything up. One on ice going down Springer and slipping as I prepared to cross a small stream just past Hawk. Went down sideways and slammed into a log.

After that moment there was no way my mind could force my body to power through as usual. My knees were almost nonfunctional.

At Horse gap i got off trail down the road with another small group and they zoomed ahead and disappeared. Eventually I made my way to Cooper and after a hassle with shuttlers, proceeded down the wrong road but hitched a ride out with some soldiers.

Yet through all this is didn't feel dismay. After a while I began to carefully feel and note everything to describe to a doctor. For the first time in my adult life I'm getting surgery and get fixed up proper. All of it is solely to go back to the trail.

These were some beautifully brief days. The trail seems indescribable. The people were amazing, hope to see them all make it.

It's only a few hours off and I miss it so.

PS- My gear worked well. I picked up a lot from Steep and Cheap. Only real thing I did totally wrong was my footgear.

If anything, I'll answer to something in this thread. Other than that I'm strictly lurking until it's time to go up trail again.

[fastfoxengineering]

You gained a new direction in your life which is positive.

You tried. Nobody can fault you for trying.

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[zelph]

You ventured, you gained :-)

Thank you for sharing your new adventure. We look forward to your next report.

[TSWisla]

Don't give up. We all have setbacks. I have had many. It takes some time to really understand your body and your gear. No amount of reading or talking to people is going to teach that to you. It is trial and error. Keep your head up.

[saltysack]

You made it farther than me this trip....I didn’t even hit the dirt!!! My damn Taco broke down on I95 @ 4:30 this morning in route to do a section hike out of Erwin.......sitting in a dealership in Brunswick, Ga...always next time...get in shape and give it another go....


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[tdoczi]

its always amazing to me that so many people who, seemingly, have little to no backpacking experience attempt to thru hike. i would never even consider such a thing, for better or worse. its even more stunning to me that so many people do this and are actually successful.

when you get back out there, and hopefully stay back out there awhile, i'd be curious how your perspective on this short trip changes.

[Puddlefish]

I used to believe in pure will being enough, when I was young, healthy, muscular and had perfect balance. No pain, no gain, and all that silliness is what caused me to injure both knees by the time I was 21. Every step since then has been painful.

I can manage to hike, only if I take the time to build up the muscles supporting the knee structure in advance. There's a lot of prep and maintenance involved for me. I also developed heel spurs recently that are painful, so every morning I hike starts with a half hour of stretching. I made it 600 miles on my thru attempt before a partial tear of my ICL drove me off the trail.

There are a bunch of people on this forum who will talk about lack of will being some sort of moral failing, and they seem to believe that's the only reason people wimp out of completing their thru hikes. Ignore them. Several of them have slunk back in and admitted various reasons their thru attempt failed. Suspiciously absent from their reasoning was their lack of will.

Keep hiking, put together a bunch of day hikes, a whole lot of neighborhood walking, some exercise/therapy to address your specific health concerns, and eventually you can reward yourself with at least a section hike of the AT.

[FranklinBeans]

its always amazing to me that so many people who, seemingly, have little to no backpacking experience attempt to thru hike. i would never even consider such a thing, for better or worse. its even more stunning to me that so many people do this and are actually successful.

when you get back out there, and hopefully stay back out there awhile, i'd be curious how your perspective on this short trip changes.

well, maybe that's the clue...lots of folks do succeed. it's one of the few gargantuan physical undertakings that you can completely tailor to your own physical capacity, and that you can get in shape for while you're actually doing it. I don't find it particularly shocking that n00bs pull it off.

[Slo-go'en]

Well, El JP's experience illustrates the importance of doing shake down hikes. Not only to get familiar with gear, but to see if your body is up to the task.

It also illustrates the importance of being in good physical shape when you start. It might be "just walking", but it's strenuous walking with upwards of 30 pounds on your back. This something a lot of people haven't done much of (or any) before they start a thru hike. The "I'll just start slow and get in shape along the way" approach really doesn't work very well and is why people have injuries early on.

It's one thing if your young, but getting into shape prior to the hike gets more and more important for older hikers, especially if you have physical or medical issues to deal with too.

[FranklinBeans]

Well, El JP's experience illustrates the importance of doing shake down hikes. Not only to get familiar with gear, but to see if your body is up to the task.

It also illustrates the importance of being in good physical shape when you start. It might be "just walking", but it's strenuous walking with upwards of 30 pounds on your back. This something a lot of people haven't done much of (or any) before they start a thru hike. The "I'll just start slow and get in shape along the way" approach really doesn't work very well and is why people have injuries early on.

It's one thing if your young, but getting into shape prior to the hike gets more and more important for older hikers, especially if you have physical or medical issues to deal with too.

No argument there. I hope OP is able to get his medical issues addressed and get back to the trail ASAP. Good luck OP! I hurt my back at work some 18 years ago (blew out a disc) and things were never quite the same since. I don't have a day ever where I don't experience some degree of pain. The most important thing for me is a pack that fits well, transfers weight well, and taking it exactly as slow as I need to.

[tdoczi]

well, maybe that's the clue...lots of folks do succeed. it's one of the few gargantuan physical undertakings that you can completely tailor to your own physical capacity, and that you can get in shape for while you're actually doing it. I don't find it particularly shocking that n00bs pull it off.

i think my point may be more about making such a huge commitment to something you arent even sure youre going to enjoy than it is about any physical limitations.

the thing that made me think it and write my response was the OP's comment about gear... how would you really know after 2 days? i think someone who starts off inexperienced really doesnt know what theyve gotten themselves into until.... 2 weeks? 2 months? i dont know, some sizable chunk of time later.

[Slo-go'en]

Well, he was pleased with his gear for the 2 days he used it, which is better then not being pleased after only 2 days

Although tdoczi is right, it's not until you've used your gear through a number of weather and trail situations that you know for sure.

[BuckeyeBill]

its always amazing to me that so many people who, seemingly, have little to no backpacking experience attempt to thru hike. i would never even consider such a thing, for better or worse. its even more stunning to me that so many people do this and are actually successful.

when you get back out there, and hopefully stay back out there awhile, i'd be curious how your perspective on this short trip changes.

I failed to see anything in the original post where it said he had little to no experience. We all started some where Many of us started out with smaller trails and then made the jump to longer trails, then thru-hikes. There is no application that needs to be filled out to be a thru-hiker. You can see it every year that thousands of people start out to thru-hike and drop out. Who are we to judge them? They did not ask us for money to buy gear or a plane ticket to Atlanta. If they don't complete it or drop out early it is no skin off my back. How often is it said on here that taking it easy early on, you will eventually get your trail legs. I believe too many people push themselves to hard too soon to not look like a wimp to their buddies or other hikers. I say the HE** with them, this is my adventure not theirs. I also failed to see where the OP did not do a gear shake down. What he did write the only thing that failed him were his shoes. How many of us have had to try different shoes to find the right ones that work for us?

Well, El JP's experience illustrates the importance of doing shake down hikes. Not only to get familiar with gear, but to see if your body is up to the task.

It also illustrates the importance of being in good physical shape when you start. It might be "just walking", but it's strenuous walking with upwards of 30 pounds on your back. This something a lot of people haven't done much of (or any) before they start a thru hike. The "I'll just start slow and get in shape along the way" approach really doesn't work very well and is why people have injuries early on.

It's one thing if your young, but getting into shape prior to the hike gets more and more important for older hikers, especially if you have physical or medical issues to deal with too.

I kind of agree that being in the best shape possible definitely helps. But short of having access to a 50 story building and climbing the fire stairs regularly, nothing can compete with the approach trail stairs. They are a hip, knee and ankle killer to any hiker. Maybe if the OP had skipped that part he may have had better luck. Age has nothing to do with it. Just ask the 82 year old hiker that recently did a thru-hike or the blind fellow that did the same. Yes he fell a lot, but he was never deterred. I have also seen older hikers who were in much better shape than hikers much younger than they are. For us, we may creek and crack more, but we have learned to stretch out while breakfast is cooking. We also know when to stop, even if we haven't met our mileage quote for the day, because we can all agree that certain parts of the AT are harder than others.

i think my point may be more about making such a huge commitment to something you arent even sure youre going to enjoy than it is about any physical limitations.

the thing that made me think it and write my response was the OP's comment about gear... how would you really know after 2 days? i think someone who starts off inexperienced really doesnt know what theyve gotten themselves into until.... 2 weeks? 2 months? i dont know, some sizable chunk of time later.

As I said earlier, there was no mention of not doing shakedown hikes. I would like to know how many miles someone has to have under their belt before they are "Experienced" or "What they've gotten themselves into"? You even admit you don't know. Like I said earlier, his gear seemed to be fine except for his shoes. Inquiring minds want to know.

[tdoczi]

I failed to see anything in the original post where it said he had little to no experience. We all started some where Many of us started out with smaller trails and then made the jump to longer trails, then thru-hikes. There is no application that needs to be filled out to be a thru-hiker. You can see it every year that thousands of people start out to thru-hike and drop out. Who are we to judge them? They did not ask us for money to buy gear or a plane ticket to Atlanta. If they don't complete it or drop out early it is no skin off my back. How often is it said on here that taking it easy early on, you will eventually get your trail legs. I believe too many people push themselves to hard too soon to not look like a wimp to their buddies or other hikers. I say the HE** with them, this is my adventure not theirs. I also failed to see where the OP did not do a gear shake down. What he did write the only thing that failed him were his shoes. How many of us have had to try different shoes to find the right ones that work for us?



I kind of agree that being in the best shape possible definitely helps. But short of having access to a 50 story building and climbing the fire stairs regularly, nothing can compete with the approach trail stairs. They are a hip, knee and ankle killer to any hiker. Maybe if the OP had skipped that part he may have had better luck. Age has nothing to do with it. Just ask the 82 year old hiker that recently did a thru-hike or the blind fellow that did the same. Yes he fell a lot, but he was never deterred. I have also seen older hikers who were in much better shape than hikers much younger than they are. For us, we may creek and crack more, but we have learned to stretch out while breakfast is cooking. We also know when to stop, even if we haven't met our mileage quote for the day, because we can all agree that certain parts of the AT are harder than others.



As I said earlier, there was no mention of not doing shakedown hikes. I would like to know how many miles someone has to have under their belt before they are "Experienced" or "What they've gotten themselves into"? You even admit you don't know. Like I said earlier, his gear seemed to be fine except for his shoes. Inquiring minds want to know.

it seemed pretty clear the OP at least had not attempted backpacking since whatever injures were suffered that came back and abruptly stopped the hike. maybe prior to these injuries there was more hiking, i dont know.

and my statement that i would never do what those who go from not hiking directly to attempting a thru was not intended as a criticism.

[BuckeyeBill]

it seemed pretty clear the OP at least had not attempted backpacking since whatever injures were suffered that came back and abruptly stopped the hike. maybe prior to these injuries there was more hiking, i dont know.

and my statement that i would never do what those who go from not hiking directly to attempting a thru was not intended as a criticism.

Your second statement I can accept, but when you say "It seemed pretty clear the OP at least had not attempted backpacking since whatever injures were suffered that came back and abruptly stopped the hike. Sorry I am not a lawyer, but a former law enforcement officer who heard many times in many court rooms, "Assumes facts not in evidence." You may be right and I may be wrong, but until such time I will agree to disagree.

[tdoczi]

Your second statement I can accept, but when you say "It seemed pretty clear the OP at least had not attempted backpacking since whatever injures were suffered that came back and abruptly stopped the hike. Sorry I am not a lawyer, but a former law enforcement officer who heard many times in many court rooms, "Assumes facts not in evidence." You may be right and I may be wrong, but until such time I will agree to disagree.

this isnt a court of law though. sure, if it were, i would make guesses like that. fortunately there isnt anything that large at stake here on an internet message board

[BuckeyeBill]

this isnt a court of law though. sure, if it were, i would make guesses like that. fortunately there isnt anything that large at stake here on an internet message board

No it is not a court of law, but you still made assumptions. I think the OP knew exactly what he was getting into and still has a burning desire to thru-hike when he heals after surgery. This is not a personal attack on you, but I think you were a little harsh on the OP because of those assumptions.

[Elaikases]

Yet through all this is didn't feel dismay. After a while I began to carefully feel and note everything to describe to a doctor. For the first time in my adult life I'm getting surgery and get fixed up proper. All of it is solely to go back to the trail

Good for you. Then with a little rehab, you will be ready to go.

Best wishes.

[El JP]

Ok, I better comment.

I have what is called "a rude good health " I've never really gone to gyms or anything similar but have gotten quite a workout over the years with various blue collar jobs and sports and within reason, (my knees ) casually solo powerlift items that require team lifts. As for cardiovascular, by the second day my breathing and heart rate were tolerable.

Any hiking history that I've had doesn't begin to compare to what is required by the AT. The climbs and descents combined with constantly changing, twisting, dropping, gapped, terrain on the wrong choice of footgear.

Plenty of times throughout the years I've had to put my body up the challenge and it usually delivered to one extent or the other. As bad as things would get it was just a matter of taking the pain and carrying on. This time was quite different as I didn't have anything I could effectively factor in on the "function/pain" ratio.

I knew it would be a state of constant discomfort but was quite surprised how fast my legs were shot to the point I knew it was over. Even then I still walked down a road for quite a way before hitching a ride out.

Before I forget, my back was only about as sore as after any strenuous activity. What gave concern was as the prior injured muscle flexed the scar tissued part was quite noticible. Scar tissue doesn't stretch, it tears. And so I realized I had a something that could flat out cripple me out there at the worst time.

All in all, I go in Monday for preliminary paperwork. Looking at surgery without a doubt, probably two or three. Therapy after which naturally I plan to jack up to past standard medical advice. Just because I don't go to gyms doesn't mean I don't know a bunch of dudes who live in them and they'll be quite surprised when I ask them to set up a program and stacks.

Gear wise I have a Granite Gear Nimbus Trace Access 60L. The ruck felt perfectly natural once I repacked up on Springer. Still making sense of the million straps but it was quite nice.

Forgot what sleeping bag I have but I was toasty warm the two nights while people were complaining about sleeping cold.

The tent i was likely to switch out on for something lighter as I made it uptrail. It was a Eureka Midori 2 and all things considered it was quite handy. Very simple to set up and take down. Packing it was a bit of a pain but I had that solved by the second day also.

The boots killed me. Not going to mention brand and all as it was good boot, wrong application. Old milspec thinking totally blew it on this one.

I'll comment some more but I'll get this in now.

[tdoczi]

No it is not a court of law, but you still made assumptions. I think the OP knew exactly what he was getting into and still has a burning desire to thru-hike when he heals after surgery. This is not a personal attack on you, but I think you were a little harsh on the OP because of those assumptions.

we'll never know for sure unless the OP comes back to clarify for us, but i think reading the OP's post as "long term injuries i had been dealing with prior to my hike impacted me more than i thought they would" is not at all unfair.

and since the hike in question lasted two days.... well, i fail to see how even one shakedown hike would not have revealed the physical issues related to those injuries.
and again, i'm not criticizing someone who goes straight from not hiking to thru hiking, just saying i wouldnt do it. whether i was correct in applying this assumption to the OP or not is sort of moot, as it wasnt intended as a criticism either way.