Originally Posted by
Dogwood
"If you can hike the Whites, you can hike anything."
The idea the AT or the White Mountains are somehow the most difficult LD global hiking is ridiculously over rated...often by those with limited backpacking experience. The Whites definitely are NOT the standard by which all hiking difficulty should or could be measured.
Ice snow, rain, seasonal aspects, high winds, high heat and lack of shade, quicksand, 3 pts of contact advised or required, much higher elevation(2x+), wether on single track or off trail, the risk of being shot or imprisoned on some international hikes as a foreigner, etc makes a significant difference, increasingly so when these aspects are experienced cumulatively. Thru hiking the AZT, Hayduke, Grand Enchantment, Southwest Horseshoe, LTH Route, Big Foot Tr, coastal hikes with potentially fatal tidal and wave aspects/finding ways around sea cliffs and over rugged deeply forested headlands, deep swift cold water fords, through desert routes in 110* heat, lack of shade, deep forested wilderness, true remoteness, lack of trail, hiking through burnt or heavy debris field areas, few to no signs/blazes/real trail/evenly spaced apart mouse trap shelters, with decreased uber over anal-yzed logistical opps for H2O, resupply, assistance, paved road crossings, hostels, trail angels, etc can pose it's own difficulty. The PNWT has its set of difficulties more so when opting for alternative unsigned un-blazed ridge line routes in ice or snow or other options highly overgrown with alder that a backpack must be removed to get through. It's the same with the North Country Tr. Strolling mindlessly along on a backpacking interstate highway like the AT, BMT, JMT, LT, PCT, etc where one can largely turn their mind off during fair weather hiking is akin to being an interstate summer season driver on cruise control in an air conditioned cab. The highly maintained ST and logistical eases of the AT during typical fair weather seasons is not how all hikes are laid out even if it's located in the White Mountains. There's no longer even a deep water ford on the AT. Sharp elevation change/differences and gradient are not the be all end all of backpacking or hiking difficulty. WRR, SHR, and Kings Canyon High Basin Routes have their sets of challenges. Mile after mile of knee deep quagmire over countless blow downs in thick forested swamp on NZ and Tasmania trails/routes or the heat of the remotish Bibbulbum Track is difficult in it's own way. Go off trail in some Redwoods NP areas and it makes route finding harder than what was seen by Rambo escaping to the British Columbia forest in First Blood. Cant climb over or under a 20 ft diameter fallen redwood in a deep forest. The idea the AT or the White Mountains are somehow the most difficult LD global hike is over rated...often by those with limited backpacking experience.
Doing hikes on a faster pace such as Tapon did on the first ever CDT yo yo taking different routes each direction or Williams on his PCT forced timeframe PCT record setting yo yo or or Skurka's completion of the Great Western Loop or North Country Tr WITHOUT stopping or Lichter' and Forry's PCT winter thru or Lichter's Great Himalayan Tr first ever thru are WAY WAY more difficult than hiking the AT through the White Mountains...and not just because length. What Earl Schaffer or Bill Irwin did was IMHO more difficult than current hiking of the Whites.
Yeah, the Whites have some of the harshest weather in the U.S. but how many can say that's how they experience the Whites? Hikes where there's a USPO, Smoothie, and paved road with popcorn noshing sightseeing 400lb Tourons at the top may not be that hard after all.
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