A question for past thru hikers. When did you know?

[Grampie]

My first attempt to thru was in 2000. I ended up going home, from Fontana, with very sore knees and a bad stress fracture. I started another attempt in 2001. This time I felt that I already had one strike against me. The fact that I was 66 years old didn't help either. It put a lot of doubt in my nind about making it to Maine.
The point, in my thru, when I felt that I could make it all the way was when I walked through the sign going into the park in Damaskas. It just hit me. I feel good, I could walk the daily required miles and best of all I was enjoying it.
Previous to this time, when someone asked me , "are you a thru-hiker", I would reply. "No." I'm just heading north. After that I started to say I was.

[Mouse]

heck, I think the first time I really, truly believed I'd make it was on the Tablelands on Katahdin.

Same for me! And I saw a number of strong hikers have a hike-ending injury
in the last stages. So I really did not take it for granted until then; when only a short fairly level walk remained.

[SalParadise]

I previous failed thru-hike attempt must make a lot of difference in attitude. My first attempt had to end from an injury just from walking, not from a fall or anything. So on my next attempt it was always in the back of my head that I still might succumb to injury no matter how prepared or strong I was. The feeling was so much more real.

A lot of it was a numbers thing for me, too, knowing that if there was still only that 2% occurrance where a hiker could break a leg in Maine or be called back to some family emergency from Monson (met a guy who had to quit from there), then I couldn't myself be 100% sure or my own destiny.

[Jan LiteShoe]

Jan,

PS.
It's ok if you hijack the thread. Anything for a fellow North Carolinian.
PPS
I am Hoosier by birth and upbringing.

That's okay, i'm really from Wisconsin.

[Footslogger]

That's okay, i'm really from Wisconsin.

=================================

Funny eh ...seems like most of us are from somewhere else !!

'Slogger

[MOWGLI]

That's okay, i'm really from Wisconsin.

I'm from Mars. My wife is from Venus.

[Ewker]

That's okay, i'm really from Wisconsin.

yum a cheesehead

[DavidNH]

Well.. when I got through The Pennsylvania rocks and also 4 days of more or less solid rain and I was still standing..I had a good idea I would make it all the way. But I think one really knows after the whites and the Mahoosics because it just can't get any harder than that!

David

[texas jack]

My hiking buddy Grampie has prodded me to share a memry or two..
On Springer, EVERYONE is gonna "make it". I (Texas Jack) had guesstimated that I cd do 10 mi per day,and allotted the required 7months and paid the utilities up front so nothing wd be shut off.
Well, for LOTS of reasons, 10 mi/day was an overestimate, but the thought of Damascus drew us northward like lemmings. The convential wisdom ws "if you can reach Damascus (20%of the way) you are physically capable of doing the WHOLE thing!" The other 80% is whether or not a person still WANTS to.
I didn`t really think abt WHEN I wd be through hiking until there ws less than 1000 miles to go. I had been counting down fm2173 and when there were 999 to go I thought "Dang, I`m gonna really finish this thing!"
Up until that point, I wd meet people who asked,"When are you going to be done?" and my answer "I don`t know yet" caused some jaws to drop.
The last 300 mi, I just wanted it to be over with. It had become an enduro.
I was in the best shape I had been in for 20 yrs, and I just wanted it to be done!
I had to rest up before I actually felt real PRIDE in having finished. I ws sort of shell-shocked for a few wks
For the record, Texas Jack was in the woods 356 days in `01, and `03, hiked 301 days (took 55 zeros) hiked 7.23 mi/day for the whole thing.
My buddy Grampie acted as my ground support and hiking bud in`03
I didnt know for certain WHEN I ws gonna finish until the last 200 mi or so

[ARambler]

I obsessed about finishing as much as anyone. Fortunately, I had more resources than most:
experience/ability/youth(50)/stunnninglygoodlooks/sense-of-humor, time, money, and support from home. I became fully committed to making Katahdin when I bought food for my mail drops (although it was a more gradual process than that.) When I got to Katahdin, my camera broke, and I went back a couple of months later to stage the photo. I was sure I was going to complete the trail when I got back to Katahdin Springs Campground the 4th time. (the popular, do not die on the knife edge option.)

Remember, there is a big difference between using Katahdin as a goal, and stressing over not making it to Katahdin.

When non-hikers ask "what was your favorite part?" they're expecting something like a bear story. Prospective thru hikers (and some thru hikers) will think it's reaching Katahdin. Many thru hikers say it's the people they meet and hike with on the trail. I say it's the part where I put one foot in front of the other.

Not saying the other hikers views are wrong, but it IS possible to have a reasonably successful thru hike without having a bad day.
Rambler

[superman]

I didn't have any physical issues that made me question if I would complete my thru-hike. I was amused that people that I had been hiking near flip flopped because they'd done the math and decided that they couldn't finish in time. I didn't do the math so I hiked on. The biggest problem I had was every time I called home my stress level would spike. Every call was more weird, uncooperative stuff. When I finished my hike I found that my ex-girlfriend that I'd trusted to handle my finances while I was gone stole $15,000 from me. That plus the near $7,000 I'd spent on the trail made it a pretty pricey thru-hike. At least I didn't fall like Bernie did. His could wiggle his left pelvic bone and it turned yellow. yuk!

Superman and Winter GA>ME 2000

[warren doyle]

On my first thru-hike in 1973, when I reached the sign on Katahdin finishing my 66.3 day journey.

On my seven other thru-hikes since then, when I was making my first step northward from Springer.

On my six other section-hikes since then (1973), when I made my first step either southward or northward to start my first section towards completion of the entire trail by sections.

I will finish my seventh section-hike on Monday April 5, 2010 and I will finish my ninth thru-hike on Saturday Sept. 4th, 2010 on Katahdin between 8-9am.

[Jim Adams]

i was always hoping from the first day that i would make it but i didn't know for sure until Lower Jo Mary Lake. i don't know why i got the answer there but i did.
on my second hike in 2002, i had enough knee and heat problems that i wasn't sure until i was standing on Abol bridge looking at K.

[handlebar]

I knew I could do it physically when I reached Damascus after overcoming knee tendonitis which caused me to take an extra zero in Erwin. The trail reminded me not to underestimate the difficulty when I got tendonitis in my left hip that developed shortly after Damascus in the Grayson Highlands. It didn't help that I made it worse by doing 15-mile days and a final 20-miler into Partnership where I planned to take off for a stint on Konnarock trail crew. That set me back home for 3 weeks rest and rehab after which I think I felt that I wouldn't have anymore physical setbacks when I reached the Doyle. Turned out I was wrong and Lyme Disease combined with PA heat and rocks lowered my daily average from 17+ to under 10 after Lehigh Gap. Fortunately, I got antibiotics to treat it and within a week was back in good hiking form.

At dinner in Dalton, MA, I realized I probably would finish when JohnnyK proposed at toast to Katahdin. Except for Bluebird, who dislocated her shoulder near Gorham, all 12 of us at the table did finish.

I think I realized I definately would finish when we reached Maine.

Great thread!

[Mountain Maiden]

At dinner in Dalton, MA, I realized I probably would finish when JohnnyK proposed at toast to Katahdin. Except for Bluebird, who dislocated her shoulder near Gorham, all 12 of us at the table did finish.
Great thread!

This reminds me of the twelve of us who gathered 'round for b'fast at the Blueberry Patch in Mar '02. ALL of us made it to Katahdin! I thought that was pretty incredible considering the odds so early in the game. I would post the names but am afraid I might forget someone. Among us was Weathercarrot--his memory is so much better--maybe he can complete the list for me.

Speaking of WC, he started the same day as I did and we summitted together! (Of course, he took off five weeks mid-hike for trail maintenance, etc!) His willingness to share info and his experience contributed greatly to my success in finishing! THANKS WC!!

Sunrise

[Tenderheart]

I knew without a doubt when I left for Springer that I could go all the way. And so will you. Of course, there is a lot of luck involved. Unexpected falls, illness, problems arising at home that require your attention can take away your dream. But you must commit at the outset that you will go all the way. You are right about this being a monumental task, and it will be a life-changing experience. The fact that you are even considering such an undertaking tells me that you are a special person in this world of mediocrity. A man much wiser than I once said "It is easy to complicate matters, but difficult to keep them simple". A thru hike is one of the most elemental things that you will attempt, and it needs to be kept simple. Get your load down as low as possible and enjoy the walk. I trust that you will do well.

litefoot 2000

[Jan LiteShoe]

How funny!
As we kick this around,White Blazer Marta, also known as Five-Leaf Clover, is going SOBO in Virginia, and just had her "moment:"
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=163300

[H2O_Buffalo]

How funny!
As we kick this around,White Blazer Marta, also known as Five-Leaf Clover, is going SOBO in Virginia, and just had her "moment:"
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=163300

How apropos. Just when I start this thread a hiker has the revelation that I am so curious about.

[Programbo]

The hardest thing was, early on, seeing the young "rabbits" sprint on ahead of me - one day ahead, three days, a week or more......Seeing the strong ones lope off like that set off alot of mental noise.

Forget those kinds of people..They are out there for an entirely different reason than you are so what they do shouldn`t be a concern...As they race up the trail as if it were some sort of Survivor challange or Xtreme Sports event hey are missing the truly magical place the AT is...Years from now all they will have gotten from it is that they covered the distance in X number of days and had X number of "Zero days" and that their "best" day was X miles.....As you try and reminisce with them and say something like.."Remember that one section where the pine trees formed an arch over the trail and it was like a cathedral it was so quiet", you`ll either get a blank stare with a "Huh?" or an "Oh yeah! Man I made good time thru there! I think I did 35 miles that day! Awesome!!!"

I think having a lot of previous hiking experience especially a few long distance trips makes all the difference. I couldn`t imagine trying it cold (ie. as a first long hike)..But a lot of people do and are successful..I think it`s easier now with such a huge number of people doing it you have almost constant support and interaction..I think an earlier poster (Maybe Max) was right..If you have 6 months and don`t have to work and have the money for the trip you should make it if you are in average physical fitness