Failed Thru-hike attempts. What happened?

[esmithz]

I would like to here some experiences from people who started a thru hike but left the trail. How long did you hike? why did you leave the trail? Any words for would be thru hikers?

I ask this because I myself am a failed thru hiker for 2006. 419 miles from amacalola falls to Laurel Fork, TN. Hiked too far, Too fast, isolation, boredom, and a complete overwealming, uncontrollable impulse to quit. Which I did.

I'm planning to return and try a 2nd time using lessons learned.

[Sly]

Do as you please but if I were you I'd just start where you left off (or perhaps even go southbound). Atleast this way, if after another 400 miles you feel like quitting again you've seen that much more trail and can finish at another time. If you make it all the way north, you could come back and hike the 1st 400 miles over again if completely the enitire trail in one season is your goal.

[Ender]

On my PCT attempt, I had to pull off around the 1200 mile point because of injury to my left foot and ankle. I'll get back out ther some day.

My AT thruhike I also got injured, but was able to hike through it and go the entire distance.

Words of advice? You have to want to be out there. Don't just do it because you didn't make it the first time. Do it because you want to be hiking. The end shouldn't be the goal, the journey should be the goal.

Also, take things along with you to do other than hiking if you're getting bored... for me it was books. I'd read every night, sometimes even cut my hiking day a little short to read. It was a good way to keep the brain occupied. Also, music can help from time to time, but I found if I listened to it too much it irritated me. Ended up mainly just listening to it in camp some nights from time to time.

Listen to your body. If it tells you to stop, or slow down, or speed up, do it. Don't hike just to keep up with people, or because you have nothing else to do. Do what your body is telling you to do.

Anyway, congrats on your 400+ miles!

[MOWGLI]

Hiked too far, Too fast, isolation, boredom, and a complete overwealming, uncontrollable impulse to quit. Which I did.

I'm planning to return and try a 2nd time using lessons learned.

What lessons did you learn? I think that would be helpful to know. If you were bored on the trail, and felt isolated, how do you plan to address those issues on another attempt?

Thanks in advance.

[SGT Rock]

Good point. It is sometimes easy to identify a problem, coming up with workable solutions and implementing them are not always easy. Simply knowing a problem can happen is not going to stop it if it happens again.

As to the thread, I am interested in hearing this. The only time I ever felt like bailing on a hike was when I got lonely. I pushed through it by physically challenging myself - it didn't change that I was lonely, but it did take my mind off of the problem.

[esmithz]

Thanks Sly for the advice. I seem to have this idea that doing a full thru hike in one season is heroic and I want to have bragging rights. I think this is the wrong attitude and is probably contributed to my burnout on the trail this year.

[Ewker]

Trail Journals has a section called Journals from Hikers Who Got Off the Trail. There has been some interesting stories as to why they got off. It includes all the trails

http://www.trailjournals.com/journals_type.cfm?status=4

[rafe]

Got bored. Bad attitude. Wasn't having fun. The heat & humidity were getting to me. Hard to stay clean.. a week without showers sucks when you're hiking in the heat all day. OK, I'm a weenie, I admit it. I did about 650 miles, quit near Blacksburg. Never did find a hiking partner I could stay with for more than a few days. Did the 100-mile Wilderness later that season so I could meet up with the folks I'd started with down south. That was fun!

I'm much happier hiking sections. Since '90 I've filled in the gaps between Monson and Lehigh Gap. It's been 16 years... 30 years if you count all those years of aimless red-eyed stomping thru the Whites.

These days I think of the AT as the "framework" for my hiking... but not the end-all. But seriously psyched to do the final 600 mile section in '07.

[Michele]

Got bored. Bad attitude. Wasn't having fun. The heat & humidity were getting to me. Hard to stay clean.. a week without showers sucks when you're hiking in the heat all day. OK, I'm a weenie, I admit it. I did about 650 miles, quit near Blacksburg. Never did find a hiking partner I could stay with for more than a few days. Did the 100-mile Wilderness later that season so I could meet up with the folks I'd started with down south. That was fun!

I'm much happier hiking sections. Since '90 I've filled in the gaps between Monson and Lehigh Gap. It's been 16 years... 30 years if you count all those years of aimless red-eyed stomping thru the Whites.

These days I think of the AT as the "framework" for my hiking... but not the end-all. But seriously psyched to do the final 600 mile section in '07.

I don't think anyone is a weenie for realizing that they aren't having fun and then doing something about it. I call that good judgement personally.

[Brrrb Oregon]

I don't think anyone is a weenie for realizing that they aren't having fun and then doing something about it. I call that good judgement personally.

Absolutely. No one is going to die if you don't finish your thruhike....but maybe something inside you dies if you try to force yourself to love something that you just don't.

[SGT Rock]

Hey, thru-hiking isn't going to be for everyone either. I suppose some people would be more happy if they figure that out and just do long sections when they can. Sometimes you gotta try to find out.

[Hammock Hanger]

First time after hiking 650 miles with a sewing needle in my foot I was in so much pain, kept hiking but at 900+ had to leave the trail for good. -- Second time after 1000+ miles I was rushed to hospital with West Nile Fever amd Lyme. Third time (different trail) at @ 700+ I was missing home and the group dynamics were getting me down.

If you were lonely perhaps next time you should start later.

[SalParadise]

In 04 I had to quit for injury after 700 miles. Got a stress fracture in my foot and bursitis in my knee. The weight of my pack (45-50 lbs.) mostly contributed to it, and the weight also made me dread every grueling ascent.

Still wanting to thru-hike, in 05 I got new gear and cut my weight down to 23 lbs. fully loaded. Knowing all that extra gear and clothing I didn't need to take also helped. That light pack was a big factor in my successful thru that year.

I did re-hike the 700 miles from the previous year. I wanted my hike to be a traditional thru-hike, end-to-end, and I'm very glad I did those miles over again. I'm glad I did Springer to Katahdin. I remembered exactly where I had to get off the Trail in 04 (702.1 in fact), that it was my first goal early on to pass that point, and I was able to put Katahdin out of my mind for a while.

[brancher]

Hey, thru-hiking isn't going to be for everyone either. I suppose some people would be more happy if they figure that out and just do long sections when they can. Sometimes you gotta try to find out.

Well said! Some of us (me included) are very happy just to get out for a week or so - when we can steal away from the careers and families for a few days. Although I'd love to do a thru attempt, it ain't in the cards for 5 more years. Until then, I'll try to make it to Harpers in sections. Gives me some great stories and experiences, and feeds the need.

[Blissful]

I''ll second that- the entries on Trail Journals for those who left is very interesting.

I guess I already know this is not going to be fun. I'm not doing it for fun. So that is out of my system. It's going to be really tough. There are going to be great days and lousy days.

I'm going on it to find out more about myself, others, to see the trail blessings that come about when you least expect it, to see the grand mountains, rivers, foliage, towns, to just walk THE AT. Also I'm doing it for my son so he gets this opportunity. And since this is something that has been in me FOREVER it seems, I think of it as my destiny.

[rafe]

I''ll second that- the entries on Trail Journals for those who left is very interesting.

I guess I already know this is not going to be fun. I'm not doing it for fun. So that is out of my system. It's going to be really tough. There are going to be great days and lousy days.

Life's too short to deliberately spend 5 or 6 months of it not having fun. I hope this attitude works for you... but I know it wouldn't work for me.

Another mistake some folks make is feeling the need to "prove" something -- to themselves, their friends, or whoever. I dunno, but that's not gonna cut it for me. Nobody knows what it's like on the trail... until they've done it or tried it for themselves. Why suffer for 5 or 6 months... to prove to yourself that you can withstand suffering?? Seems silly to me.

This is ultimately a very narcissistic endeavor. Don't pretend you're doing it for anyone else. You're doing it for yourself.

[Blissful]

Life's too short to deliberately spend 5 or 6 months of it not having fun. I hope this attitude works for you... but I know it wouldn't work for me.

This is more a twist of semantics than anything. Let me say again, I am not thru hiking just for the fun of it. It isn't one of my reasons for going. That doesn't mean I will deprive myself of having fun along the way. (!) Of course there is going to be fun times. I've already had great times with other hikers on the sections I've done. But if you read the journals, there are others who go on the perception of going for the fun of it, and when the fun stops they stop (even one of the hikers in the dvd TREK mentions this as well. Thankfully when it stopped being fun for him, he kept going anyway. Guess he learned something from that, I'm sure). Let's get real, there's going to be a point it ain't no fun. Then you'd better look to other reasons why you're out there. And that's why I gave some of my own.

[mweinstone]

i quit more than twice, this year at 620 miles and 67 days at perisburg va. i allways quit for the same reason. the trail tells me whats wrong and i go home and fix it. me and the trail understand each other. it knows i love being there and i am allways so so comfortable .it knows i would stay forever. but it shows me a thing i can fix in life and so i obay.onece the trail told me to go home and raise my 2 year old son and that he was too young to leave home . once it told me i was running away and must change first in certian ways before i could face the blazes. and this year it said," matt, get the fuch out of here and stop spending money and go home and pay your taxes before you get in trouble. and so as per our agreement,..me and the trail,.. i came home and went to the irs.such is the life of trail lovers.

[Dawn]

What a great thread! I really want to do the whole thing and sometimes worry that I won't want to stop. I like the thought of being able to be out there...having the choice to keep going instead of that long drive home on Sunday night after a weekend of hiking and having to go to work Monday morning. Like Blissful said, I'm sure there will be times when it won't really feel like "fun", but still better to be out there than not. Some of my fondest hikes have been the ones that have the most challenges .. emotional or physical.

The thought of doing this started creeping into my being about 10 years ago and it is finally at a point where I have to give it a try. I love the Dylan quote!!

But I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

Thanks for some of the suggestions about taking some time to make changes along the way to make it a better hike.

[rafe]

Let's get real, there's going to be a point it ain't no fun. Then you'd better look to other reasons why you're out there. And that's why I gave some of my own.

You said you were doing it, at least in part, "for your son." I wasn't sure what that meant. Still not sure, actually, even if it's none of my business. Without knowing the specifics, I'm wary of rationales of that sort.

Anyway... I can only speak for myself. Life is short, and my goal is to enjoy it. Fun = enjoyment. Enjoyment = fun. No semantics. It's really that simple. When it stops being fun, I find something else to do.