I thru-hiked pure in 1999. I had just gotten out of the Marine Corps and I set my parameters.

1) Always walk the white blazes.

2) Always carry my pack.

3) Always start where you finished the previous day and continue north.

It was an idea of completing a northern pilgramage, self sufficient, with all my gear. In the end, I did it that way because of plain Marine stubborness.

And at times, walking all the white blazes became a major distraction to that purpose. On a couple of occasions, I missed a section by accident. So I foolishly walked backwards down the trail to where I made the wrong turn and then walked north again up the trail. No true pilgram would have done this.

I've slackpacked other trails in sections. It rules! It's almost like a day off without actually taking a day off. It's a joyful experience I missed on my thru-hike, except for that last 5 miles up to Katahdin and back.

I've flip-flopped trail sections in the last couple of years to make things a bit easier with my wife who is somewhat new to backpacking. It did not lessen my experience with her in the slightest. It fact, it probably enhanced it because she was not nearly so wiped out at the end of each day.

I've since gone back and done much of the southern AT in sections, often with the intent to take the blue blazes and see what I missed the first time around. And brother, if you're missing the blue blazes you're often missing out on some of the very best the trail corridor has to offer. I've hiked past waterfalls that the current AT never sees. I've hiked into towns that you would have to hitch or road walk to reach on the "new" AT, while the older blue-blaze route takes you where you want to go in the first place. My sections have been richer in many ways than my thru-hike of a decade ago.

If you walk 2000+ miles from Georgia to Maine or vice versa, congratulations, you've done a lot of walking. But if you've truly lived and loved the experience, then you've really had a successful thru-hike.