[at-l] 10 Things Nobody Told me Before I Hit the AT

[icw@xxxxxxxxxxx (Clark Wright)]

As the northbound wave prepares to gently wash over Springer, I thought
I would post my own personal list of sorts; I hope it is of some help
for the class of 2003 . . . so, with a tip of my tattered AT ballcap to
Letterman, here's my top 10 list of things nobody told me before I hit
the AT! :)

1)  That my feet would grow a full size - permanently - and that many of
my fellow hikers [especially the guys] would also experience the same
thing.  In light of the fact that your feet are perhaps the singlemost
important item for a thru-hike, and the fact that a great many hikers
struggle with finding comfortable footwear, this revelation had some
significant consequences.  I went thru four different pair of shoes,
with varying levels of comfort and performance.

2)  That there would be so many "thru-hiker purity" discussions, often
centering on things as peculiar as how one entered/exited shelters,
detoured around deadfall, etc.  I do not mean to demean these
discussions either; many times fellow hikers brought up points I had not
even thought of . . . I learned a lot, but in the end had to re-learn
the obvious:  Hike Yer Own Hike . . . what is not so obvious is the fact
that your own personal idea of how to HYOH can really change over time.

3)  That when some people say "lightweight," they REALLY mean it!  I
left Springer with about 46 lbs on my back; I still recall seeing some
names in the Amicalola Falls register of a couple who each left there
with less than 20 lbs - and this was on March 15th!  Over the course of
my first 5 weeks, I lost almost a collective 50 lbs from my pack and
body weight.  I have to say, however, that I felt a LOT safer and better
prepared when that first winter storm hit . . . I will never forget the
visual image I have of Thor [a Golite disciple] hiking into a winter
whiteout, with his Jardine umbrella smashed against the side of his pack
by the force of the wind.  [Thor was wise enough to get off the Trail
for a few days during the worst of the winter storms, and he made it all
the way to Katahdin, to boot!]  The boy scout in me could never go that
light, but I've learned a lot about lighter weight backpacking, that's
for sure.

4)  When people say that thru-hikers [especially men] need to consume
between 4,000 - 6,000 calories/day, they are telling the truth!  The
closest thing to a significant health issue that I experienced was
malnutrition from eating too much dehydrated food, and not enough "real"
food.  As time went on, I ate more and more dense, real foods and less
dehydrated stuff.  Earl Shaeffer's hard boiled eggs, along with
pre-cooked bacon, the tuna in foil packs, and 3-4 cheeseburgers packed
out from every hiker town became my best Trail friends! :)

5)  That I could be hiking alone and suddenly start crying with joy,
spontaneously, in the middle of a forest . . . almost nothing has ever
felt like that to me before or since, with the only exceptions I can
think of being the day I was married, and the two days on which my
daughters were born.

6)  That I would get in such good shape that I truly preferred hiking
uphill, versus downhill.

7)  That even a 30-year hiking veteran can learn a few new things, like
the importance of hiking poles as protection for you knees, and that
women often make the best thru-hikers.

8)  That I could get to the point where I could smell a perfumed,
laundry-detergent-cleaned dayhiker from a half mile away, while somehow
not smelling [much less gagging] on my own stink.  My wife truly almost
threw up when she picked four of us up at Mountain Mammas . . . the
windows definitely stayed down on that drive to Hot Springs, regardless
of the cold temps!

9)  That lifelong friends can be made on the Trail in a week.

and

10)  That I will never be the same . . .

thru-thinker