[at-l] Top Ten Clues To Thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail forPlanner Types

[datto_atl2 at yahoo.com (Datto)]

Well it's about that time again. About time for advice for
those of you who are planner types thinking of thru-hiking
the Appalachian Trail in 2004.

Everyone has their own opinion and I can only tell you what
works for me and what I have observed that has worked for
others. You know, some people have just shown up at the
beginning of the Appalachian Trail with no clue at all and
have made it the whole way to the other end. The entire
21xx miles! So what does planning do for you if people can
just show up and make it the whole way?

It makes life a little easier, particularly during the
critical first thirty days when many good-intentioned
thru-hikers drop out. And it makes it more likely you will
complete your thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.

So...without further adieu, I give you:

DATTO'S TOP TEN CLUES TO THRU-HIKING THE APPLACHIAN TRAIL
FOR PLANNER TYPES
*****************************************************

Number Ten -- Thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail is far more
a mental challenge for most than it is a physical
challenge. Believe me, it doesn't take a great physique nor
aerobic capacity to wake up every morning for a dozen
consecutive days, pack up your stuff into the home on your
back and step out into the pouring rain (again!) to hike
through the rain all day long. And if you're going to
thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, you're going to face many
consecutive days of hiking all day long in the rain. So if
you're a planner type and wanna get yourself as ready as
possible, you need to get out onto a trail this year and
hike in the rain for multiple days in a row. That way, when
you've hiked in the rain for three consecutive days next
year on the Appalachian Trail and you've changed both pairs
of socks already -- yeah, you can either wear the wet pair
today or the other wet pair today -- it's not such a big
shock to your psyche.

Number Nine -- There's a great deal of difference between
being in shape and being in 'trail shape'. You will find
the weakest part of the human body is the mind...and the
second weakest part are the knees. See, there's this thing
called a backpack and you strap it onto your body and add
about, oh...25-40 lbs of swaying to and fro. Those knees of
yours? Yeah, they like to move in the forward/backward
plane just dandy but that backpack you've strapped on makes
them go in the sideways/sideways plane too. "Knees to
Brain...send pain signals pronto so this moron stops before
this gets out of hand!" 

Then there's the trail in say, the Smokies where the
treadway tilts badly to one side for miles. So one knee
gets the brunt of the load and gets wasted until you wind
past that mountain and up over hill and dale to the next
mountainside that tilts the other way and your other knee
all of a sudden starts having a hissy. Over the course of
time the knees strengthen (or you get used to the pain and
it doesn't bother you as much or...you leave the trail and
go home because your knees just hurt too much).

You know how you can tell from a distance the thru-hikers
from the locals when you're in town? The thru-hikers are
doing the thru-hiker shuffle. That old-man kinda hobble
where it looks like they're in agony just to get themselves
moving in a forward direction down the sidewalk to the
laundramat.

Speaking of being in shape, I hiked with a girl in New
Zealand last year who'd run 10 miles every day over the
last couple of years (and enjoyed it if you can believe it
-- what a nut). She had been training to run marathons and
had actually run some! God, that is certainly not up my
alley. She arrived in New Zealand fit as a fiddle and
strapped on a thirty pound backpack for the first time. We
started hiking up and down cragy, uneven trails and
Yesiree, it just about killed her. You'd never have heard
more moaning and whining and complaining and crying. About
like I'd sound if I had to run a marathon. You know, I
don't think her intestines lasted 30 miles and her knees
didn't last 40. That put a hiatus into the daily running
schedule of hers.

So, the point is you need to get out and get that backpack
strapped on for several multiple-day, overnight hikes this
year. Prior to starting my thru-hike I'd usually hike a
couple of weekends per month from July 1999 through the end
of November 1999, then usually one weekend per month over
the winter and did a hike in Arizona just before starting
my Year 2000 northbound AT thru-hike. Sure made a great
difference for me during the first thirty days of my
thru-hike. Those first 30 days weren't a breeze but I was
way better prepared than most.

Midwesterners...you want a nearby trail to go hike for
multiple days and get a feel for what the Appalachian Trail
is like? Hike the length of the Knobstone Trail just north
of Louisville, Kentucky. Georgia won't seem so difficult.

Number Eight -- Pretty much everyone who's still
thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail after thirty days of AT
hiking is going to be in similar trail shape. The most
difficult terrain on the Appalachian Trail is during the
first thirty days of hiking starting at either end. Yeah,
if you're from someplace like the Midwest or central Texas
or Florida...the first time you gaze up from the bottom of
the approach trail at the Amicalola Falls Visitor's Center
and take a gander at that bridge up toward the top of the
mountain, you are gonna think 'whoo doggies that is way the
heck up there'. So, for you flatlanders who wanna get in
some kind of shape and don't have a mountain handy...strap
on your fully-loaded backpack, get on the treadmill, put
the incline as far up as it will go (at least 12% -- better
at 15% if your treadmill will go that high) and carry that
backpack 'uphill' for at least thirty minutes every day at
3.5 mph. Although your body doesn't experience the stress
of the uneven treadway, your body will get the feel of
having your backpack strapped on and under stress. It might
even help to keep your intestines from blowing out or
freezing up (depending upon your intestinal mood) during
that first week.

Number Seven -- If you decide to thru-hike the Appalachian
Trail with your dog (where's that clown mallet I keep
around here for your kinda people) then you should
understand that you have just drastically increased your
burden (exponentially I'd say) when taking on the great
challenge of an AT thru-hike. Think of it this way -- only
about 15%-20% of the people who start an Appalachian Trail
thru-hike actually finish the thing! And most of those who
finish don't have a dog with them. And you're gonna haul
along a dog with you? God help you. Plus, you have no idea
the pain and suffering you are going to end up putting fido
through. But it is your decision and no one else's,
particularly not that dog you're going to torment for many
months.

Number Six -- Has anyone told you it's probably going to be
freezing cold some days on the Appalachian Trail? Yeah,
you're likely going to have frozen snot running down your
face and probably not even know it (or care for that
matter). You're going to wake up in the morning from that
warm cozy sleeping bag of yours and hike through the ice
and snow -- some of the ice chunks falling off the limbs
above you and beaning you in the head. So, if you're the
planner type and want to be as prepared as you can be, you
might wanna think about getting some hiking time in this
fall and winter hiking in the cold weather so you can know
ahead of time not to leave your water bottle out overnight
during freezing weather, among other things.

Number Five -- Has anyone told you yet that you're likely
going to be hiking during 95*F+ temperatures? With 90%
humidity? Yep, going up and down mountains too -- sweating
like the filthy, raunchy pig that you will have become
because...you haven't showered in over a week! Or two! Ha.
But wait...it gets better. Here's the good part. The water
you're drinking...it came out of a seep in the ground and
it has, well, things swimming in it! Disgusting things that
move all by themselves. I closed my eyes, I held my nose, I
took a drink. And some idiot's dog just ran through the
seep and not only does your water have amoebas but now it's
muddy too. Excellent! Down the hatch Thurston...little
pinkies up! Give it some water treatment first
though...filter, iodine, something. Don't plan on drinking
right out of the stream or seep.

It would do you good to get some multi-day overnight hiking
experience in 90+ degree weather this summer. That way,
you'll figure out what kind of water treatment you can
stand. Plus, when you're on the AT next year and wake up
one morning saying to yourself, "what in the world stinks
so bad?"...and you're alone...and there are ants crawling
up your water bottle because you added some kind of sugar
sweetner to it the day before...

Number Four -- your pack weight. You'll figure it out and
it'll come down. Eventually. It'd be better if you went out
on some multiple-day overnight hikes this summer and
figured out ahead of time that you don't need a machete nor
that log saw. It's much about comfort -- do you want to be
comfortable while you're hiking or do you want to be
comfortable while your in camp at night? That and your gear
budget will pretty much determine how much your backpack
will weigh. Keep in mind that people with 70 lb (or more)
backpacks have started a thru-hike of the Appalachian
Trail. You just don't want to be one of them.

If you haven't yet bought a bunch of gear for your upcoming
AT thru-hike, here's a tip: Get the combined weight of your
empty backpack, stuffed sleeping bag and your tent/tarp as
far under 10 lbs total weight as possible. Under 7 lbs
would be great. The folks at Neels Gap (this would be about
milepoint 30 for northbounders) do a very good business
trading out all that newly bought heavy gear for brand new
lighter weight gear. Those mountains have a way of showing
you how much your backpack weighs. And then at Neels
Gap...oh boy! Two complete sets of backpacking gear. Just
what you always wanted, right? Too bad for all those
thru-hikers who started out with brand new six pound deluxe
tents. Those cost money to send home and then you get the
joy of buying another new tent soon after you've started
your thru-hike. Excellent! Just like you planned it.

If you're well-off and have a bunch of money to put toward
this AT thing and you're a tent kinda person, why not just
buy either a Wanderlust Gear Nomad tent or a Shires
Tarp/Tent, and for your sleeping bag see if a Marmot
Hydrogen sleeping bag or a Feathered Friends Hummingbird
sleeping bag will do...and for your backpack (if you can
get your total stuffed pack weight with 4 days of food and
1 liter of water under between 25lbs and 30 lbs)
investigate the GoLite line of backpacks that have a
hipbelt. If you're a hammock kinda person there are several
from which to choose. Just don't start out with your
father's big honkin' tent from the Army. I actually started
my thru-hike with a guy who had that kinda tent. The first
night on the Trail he collapsed into his tent from
exhaustion. A couple of us had to go over to see if he was
still alive and gonna be alright. A few days and several
mountains later he sent Hotel California home and bought a
thru-hiking tent.

Number Three -- Money. God, if you're gonna start out
budgeting only $1500 for the whole thing and think you're
going to make it the whole way to the other end of the
Appalachian Trail (folks...meet my buddy Dumberest) then I
wish you all the luck. You will need it and you'll likely
run out of money about oh...Pennsylvania.

Including expenses while thru-hiking, new gear purchases
while thru-hiking, airfare to and from the trailhead but
not including gear I'd purchased before I started my
thru-hike, I spent $4,900 for my thru-hike. I didn't live
extravagantly on the Trail. A guy I hiked with for a while
spent more than $10,000 on his thru-hike -- now that was
extravagent. For you, plan on spending at least $3,000 to
$4,000 so you don't feel guilty about buying a pizza in
town to satisfy that raving appetite you're going to have.
And keep this in mind...you'll need one half of your trail
budget available from Connecticut northward. That's because
things on the Trail cost 2x to 3x more from Connecticut
northward than the same thing costs in Georgia and North
Carolina.

Number Two -- You don't need a partner to thru-hike the
Appalachian Trail. If you already have a partner (spouse,
girlfriend/boyfriend who wants to do this with you) that'll
be fine to consider but if you don't already have a partner
don't think you need one to start. You'll meet plenty of
people right there during the first two weeks of your
thru-hike. In fact, it's very likely the people who start
their thru-hike the same day as you will later become some
of your closest friends on and after the Trail.

Number One -- If I haven't talked you out of your thru-hike
already...I can tell you that if you thru-hike the
Appalachian Trail it will be one of the greatest things,
one of the most treasured memories, one of the most
fantastic adventures of your life.

A dichotomy isn't it? Or is it a paradox? In either case,
it was a blast. A dichotoblastadox!

Datto



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