Getting Over the Hump: How to Beat the Odds and Hike the Entire Appalachian Trail
When I tell people that I’ve hiked the entire 2,170-mile Appalachian Trail, the most common reaction I get is “Wow, that’s really something. I could never do that.”
Now, I while can understand how there are people who simply don’t have an interest and wouldn’t want to hike the trail, I’ve seen enough to know that, physically and logistically speaking, there is nothing preventing most people from doing it if they put their minds to it. Actually, every hike, no matter how short or long, begins with a leap of faith: This is possible. This is something I can do. That’s the first step, which is then followed by, another, more literal step and so on.
I’ve seen the determination in the sweaty faces. I’m reminded of Earl Shaffer, the first person to complete the AT back in 1948, who shuffled past me on his way to Maine to reenact his historic hike half a century later. I think about the obese hiker I met in Tennessee, lumbering along at a glacial pace and panting like an overloaded pickup truck. He had only managed to average five miles a day since he began months earlier at Springer Mountain in Georgia. Despite being clearly overweight, his clothes hung loosely off him, and he explained how he had lost over a hundred pounds over the course of the hike. With hikers such as these, there is simply no question whether they have what it takes to go the distance.
On the other side of the coin are the people who enter into a AT hike chock full of faith and belief, but lack the ability to recover from setbacks, or the emotional stamina to see it through. It is these people who comprise the estimated 20 percent of hikers that attempt a thru-hike and give up by the time they make it to Neels Gap, just 30 miles out of Springer. That number jumps to 47% by the southern end of the Smokies at Fontana Dam, North Carolina, only 161 miles from the start. At this rate, you would expect that nobody would finish, but, surprise: The rate of dropouts slows considerably from this point on. At Harpers Ferry, nearly 1,000 miles into it, 63% have left the trail, and the number that have dropped off by the time you get to the “Big K,” the northern terminus at Mount Katahdin, is 80%. These numbers were from the Appalachian Trail Conference and reflect the 2002 hiking season, but are similar to years past.
I met one of these unfortunate hikers in Maine. He had flown up from Florida fully convinced that he was going to conquer the AT heading southbound although he had practically no backcountry experience. Although I wished him well, I kind of knew where things were heading when I saw the skimpy running shoes he had chosen as footwear for the trip. Sure enough, on his first day out, his tractionless shoes slipped out from under him as he tried to negotiate an early section of the rocky Hundred Mile Wilderness and he got a nice gash on his head. He was on the next plane back to Miami.
So what, you may ask, are the secrets to ensuring a successful thru-hike? While there is no magic solution for everyone, there are some tried-and-true strategies for giving yourself the best possible chance of completing the trail. Most people have to learn them the hard way, but here are five tips that can give you a head start:
1. Carry only the barest of essentials at all times: Every single ounce of weight on your body will cause you discomfort, and the more ounces, the more pain. There have been hikers who have been known to change two nickels into a dime in order to carry less weight with them. The rule of thumb is: If you don’t use it every day, don’t carry it. That does not apply to first aid supplies, however.
2. Go on a test trip: The Appalachian Trail will take half a year to complete. You can afford to go on a test trip for a week beforehand to try out your gear and give yourself a chance to get an idea of what potential problems you might have on a longer trip. Look for a trail someplace close to home, but make sure it includes some steep uphill and downhill stretches to really give yourself a proper workout.
3. Be selective about where you buy your gear: Don’t use price as the primary factor for where to buy your equipment. Instead, choose your outfitter by the expertise of the staff, as their advice will prove to be vital to your success. Bottom line: If a store is not staffed by passionate hikers or backcountry enthusiasts, leave and find someplace that is. On the Appalachian Trail in Maine, I ran into a group of hikers that worked for a well-known outfitter in the state. Today, I feel much more comfortable buying from that store.
4. Don’t skimp on boots or socks: Good hiking boots can be expensive. Accept this as a price you will have to pay for success. Always ask for the assistance of trained hiking boot salespeople when selecting a boot. Your foot will undergo tremendous strain, as well as swelling, during a thruhike. Boot fitting is a skill that should largely be left to professionals. Once you have your boot, don’t forget to buy the right socks. Today’s premium hiking socks have made tremendous strides in comfort and endurance and are worth their weight in wool.
5. Plan to give yourself one rest day each week: In your overall plan for your hike, plan from the outset to give yourself one rest day each and every week. Once you start your hike, adhere to that rule, even if, at the time, you feel like you could keep going. In the long run, taking the rest day will help you avoid injury and build endurance.
Following those five tips will undoubtedly improve your chances for success. However, the simplest and surest general advice for those attempting to thruhike the trail can be summarized in just two principles. First, lay the groundwork by doing advance research and learning from the stories of others who have made it though. Second, understand that the first week is the most difficult; it gets easier as you go along. In fact, it helps to consider a thru-hike as just a series of week-long hikes strung together. When you set routine goals, there is little chance for monotony to set in, a real risk on a trail that can take upwards of six months to complete.
THE Appalachian Trail is just like everything else that’s worthwhile. You have to be ready to put yourself out there and take some bad with the good. Whether your goal is five miles away, or two thousand miles, the fundamentals are the same. It really is that simple.
