How To Prepare For A Thru-Hike
Ranked #3,021 in Sports & Recreation, #79,756 overall
Backpacking The Long-Distance Trails
Thru-hiking a long-distance trail is an adventure undertaken for as many reasons as there are hikers. Whether it becomes a life-enhancing experience or merely a miserable folly depends largely on preparation and expectation. Though life in the woods may seem to be simple and carefree, a long-distance hike requires attention to many issues, from information gathering and logistics to physical and mental conditioning.
What Is A Thru-Hike?
A thru-hike is a hike of an entire long trail in one hiking season. It doesn't matter which direction you travel, or if you flip-flop the trail. It doesn't matter if you hike every day or if you take a week off now and then. The important thing is to finish within the season, which usually is also within the calendar year. What Is A Long-Distance Trail?
Everyone has their own ideas of what constitutes a long-distance trail. I like to think of it as anything longer than 100 miles. This distance will have the average backpacker on the trail for at least a week. Plus, while it may be possible, if not pleasurable, to carry all the food necessary for 100 miles, anything longer will require arrangements for resupplying. Backpacking and Trail Information
Learn about long-distance backpacking
An aspiring long distance thru-hiker would do well to read as much as possible about backpacking in general and about the particular trail under consideration. Books and web sites about the various long trails proliferate, as each year's group of hikers includes several who want to share their experience in print or in an online hiking journal.
Reading Material About Backpacking
A classic how-to and a personal thru-hiking account
Read accounts from two long-distance hikes
Trail Logistics
The nuts and bolts of a thru-hike
As for on-trail logistics, check out each trail organization's maps and guidebooks. These resources provide mileage, shelter locations, and town information, as well as suggestions for travel to and from the termini. In planning your hike, estimate your daily mileage, then check the data to figure out where you may be each day and how many days' supplies you'll need to carry between towns. A rule of thumb is that your food will add up to about two pounds per day. If you must limit the weight on your back, this may dictate how often you'll need to stop for re-supply. Remember that elevation changes can slow you down, so allow extra time for climbing mountains. A Database Of Long Trails
A work in progress
This growing list presents the bare-bones facts of various North American long-distance backpacking trails, and includes contact information for each trail's managing organization.
Backpacking Gear
Know what to take backpacking
Choose your equipment wisely; carry as little as possible, and make those items you do carry as light as possible. In deciding what to take, it is said you should make three piles: things that are necessary, things that would be handy to have, and things it would be nice to have. Then pack only the first pile. You're going on a long hike, not trying to recreate your living room in the woods. The first pile should at least include a backpack, tent, sleeping bag, water containers, a method of water treatment, cooking equipment, first aid supplies, and warm, dry clothing. There are those who would argue that not even all of these are necessities. Find your own comfort level through research and experimentation. Food And Re-supply
What will you eat on your backpacking trip?
Decide what kind of food to take and how to re-supply. Some people take MREs (the military-type Meals Ready to Eat), which are heavy, or commercially freeze-dried meals, which are expensive. Others dehydrate their own foods or make do with ramen noodles, macaroni and cheese, or Lipton noodles. Look for a high calorie to weight ratio. Also, as much variety as possible is important, as you will get tired of eating the same thing all the time.Depending on the trail, it may be possible to shop for food supplies nearly every week along the trail. Even so, most hikers mail supplies to themselves in care of General Delivery at the post office in trail towns. (Note: Canada does not have general delivery; you must call ahead to verify that they will hold a package for you. Be aware the farther into Quebec, the more likely they will speak only French.)
Address your maildrop to yourself, c/o General Delivery at the post office, and mark it "Hold for trail hiker" along with an estimated arrival date. Use your real name, not your trail name, and be aware that the post office will need to see your identification before they will hand over your package. Another trick is to decorate your package distinctively with drawings or stickers on the sides to make it easier to find among the dozens of other maildrop packages.
You will use a lot of ziplock bags on a long-distance hike -- buy them in bulk
How will you cook your food on the trail?
Mailing stove fuel: Your choice of backpacking stove may depend on the availability of fuel along the way. Towns near popular trails often offer denatured alcohol or stove canisters in outdoors stores or at the hardware. It may be harder to find special canisters like iso-butane. You can mail propane, butane, and butane mixes in your supply boxes, but you must label them CONSUMER COMMODITY ORM-D, and they must be shipped ground transportation. (See USPS pub 52 -- Hazardous, Restricted, and Perishable Mail) and Flammable Gases (Hazard Class 2) Fuel canisters cannot be shipped internationally.
A selection of backpacking stoves
Water In The Backcountry
You'll need lots of safe water on your hike
Water is an essential element of a hike and though we'd like to believe the streams we encounter are pure, it is impossible to know for sure just by looking. They could harbor illness-causing organisms, including the hike-derailing Giardia lamblia. Make an effort to obtain safe water by using a mechanical filter, a chemical purifier, or by boiling.Giardia lamblia is a parasite that can be present in water sources. Upon ingestion, the cysts collect in the intestine, causing diarrhea, flatulence, bloating, nausea, and abdominal pain. Treatment of illness caused by giardia infestation can last a week, and the side effects are often considered as bad as the symptoms themselves. Prevention involves filtering water with a filter that has a 1-micrometer pore size. Iodine and chlorine dioxide are not reliable methods of treatment.
A good water filter
Conditioning For A Long Trail
It's more than just physical
Physical Conditioning: Beyond the logistics of the hike, much attention is often given to physical conditioning. This is important, of course. Make sure your boots are well broken-in; be aware that you will likely wear them out on the trail and need a new pair. Do lots of hiking to accustom your feet to your boots. Wear your pack, and gradually increase the amount of weight you carry. Climb stairs. Go on practice hikes of two or three days. But realize that the only way to prepare your body to hike ten hours a day, carrying forty or more pounds up and down mountains, is to do it. You will hurt. Constantly. The pain will never go away, but there will come a day two or three months into the hike when you are in trail shape, the strongest you've ever been, and you'll know that, physically, you can complete the trail. This is the advantage of thru-hiking over section-hiking. People who hike a long trail in short sections over a period of years never reach that level of conditioning; they must start from scratch every time.Mental Conditioning: Let's face it -- three to six months is a long time to live in the woods with your very survival on your back. You will be hot, cold, tired, wet, lonely, and scared. You will itch, ache, and smell bad. You will be hungry all the time. You will hurt worse than you ever have before. You will get homesick. After awhile, hiking becomes your job, and you'll be bored. You'll want to quit. The hardest part of completing a thru-hike is knowing you don't have to. No one is making you hike day after day. You can go home anytime. The trick is to keep that far-away goal in the back of your mind while focusing only on the immediate day's hike. Don't think of hiking 2,000 miles; the longest trail is just a series of week-long hikes. From one town to the next. Rest. One day at a time. Just this next climb.
Document Your Thru-Hike
Preserving the memories
Almost everyone takes pictures on their backpacking trips, even short ones. You will definitely want to preserve your thru-hike in pictures, so spend some time deciding the best method for you. You can use a film camera and mail the film home for processing -- or mail it to a processor and have the photos mailed home. If you use a digital camera, you can mail the memory cards home when they are full. One piece of advice: Take pictures of people. The views and the scenery are amazing, but you will also want photos of your fellow hikers, of trail angels, and of shelter activities.
A thru-hike is a great time to journal. You will have plenty of time to be alone with your thoughts, and you'll most likely want to write them down for future reference. Even if you don't come up with anything profound, it is fun to share the day-to-day story of your adventure with friends and family. Journals and trip reports can be posted online at trailjournals.com. You can mail your pages home for someone to transcribe, or you can post them yourself at a computer in a trail town. Good Backpacking Cameras
Small, lightweight, good zoom: these will create sharp memories of your hike.
Prepare all you can, then let go of any expectations. Don't insist that the trail conform to your wishes, but be open to the lessons it has for you. Don't be bound to others' ideas of how to hike the trail; learn to hike your own hike. It is true that completing a thru-hike is a challenge, but with proper preparation, you can become a successful long-distance thru-hiker.
What To Expect On A Thru-Hike
Although this lens focuses on the Appalachian Trail, it would apply to any long-distance hiking attempt.
This module only appears with actual data when viewed on a live lens. The favorite and lensroll options will appear on a live lens if the viewer is a member of Squidoo and logged in.
Sign Into The Shelter Register
-
-
SayGuddaycom
Jan 25, 2012 @ 2:32 pm | delete
- Very informative
-
-
-
WeddingZazzle
Jul 10, 2011 @ 3:55 am | delete
- Blessed by a SquidAngel :)
-
-
-
christopherlee Jul 5, 2011 @ 12:05 am | delete
- Great tips, I more recommendation is to remember to bring an Elt, if going long trip
-
-
-
RenaissanceWoman2010
May 25, 2011 @ 9:29 pm | delete
- **SquidAngel blessings** :-)
-
-
-
RenaissanceWoman2010
May 25, 2011 @ 9:27 pm | delete
- An excellent overview of the preparation essentials. Nicely done!
-
- Load More
by MysticTurtle
I had a normal childhood, but somewhere along the way I took off on my own path. I backpacked the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail in 2001 and the 700-mile... more »
- 132 featured lenses
- Winner of 25 trophies!
- Top lens » Indoor Cat Trees
Feeling creative?
Create a Lens!
Explore related pages
- How To Choose Your Next Long Trail How To Choose Your Next Long Trail
- My Hike On The Appalachian Trail My Hike On The Appalachian Trail
- Hiking The International Appalachian Trail Hiking The International Appalachian Trail
- What NOT To Take on the Appalachian Trail What NOT To Take on the Appalachian Trail
- Quick Guide To The Pacific Crest Trail Quick Guide To The Pacific Crest Trail
- Quick Guide to the Continental Divide Trail Quick Guide to the Continental Divide Trail
Lipsmackin' Backpackin': Lightweight Trail-tested Recipes for Backcountry Trips
Amazon Price: $5.95 (as of 06/03/2012)
Lighten Up!: A Complete Handbook for Light and Ultralight Backpacking (Falcon Guide)
Amazon Price: $5.83 (as of 06/03/2012)
