What constitutes a "thru-hike?"

[colorado_rob]

Amazing, actually unbelievable, to see such a diversity of opinions, like some actually claiming that if someone walks from ME to GA without pause and doesn't skip an inch of the trail, or if someone goes GA to ME and takes a zero in Damascus, for example, that they are not "thru hiking" the AT.

Anyway, my standard response to "civilians" (non hikers) who asked me along the AT last year: "Are you through hiking?" I would answer: "No, not yet, but if these feet don't stop hurting, I might be soon!"

[Coffee]

This is an AT thread not a PCT thread. Pay attention.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that someone who thinks that missing a single white blaze on the AT disqualifies a thru hike would also want to impose narrow thinking when it comes to discussions in general. Well, your thinking on the AT is ridiculous since your Post #3 even excludes SOBO AT hikers from the narrow thru hiking definition you propose. And your thinking isn't going to be accepted by hardly anyone on other trails either.

[lonehiker]

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that someone who thinks that missing a single white blaze on the AT disqualifies a thru hike would also want to impose narrow thinking when it comes to discussions in general. Well, your thinking on the AT is ridiculous since your Post #3 even excludes SOBO AT hikers from the narrow thru hiking definition you propose. And your thinking isn't going to be accepted by hardly anyone on other trails either.

Quote: This is an AT thread not a PCT thread. Pay attention

The above quote was my third post. Post # 3 wasn't me. I've never said that SOBO hikers are excluded. I've simply used the ATC definition of what a thru-hike is. Hike the entire distance of the AT. If you blue-blaze to a point, then use another blue-blaze to return to the AT, by definition you have not hiked the entire distance of the AT.

[Mags]

"Are you through hiking?" I would answer: "No, not yet, but if these feet don't stop hurting, I might be soon!"

Best answer!

Seems like every group has their own "rules", squabbles and factions that make no-sense to the outside world.

I am sure Rob can speak more of this, but people will start BELOW a trailhead to make sure they get the requisite 3000' of elevation gain to be sure they "really" hiked a 14er here in Colorado. The idea was so they you just didn't drive up to the summit and claim your peak.

Most people take the logical viewpoint if you start at a trailhead it "counts" for a 14er. Others disagree vehemently and say to really hike it you absolutely must gain your 3000' gain. So people road walk to the trailhead. I've seen it myself when I accompanied a buddy on his last 14er. (I packed the scotch! )

Since I am not trying to do all the 14ers, I don't question it too much when people say they did all the 14ers. I just ask about their experience. Someone active on the 14er boards may or may not grill a person to see if "really" did the 14ers.

Substitute white blaze and blue blaze debates or similar and it sounds awfully familiar doesn't it??????

EDIT: Boy does it ever!!! :O http://14ers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.ph...9990a2022f12c7

BTW and FWIW, the Triple Crown award from ALDHA-West does recognize alt routes for all the trails, the AT included. Take that for what you will! I also have a feeling (heck I know from others!) if you wrote the ATC for your wall tchotke, and told them you took some blue blazes directly, you'd get your 2000 miler tchotke.

So no offense to our friend from Cheyennne, but I am more likely to side with ALDHA-W and the ATC then him.

[HikerMom58]

I wouldn't worry too much about repetitive threads. Most of us are reluctant to admit it, but this place would get kind of boring if people didn't open new threads to give us something to discuss (argue) about.

+1 to Elf's post.

Elf, you beat me to the responding to Happydaddy's searching question. I always google search anything I want to find on WB.

Happydaddy... no worries and welcome to WB!!

Enjoy the trail the way you want too!!

[Rolls Kanardly]

Does the term Thru-Hike only apply to the AT?
The North Country Trail is 4,600 miles long from North Dakota to New York. EABO - WEBO
Pretty hard to do this trail in 12 months because of the weather. Rolls

[Pedaling Fool]

Does the term Thru-Hike only apply to the AT?
The North Country Trail is 4,600 miles long from North Dakota to New York. EABO - WEBO
Pretty hard to do this trail in 12 months because of the weather. Rolls

There's actually a wiki page on the term http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thru-hiking

[FlyPaper]

Let me first say that I don't intend this question to be provocative. I'm just curious to see whether there is a consensus answer. Nearly all thru hikers take zero days, town days, side trips off the trail (sometimes for days), etc. Some even go home for short periods before returning to the trail. So - my question is this: How many consecutive days off the trail would one consider "allowed" before a thru hike becomes something else? Two? Four? A week? A month? Maybe it doesn't really matter and anyone who walks the whole trail, walks the whole trail. I'm really curious as to whether there is anything like a consensus on this.

BTW - I really enjoy the site and am learning a lot. I don't really have a plan to attack the trail yet - beyond knowing that I am going to do it. Maybe four long sections over four years. Maybe a thru - if I can sort out work and family obligations. I do know that I want to hike the entire trail.

Cheers.

While there is no consensus, and good points in each camp, I think the answer matters in one important sense.

If you're on the trail long enough to do anything that might be considered a thru-hike, you're going to be asked scores of time the question: "Are you thru-hiking?".

Personally, if I'm the one asking the question, I don't really care to hear every caveat of your hike plan (e.g. you're taking a week off to attend your sister's wedding). And you're probably not going to want to answer: "No. Technically I'm section hiking, but only because I'm leaving the trail for a few days. I'll still finish the whole trail in 6 months." Try saying that 150 times in 6 months. And if you answer with simple "no", that's borderline dishonest and kind of anti-social. You're part of the thru-hiking community. You're eating 5000 calories per day. You're walking 20 miles per day and not even breaking a sweat. You can set up a tent in the dark. Don't tell me you're not thru-hiking just because you're taking a week off. Particularly when you're giving the "short answer".

Regardless of your technical definition, if you're in a brief conversation and someone asks you if you're thru-hiking, your short answer needs to be "yes" if you're finishing the trail in a year.

[Sly]

With time to think more of it, and noticing the thread again, a thru hike is a journey one takes. The AT is just not white blazes, but also include official AT communities that the trail doesn't even go through or even near. Likewise shelters and water sources for AT hikers are also located off the white blazes path.

So the AT is more then the narrow strip of land, and there is more to experience, staying on the path you will miss so much and that is not the complete AT experience. I would expand the AT even further into the good will of others, so it also includes what the trail angels add, opening up rides, slack pack opportunities, flip flop sections, and places to sleep, and even further to adventures that happen while you are thru hiking that take you far off trail - these are all parts of life when your home is the AT.


And that is what separates a thru hiker from a section hiker, the thru hiker is living with the AT as home, and what separates a thru hiker from a 'lasher' (Long-as$ section hiker) is that the thru hiker within the span of their journey knows in their heart that they started and completed the trail as they were meant to do so.

But people like hard rules so the ATC has come up with the calendar year guideline, allowances for blue and yellow blazing (maybe aqua I don't know).

One of the better responses for a controversial topic I've read in a long time.

I started the AT when the intentions of finishing and that was my goal. That it took me 18 months is inconsequential.

This is an AT thread not a PCT thread. Pay attention.

While this is mainly an AT forum the question was asked in the general category and didn't specifically mention the AT.

[Prime Time]

It's up to each hiker to fit their hike into the ATC definition of hiking the entire length in one year. Zeros, flip flopping, and time off clearly do not conflict with this definition. Yellow and aqua blazing, for example clearly do. After that, it becomes what is true in your heart. Slack packing? I wouldn't because I think paying someone to carry your pack on the trail would not be anyone's original intention and that's exactly what slack packing is. Also, being dropped off ahead and walking in the opposite direction of your hike SPECIFICALLY TO AVOID ELEVATION GAIN, is in my mind, kidding one's self and no one else. Hey, it's whatever you want it to be but you should consider what you yourself will think about your own actions in the future.

[Coffee]

Slack packing? I wouldn't because I think paying someone to carry your pack on the trail would not be anyone's original intention and that's exactly what slack packing is.

I go back and forth on this issue and I have to make a decision for the Colorado Trail this year since Segment 7 (Breck-Copper Mtn) allows for a slack pack and it doesn't require paying anyone to carry my pack since I could use free public transit to return to Breckenridge for another night, then use public transit again the next day to resume at Copper Mountain. Basically it boils down to whether not carrying a full backpacking load on a segment means it isn't a fully self supported thru hike. I go back and forth on that, but I feel that I would likely enjoy Segment 7 more if I slack pack and maybe that matters more than the definition. I doubt that slack packing violates the CT foundation's definition of a thru.

[bfayer]

Are we talking about hiking or backpacking? Is there a minimum weight you have to carry to be a hiker or even a backpacker? Is someone that decides not to carry a tent and always stays in shelters the same as a slackpacker? What if they don't carry a stove or use anything to treat their water? Are super ultralight hikers less worthy of being a thru hiker?

Last I heard the only rule was you had to walk it yourself.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[kayak karl]

everybody in happy with the rules, up until they done gone to meddling.

[ChinMusic]

Are we talking about hiking or backpacking? Is there a minimum weight you have to carry to be a hiker or even a backpacker? Is someone that decides not to carry a tent and always stays in shelters the same as a slackpacker? What if they don't carry a stove or use anything to treat their water? Are super ultralight hikers less worthy of being a thru hiker?

Last I heard the only rule was you had to walk it yourself.

Beyond the part in bold it is just navel-gazing.

[Malto]

Beyond the part in bold it is just navel-gazing.

Almost Lone Wolf worthy! Just think Chin, by all of these definition you are either a purist or an evil slack packer. I give you the nod, for what it's worth, for going back and hiking the 100 yards in Pearisburg. Also, when I was navel gazing I found belly button lint. Dual use as a fire starter.

[Prime Time]

Are we talking about hiking or backpacking? Is there a minimum weight you have to carry to be a hiker or even a backpacker? Is someone that decides not to carry a tent and always stays in shelters the same as a slackpacker? What if they don't carry a stove or use anything to treat their water? Are super ultralight hikers less worthy of being a thru hiker?

Last I heard the only rule was you had to walk it yourself.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

For me. I repeat for me, whatever it is you are carrying, you should carry. It's not about being worthy, it's about being true to completing the journey as you intended and set out to do. One may regret decisions to the contrary at a later time. I met many a thru hiker who went back later to correct indescretions that didn't seem to be so at the time they committed them.

[Bagge Pants]

I'm not entirely sure what a thru hiker is and I don't really care, but all I know is I'm hiking two or three thousand miles in the Appalachian Mountains this year and not coming back home until I had enough fun to tell my friends and family that I thru hiked the Appalachian Trail. The ATC can reroute the blazes before or after you pass them at any time so what difference does it make? How close do you have to walk next to one to consider passing it? Do you have to look up from the ground and make a definitive eye contact with the blaze? Seems very limiting. My mind and legs don't like limits.

[Mags]

I doubt that slack packing violates the CT foundation's definition of a thru.

western trail orgs tend not to worry about things like this.

When I did the CT, I took the Missouri Gulch alternate that is pretty popular and Hope Pass as well. When I sent the CTF a thank you letter, a CD of photos (the dark ages ) and a description of my route and photos, they sent me a completion certificate.

I was surprised about the completion certificate (did not know they had one!) and thought it was cool that my alternate route was just another way of of doing the CT to them.

[Prime Time]

I was guilty of a few significant blue blazes but in my mind it's because the AT went the wrong way just to make it easier and missed some special things. One was the Hagis Gulf trail in Maine. This actually added a few miles to my hike but the scenery along this trail was outstanding. The other was, in no way was I not going to summit Mts. Eisenhower, Monroe, Clay, Jefferson and Adams in the White Mountains. What the hell where the trail blazers thinking about! For some unknown reason the AT skirts these summits on a lower elevation trail. Heresy! This again resulted in a couple of extra mikes and lots of additional elevation in exchange for magnificent views on picture perfect days. Guilty as charged. I'm keeping my certificate!

[Praha4]

Definition: hike the entire AT during a one-year period, following all the white blazes, is the usual definition of a thru hike, however, within that group, there falls several sub-groups:

a. Fast thru hike: complete the entire AT in less than 4 months, averaging more than or equal to 18 miles/day
b. Great thru hike: complete the entire AT in 5 months, averaging 15 miles per day
c. Average thru hike: complete the entire AT in 6 months, averaging 12 miles per day
d. Cyber thru hike: watch youtube videos of AT hikers from GA to ME, tell all your friends you thru hiked the AT
e. Yellow blaze thru hike: hitch rides from town to town, stay in hostels, tell trail stories, take pictures of other hikers, occasionally walk from road crossings to shelters and B.S. with other hikers. Go home and tell everybody you're a thru hiker, send in the ATC 2000 miler application, get your name in the ATC magazine.
f. Purist thru hike: hike the entire AT within a one year period, with NO zeroes at all, never miss one single white blaze on the entire trail

I'm sure I've overlooked something here, feel free to jump in with commentary. Happy trails