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  1. #21

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    This OP question really brings back the memories haha. Young and ambitious, with little experience in what really matters, the course of your trip, not how far ya make it.

    When I was graduating college, Im assuming you want to thru hike after you graduate and go on to college, I had big dreams and plans to thru hike and then go on get a job. EVERY SINGLE TRIP I was killing miles, trying to further and further until finally! I had no more hiking buddies!

    My suggestion to you two guys would be to start in springer like every one else, take your 60 days 1 day at a time and enjoy the journey..
    Get as far as you can and if you don't finish it, you've just done a huge chunk of it and have the rest of your life to finish it on up.

    Physically it can be done, realistically? not so much, and if so, will you enjoy it? Probably not.
    Trail Miles: 4,927.6
    AT Map 1: Complete 2013-2021
    Sheltowee Trace: Complete 2020-2023
    Pinhoti Trail: Complete 2023-2024
    Foothills Trail: 0.0
    AT Map 2: 279.4
    BMT: 52.7
    CDT: 85.4

  2. #22
    Registered User colorado_rob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by k.boone88 View Post
    Thanks for all the feedback! Excited to try no matter what. Any speed and/or training tips
    Yeah, work on your gear list to make sure you have a relatively light pack and start toughening up your feet. It's not about aerobics (with short exceptions), it's about foot/leg and mental toughness. My little circle of hiking pals are getting ready to start our annual get-over-the-holidays toughen-up-for-the-spring/summer training, which consists of long (16-20 miles @ 4 mph)) after-work walks on our Denver city trails. We have a blast.

    And everyone has a different definition of enjoyment, some of us really enjoy pushing big mile days, day after day after day. I'm out there to hike and see around the next corner, not to sit around camps and shelters.

  3. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by k.boone88 View Post
    My friend and I want to thru-hike the AT in the summer of 2017. We have plenty of time to train, but we have to finish in around 60 days, so we can get back to school. We have light packweights, are very passionate, and are pretty fit soccer players. Any chance we can do it?
    Finish the trail in 60 days? Not likely. But you have to ask yourself this: what's my reason for doing this? Is it to see how fast I can do it or have a grand adventure over summer break? If I could go back to 15 or 16 and have the resources to do what you're planning to do, I'd absolutely plan to do that 60 days regardless of how far I get. I guarantee none of your schoolmates will have a better story to tell. Go for it but be realistic about your distance expectations. I'm guessing that's your summer before or after senior year? I'd do half one summer and half the next or what until you graduate, put in one semester of school and then take the next spring and summer off for a thru hike.

  4. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by k.boone88 View Post
    Thanks for all the feedback! Excited to try no matter what. Any speed and/or training tips
    Do or do not...there is no try.

  5. #25
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    I have completed month+ long bicycle tours both solo, with a partner, and with small groups. I've never backpacked by myself for more than three weeks at a time and have only gone with a partner a couple of times for two week long shots, so take my info with a grain of salt. There is not much physical comparison between bicycle and backpack, however what I experienced with the cycle touring and with backpacking is that having a partner will slow you down. By adding a person there is more likelihood of someone getting sick or injured, and it is inevitable that when one person is physically or mentally high the other is low, and both of these things will slow you down.

    But you'll never know unless you try.

    And ask yourself before hand how you will feel if you kicked butt and did it, but took 61 days.

  6. #26
    Garlic
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    I'm a 106-day AT veteran, a not-too-shabby 20 mpd pace, and I'll throw in this advice: It's not all about physical and mental toughness/attitude. Much of it is about utmost attention to the minutiae of daily trail life that keeps you on the trail. Even the pair of socks you put on in the morning can be critical by the end of the day. So is the ability to have a pair clean and dry for the next day. The decision to take a few minutes to wash your feet and take a rest, to fill up the water bottle in the right places even when you don't want to stop, to eat fresh greens in town when you have more a taste for ice cream, knowing where and how to set up camp in the right place during a thunderstorm, or if it's best to keep walking until the storm is over.

    Blisters, sunburn, chafing, a cyst or boil, contact dermatitis from a poison plant, insect stings or bites, allergies are very common skin maladies that will slow you down or stop you for a while. Your skin is your largest organ and you need to know how to take care of it, long term, on the trail.

    And the gear--at a fast pace you won't be able to take a day off to try out a new tent or backpack. You won't believe how critical shoes are until your second or third 30+ mile day in a row.

    Town stops need to be absolutely efficient: get your laundry done, get a shower, check your mail, pay your bills, luv-ya-mom, buy groceries, get a big meal, and leave.

    For training and shake-down, I suggest finding some fun 100-mile hikes. (If at all possible, try the something like the Wonderland Trail in Washington State--23,000 feet of climbing on a 93-mile loop--there's the physical toughness part.) Ramp up to a three-day pace. When you can do that in a weekend and feel ready to do it again the next weekend, you may be ready for a 60-day attempt on the AT.

    As others have said, it's huge undertaking but you certainly won't achieve it unless you try. Any attempt at all is better than sitting on the couch (and telling others they can't do it). Best of luck!
    "Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning

  7. #27
    Registered User colorado_rob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by garlic08 View Post
    ... Much of it is about utmost attention to the minutiae of daily trail life that keeps you on the trail. Even the pair of socks you put on in the morning can be critical by the end of the day. So is the ability to have a pair clean and dry for the next day. The decision to take a few minutes to wash your feet and take a rest, to fill up the water bottle in the right places even when you don't want to stop, to eat fresh greens in town when you have more a taste for ice cream, knowing where and how to set up camp in the right place during a thunderstorm, or if it's best to keep walking until the storm is over. ...
    True all this!

  8. #28

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    Serious training as a teen is very complicated. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3787286/ Some of this applies to prepubesence, some applies to teens where there are still hormonal changes going on.

    I'll echo the other's. Don't try the whole trail. Do a section at a more relaxed pace without hard daily goals. Want to complete a whole trail, maybe pick a shorter trail. By all means get out there and hike somewhere, and have fun.

  9. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by k.boone88 View Post
    My friend and I want to thru-hike the AT in the summer of 2017. We have plenty of time to train, but we have to finish in around 60 days, so we can get back to school. We have light packweights, are very passionate, and are pretty fit soccer players. Any chance we can do it?
    Around 80% of potential thru hikers start the AT without a deadline, i.e. they just want to succeed and hike the 2,187 miles. This same large group of several thousand people fail to achieve their objective each year (there must be a very good reason for this high failure rate) Most of this group are young people; fit, active, healthy and still fail. Therefore what you propose is in a completely different league - the very narrow end of the wedge. .

    Is it possible? Yes, but highly unlikely. Ask yourselves this question: why set yourselves up for failure, when you can set yourselves up for a much better chance of success? The only difference is time (this includes time to train for the reality of the AT). You need more time: less miles each day, more rest, less chance of injury, stronger immune system against illness and the list goes on...

    If you want to go for it, research the very very tiny group of people who are capable of what you propose; consider their experience, age, training regimes, mental conditioning, knowledge of the trail, weather conditions, the indepth logistical planning, nutrition, support team, sponsorship/ finance and legal representation (if required).

    Here's a much better idea: wait until you both have about 5 months to spare; head northbound in the middle of the bubble and party Rockstars!

    Best of Luck.

  10. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by k.boone88 View Post
    Thanks for all the feedback! Excited to try no matter what. Any speed and/or training tips
    You guys will NOT be able to hike the trail in 60 days. You just don't have the stamina at your young age, body still expending too much energy growing, not necessarily in height, but your muscles are still developing at 17, as well as other things, both in your musculoskeletal system, but also in your cardio system. Look at pro sports and most athletes don't come into top shape until there mid/upper 20's.

    I give a lot of advice (using that word loosely) here on physical preparations for the trail, but never for speed events; my focus is primarily on health practices in general (especially for us over-the-hillers), not super-human efforts, so I got nothing there...

    However, I still say go for it, the trail teaches you things about yourself, it teached me a lot (at 42y/o), which is still part of my life now, nearly 10-years later.

  11. #31

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    When My kids turn 16/ junior year summer break im driving them to springer, hike GA with them and tell them to call me in 3 months lol
    Trail Miles: 4,927.6
    AT Map 1: Complete 2013-2021
    Sheltowee Trace: Complete 2020-2023
    Pinhoti Trail: Complete 2023-2024
    Foothills Trail: 0.0
    AT Map 2: 279.4
    BMT: 52.7
    CDT: 85.4

  12. #32
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    I say go for it. You probably won't do the entire trail in 60 days but just do what you can do. It will be a grand adventure and you can always come back and finish up whatever sections are left or you may find that you will learn enough to someday do a 60 day thru hike.
    Remote for detachment, narrow for chosen company, winding for leisure, lonely for contemplation, the Trail beckons not merely north and south, but upward to the body, mind, and soul of man.


  13. #33

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    Set a goal of making it to Damascus...once you get there you can decide how much further you want to go. How many people do you know that have hiked 500 miles? You don't have to do the whole trail...it will be there.

  14. #34

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    Everything is possible. But it is highly improbable.

    Sent from my KFAPWI using Tapatalk

  15. #35
    Hopeful Hiker QHShowoman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by k.boone88 View Post
    My friend and I want to thru-hike the AT in the summer of 2017. We have plenty of time to train, but we have to finish in around 60 days, so we can get back to school. We have light packweights, are very passionate, and are pretty fit soccer players. Any chance we can do it?
    Possible, but not probable.

    Scott Jurek currently holds the record for the fastest SUPPORTED through hike and it took him almost 47 days.
    Heather Anderson did it completely self-supported and it took her almost 55 days.

    If you have the time and the means, just hike and see how far you get. Don't rush it to make your finish date - just enjoy it.
    you left to walk the appalachian trail
    you can feel your heart as smooth as a snail
    the mountains your darlings
    but better to love than have something to scale


    -Girlyman, "Hold It All At Bay"

  16. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by k.boone88 View Post
    My friend and I want to thru-hike the AT in the summer of 2017. We have plenty of time to train, but we have to finish in around 60 days, so we can get back to school. We have light packweights, are very passionate, and are pretty fit soccer players. Any chance we can do it?
    Quote Originally Posted by Lone Wolf View Post
    heck yeah. go for it
    but in all seriousness, no you cannot walk this trail in 60 days at this time in your life

  17. #37
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    I know two linebackers that tried to do it fast and found out it was not at all possible. The were fit strong young and fired up but spent way too much time finding supplies finding the trail again or even a friendly faces as gas station maps were all they had. 50+ pound packs were standard then and a canvas tent weighed a ton when wet. The trail had many road walks and few angles most hikers were though of as leftover hippies, drifters and homeless even once was called moonies. There was no guide books that I know of, oh the summer of '78. Nope I don't think it could be done now even though I thought it could be then. I am older, wiser and slower, but best of luck.

  18. #38

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    Not what stubborn lacking in knowledge or awareness gluttonous people want to readily hear but section hike. Plan on a section hike from the get go not a 2200 mile AT hike. It'll be BEST for the two of you. It's 99.99 % of what's going to happen anyhow.

    More is not always better.

  19. #39

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    Only one way to find out. The one guarantee being, the trail and your body will regulate how far you make it. You may finish in 59 days or you may come off the trail short of the end at day 60. Give it a go.


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  20. #40
    Registered User Venchka's Avatar
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    As many have said, you may not be a fit as you think. You may not be as mentally prepared as you need to be. You certainly don't have the fitness and trail wisdom of people like Jennifer Pharr Davis or Heather Anderson.
    On the other hand, never put off until tomorrow what you can start today.
    By all means, start your AT hike on Day 1 of your 60 day window. Stop on Day 60. Savor the experience forever.
    You will never wake up every morning thinking, "If only I shoulda, coulda, woulda..."
    When is Day 1 of your 60 day window? For planning help purposes?
    Good luck!

    Wayne
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