Top 10 mistakes beginning thru-hikers are making

[twistwrist]

Hey y'all! The best way to live is to live as a lifelong learner. So read up to learn some easy ways to ensure you're (and the other thrus this year!) setting yourself up for success from the beginning! I'm stationed at Amicalola working with hikers before and as they set off on their journey. Hope to meet some of you all this season! ~Clarity

Top 10 Mishaps of Beginning Thru-Hikers

[Abatis1948]

Very good post. While you are greeting these new thru hikers are you asking them if they are White Blaze members or at least if they visit the forum or other forums concerning hiking the AT. I would like to know how many have done research before the hike.

[MuddyWaters]

5. Carrying a pack weighing 50 pounds or more

While I certainly agree that 50 is a huge mistake, I think that for long distance success, ie 1000 miles and up, in strenuous terrain, the mistake bar is positioned a tad lower than that. Yeah, some can carry 50-60. But with every lb , chances of success are reduced. And we'd like people to have a high chance of success, higher than say...1980.

Nice post.
Hope you can help a few before they get on the trail.

[Malto]

You will have plenty of disagreement with the food in the tent as well as the trail runners.

[Tipi Walter]

Allow me my fanatical blaspheming but here are some of the mistakes I see thruhikers making (from observations in a trip report on an 18 day trip in April 2015)---

THREE BACKPACKERS SEEN IN 18 DAYS
All of them were associated with the BMT which gets me to rethink the thruhiker mentality. Backpacking is a strange affliction anyway and thruhiking a long trail is a specialized version of an already narrow field. General backpacking for most is a weekend 3 to 5 day trip. The opposite of thruhking would be expedition backpacking, hence the need for an expedition pack. But that's another subject. Here are some observations---(about some thruhikers)---


** Thruhikers are on a forced march whereby daily mileage is vital and may be the most important aspect of their outdoor experience. This mindset limits their ability to go off trail on blue blaze adventures and to possibly derail the entire hike to explore other trails. Mistake #1.


** Thruhikers generally hate deviating from the prescribed path as then they won't be "official" and can't get the patch and recognition. Mistake #1.5.


** Thruhikers generally cannot carry more than 5 days worth of food because their packs are not designed to handle the weight. This complicates matters and results in the following point---
** Thruhikers obsess about the next town and the next resupply. Some will travel fast thru beautiful country on a big mile day just to reach a town and to get a motel room. Instead of pulling short mile days or zero days on the trail in their tents, they often drool over hot showers, soft beds and restaurant meals. For this reason they pour over their guide books and maps and data books to plan their next town trips and resupply, so when I meet them out in the woods they are either coming from a town or heading out to a town. It's depressing. Mistake #2.


** And here's the kicker: Thruhikers use up big chunks of time to do their hikes like 20 or 30 or many more days but you will never see a thruhiker using that block of time to carry 30 days worth of food and stay out in a wilderness area with hundreds of miles of trails and loops opportunities. For some reason their brains cannot compute such an "expedition"---an uninterrupted month in the backcountry with no laundry mats and no motel rooms and no restaurants and little to no cell service and no battery recharging---just them and their gear and food for a month. Mistake #3.


For some reason such backpacking is not official like a completed thruhike and there's no recognition and no patch and yet they all have the time to do such trips. It must be the social aspect and town support and the shelter system which these backpackers find so attractive. It's definitely not about getting an unbroken amount of time out in the woods.

There's also another mistake (#4) I just remembered while editing this: How many newb thruhikers on the AT become seasoned trail and backpacking experts after just 3 short months on the trail. Many of them will sit at shelters "holding court" whereby they will take your questions about all things Ruck but never ask a single question from anyone in attendance. I call it Holding Court as the elite Trail Prince has arrived and will now deign to take your questions. It's an offshoot of the pecking order: Thruhikers are at the top of the rung, section hikers far below, and mere weekend backpackers don't rate. Just my opinion.

[DuneElliot]

Allow me my fanatical blaspheming but here are some of the mistakes I see thruhikers making (from observations in a trip report on an 18 day trip in April 2015)---

THREE BACKPACKERS SEEN IN 18 DAYS
All of them were associated with the BMT which gets me to rethink the thruhiker mentality. Backpacking is a strange affliction anyway and thruhiking a long trail is a specialized version of an already narrow field. General backpacking for most is a weekend 3 to 5 day trip. The opposite of thruhking would be expedition backpacking, hence the need for an expedition pack. But that's another subject. Here are some observations---(about some thruhikers)---


** Thruhikers are on a forced march whereby daily mileage is vital and may be the most important aspect of their outdoor experience. This mindset limits their ability to go off trail on blue blaze adventures and to possibly derail the entire hike to explore other trails. Mistake #1.


** Thruhikers generally hate deviating from the prescribed path as then they won't be "official" and can't get the patch and recognition. Mistake #1.5.


** Thruhikers generally cannot carry more than 5 days worth of food because their packs are not designed to handle the weight. This complicates matters and results in the following point---
** Thruhikers obsess about the next town and the next resupply. Some will travel fast thru beautiful country on a big mile day just to reach a town and to get a motel room. Instead of pulling short mile days or zero days on the trail in their tents, they often drool over hot showers, soft beds and restaurant meals. For this reason they pour over their guide books and maps and data books to plan their next town trips and resupply, so when I meet them out in the woods they are either coming from a town or heading out to a town. It's depressing. Mistake #2.


** And here's the kicker: Thruhikers use up big chunks of time to do their hikes like 20 or 30 or many more days but you will never see a thruhiker using that block of time to carry 30 days worth of food and stay out in a wilderness area with hundreds of miles of trails and loops opportunities. For some reason their brains cannot compute such an "expedition"---an uninterrupted month in the backcountry with no laundry mats and no motel rooms and no restaurants and little to no cell service and no battery recharging---just them and their gear and food for a month. Mistake #3.


For some reason such backpacking is not official like a completed thruhike and there's no recognition and no patch and yet they all have the time to do such trips. It must be the social aspect and town support and the shelter system which these backpackers find so attractive. It's definitely not about getting an unbroken amount of time out in the woods.

There's also another mistake (#4) I just remembered while editing this: How many newb thruhikers on the AT become seasoned trail and backpacking experts after just 3 short months on the trail. Many of them will sit at shelters "holding court" whereby they will take your questions about all things Ruck but never ask a single question from anyone in attendance. I call it Holding Court as the elite Trail Prince has arrived and will now deign to take your questions. It's an offshoot of the pecking order: Thruhikers are at the top of the rung, section hikers far below, and mere weekend backpackers don't rate. Just my opinion.

Nicely said, although carrying 30 days of food is nothing short of impossible without animals. I fully admit that I would prefer to worry less about towns and resupplies...I go hike in the woods because I want to be in the woods, not in town. I do like meeting new people on the trail though.

[rocketsocks]

Nicely said, although carrying 30 days of food is nothing short of impossible without animals. I fully admit that I would prefer to worry less about towns and resupplies...I go hike in the woods because I want to be in the woods, not in town. I do like meeting new people on the trail though.

another option once used quite a bit is the cache method, hardly ever employed anymore.

[rafe]

another option once used quite a bit is the cache method, hardly ever employed anymore.

I recall reading about this method in a few of the old journals (from that venerable two-volume set mentioned in this thread.) But I doubt it was used by more than a few hikers, and I could see all sorts of logistical problems if lots of people tried using it. For one thing, it means pre-visiting each cache location and then remembering each location, exactly, months later. Kind of crazy for the AT. But might be useful or even necessary on a less-frequented, more remote trail like the Cohos Trail.

[Puddlefish]

I chuckled at the holding court part. Some people just like to hear themselves speak. I was sitting in a crowded airport, and this guy was talking non stop about some NASCAR driver, who wink wink nudge nudge, was sneakily/not sneakily retaliating against some other driver. He carried on for 20 minutes while the poor woman next to him looked like she wanted to chew her leg off to escape. People who talk at captive audiences suck.

I'm still a mere day hiker at this point, so I don't even rate on your list... but some of the mistakes I see are people on White Blaze who are here solely to drive their Youtube hits. Never a word of support, never a bit of advice, never adding an interesting opinion to a discussion, just looking for openings to tell about their most recent video.

I generally don't even click on the "10 things you didn't know you were doing wrong!," life hacks, trail tips, or any other of the "teach your grandmother to suck eggs" kind of silliness. It's not against the websites TOS of course, it's just not interesting to me.

[Malto]

Allow me my fanatical blaspheming but here are some of the mistakes I see thruhikers making (from observations in a trip report on an 18 day trip in April 2015)---

THREE BACKPACKERS SEEN IN 18 DAYS
All of them were associated with the BMT which gets me to rethink the thruhiker mentality. Backpacking is a strange affliction anyway and thruhiking a long trail is a specialized version of an already narrow field. General backpacking for most is a weekend 3 to 5 day trip. The opposite of thruhking would be expedition backpacking, hence the need for an expedition pack. But that's another subject. Here are some observations---(about some thruhikers)---


** Thruhikers are on a forced march whereby daily mileage is vital and may be the most important aspect of their outdoor experience. This mindset limits their ability to go off trail on blue blaze adventures and to possibly derail the entire hike to explore other trails. Mistake #1.


** Thruhikers generally hate deviating from the prescribed path as then they won't be "official" and can't get the patch and recognition. Mistake #1.5.


** Thruhikers generally cannot carry more than 5 days worth of food because their packs are not designed to handle the weight. This complicates matters and results in the following point---
** Thruhikers obsess about the next town and the next resupply. Some will travel fast thru beautiful country on a big mile day just to reach a town and to get a motel room. Instead of pulling short mile days or zero days on the trail in their tents, they often drool over hot showers, soft beds and restaurant meals. For this reason they pour over their guide books and maps and data books to plan their next town trips and resupply, so when I meet them out in the woods they are either coming from a town or heading out to a town. It's depressing. Mistake #2.


** And here's the kicker: Thruhikers use up big chunks of time to do their hikes like 20 or 30 or many more days but you will never see a thruhiker using that block of time to carry 30 days worth of food and stay out in a wilderness area with hundreds of miles of trails and loops opportunities. For some reason their brains cannot compute such an "expedition"---an uninterrupted month in the backcountry with no laundry mats and no motel rooms and no restaurants and little to no cell service and no battery recharging---just them and their gear and food for a month. Mistake #3.


For some reason such backpacking is not official like a completed thruhike and there's no recognition and no patch and yet they all have the time to do such trips. It must be the social aspect and town support and the shelter system which these backpackers find so attractive. It's definitely not about getting an unbroken amount of time out in the woods.

There's also another mistake (#4) I just remembered while editing this: How many newb thruhikers on the AT become seasoned trail and backpacking experts after just 3 short months on the trail. Many of them will sit at shelters "holding court" whereby they will take your questions about all things Ruck but never ask a single question from anyone in attendance. I call it Holding Court as the elite Trail Prince has arrived and will now deign to take your questions. It's an offshoot of the pecking order: Thruhikers are at the top of the rung, section hikers far below, and mere weekend backpackers don't rate. Just my opinion.

mistake or maybe they have different goals than you?

[Puddlefish]

mistake or maybe they have different goals than you?

I probably could have condensed my rambling post down to this sentence, directed at both Walter and the OP.

[Uriah]

I probably could have condensed my rambling post down to this sentence, directed at both Walter and the OP.

Indeed. I'd rather be out there making mistakes than inside on an Internet forum talking about those making the mistakes.

[Secondmouse]

Indeed. I'd rather be out there making mistakes than inside on an Internet forum talking about those making the mistakes.

and yet, here you are...

[colorado_rob]

mistake or maybe they have different goals than you?

I'd say so! Like maybe hiking through new, fantastically beautiful areas rather than wandering around the same woods over and over and over and over and over for weeks on end????

Anyway, thanks for posting OP, maybe some will listen.

[twistwrist]

5. Carrying a pack weighing 50 pounds or more

While I certainly agree that 50 is a huge mistake, I think that for long distance success, ie 1000 miles and up, in strenuous terrain, the mistake bar is positioned a tad lower than that. Yeah, some can carry 50-60. But with every lb , chances of success are reduced. And we'd like people to have a high chance of success, higher than say...1980.

Nice post.
Hope you can help a few before they get on the trail.

Agreed. In practice if their pack is above 40 pounds, I offer a shakedown or advice they can take or leave. However, because I understand the sensitivity of the pack weight issue, I opted to use 50 for the article as it's a bit less arguable. My goal isn't to ever cause arguments or convince anyone of anything, only to help people think of things they may not have thought of before. It's how I roll. I love learning from others!

You will have plenty of disagreement with the food in the tent as well as the trail runners.

Of course I will! The numbers of bear incidents since the year 2000 have clearly augmented to the point of bears being killed as we are becoming more and more associated with food. Sleeping with your food is fine...until that one time it's not. And then, well, hope you're able to scare him off. Bear canisters are regulated on trails out west. I guess my hope is that if we'd all be a little more cautious with our food, we could avoid those kinds of regulations on the A.T.

and an AT thru-hike is about the destination not the journey

Not for all of us. I'm still enjoying the journey!

[kenl]

All great comments.

The amount of information available here and on other forums is incredible. At the end of the day, some people will heed the advice offered (the ability to learn from others) and some will not. For those that do not, you hope they have a shake down hike to learn the mistakes themselves :-)

In reality, thru hikes have been completed by those who have been very well prepared with top of the line equipment and also by those who (it seems like) wandered onto the trail (gee, I wonder where this goes). I believe this speaks to being comfortable with the prep work you've done and your mental attitude and philosophical approach to the hike.

Safe travels to all

[twistwrist]

Very good post. While you are greeting these new thru hikers are you asking them if they are White Blaze members or at least if they visit the forum or other forums concerning hiking the AT. I would like to know how many have done research before the hike.

Good idea! I do typically ask how much preparation they've done, but honestly, one can infer a lot about that just by seeing their packs.

For some reason such backpacking is not official like a completed thruhike and there's no recognition and no patch and yet they all have the time to do such trips. It must be the social aspect and town support and the shelter system which these backpackers find so attractive. It's definitely not about getting an unbroken amount of time out in the woods.

Backpackers who section hike are qualified to receive the same 2,000 mile patch that I received after completing my thru.

[rafe]

[re: Tipi's list of "mistakes"]

mistake or maybe they have different goals than you?

Bingo.

[Slo-go'en]

** And here's the kicker: Thruhikers use up big chunks of time to do their hikes like 20 or 30 or many more days but you will never see a thruhiker using that block of time to carry 30 days worth of food and stay out in a wilderness area with hundreds of miles of trails and loops opportunities. For some reason their brains cannot compute such an "expedition"---an uninterrupted month in the backcountry with no laundry mats and no motel rooms and no restaurants and little to no cell service and no battery recharging---just them and their gear and food for a month. Mistake #3.

Well, the whole point of a thru hike is to go from Point A to Point B, not to base camp and wander around one area for a month. There is nothing wrong with base camping, but it's not thru hiking.

[GreenBlaze]

It's an offshoot of the pecking order: Thruhikers are at the top of the rung, section hikers far below, and mere weekend backpackers don't rate. Just my opinion.

Are you saying this is how you view the pecking order or how it's often perceived by others on the trail?