What were you thinking?

[rafe]

... on that first moment of your thru hike or attempted thru hike? More specifically: what sort of odds did you give yourself of completing the journey? Were confident, or doubtful? Or maybe just philosophical about it?

[Uriah]

... on that first moment of your thru hike or attempted thru hike? More specifically: what sort of odds did you give yourself of completing the journey? Were confident, or doubtful? Or maybe just philosophical about it?

I knew I'd complete the journey. I just didn't know where or when.

[soumodeler]

I was feeling good, thinking I was as prepared mentally as I could be, maybe not so much physically, and ready to go. I gave myself very good odds based on past experiences of longer section hikes and mental trials (not to say I didn't fail on them, but learned how not to fail again).

18 days later MRSA laughed at me and kicked my butt all the way into the hospital.

Killed my 2015 attempt but already planning 2017!

[wookinpanub]

Having only been on one short backpacking trip before, I had no expectations. Due to my inexperience, I knew finishing was a long shot, but I also knew if I quit I'd regret it the rest of my life. No way I was voluntarily quitting. Going Southbound, I was in and out of the park in one day. I remember standing alone on Katahdin and thinking that I'd better get moving because I was going to run out of daylight. Big picture, I also remember thinking "this is going to change me" but I didn't know how.

[Grampie]

I decided to thru-hike after I retired. I was looking for something to do to kick off my retirement. I arived at Amicalola Falls State Park on April 12 and started to hike the approach trail. After hiking for about a hour I sat on a log to take a break and the following thoughts came to me. I'm 66 years old. What the hell am I doing here. I had never hiked for more than three days, was carrying a pack that weighed around 50 lbs. I almost decided to turn around and go back home. After some additional thought I decided to at least give it a week. I soon fell in love with the thru-hiking experience. I had one mishap that took me off the trail at Fontana Dam. I returned the next year, where I left off, and finished by hiking 2000 miles.

[dudeijuststarted]

Excitement and confidence. I had some section hiking under my belt so I knew I wanted it. Going the distance was a non-issue.

[mattjv89]

Super excited to be out there. I had done a lot of weekend trips and an 8 day shakedown beforehand. On shorter trips I sometimes have that feeling in the back of my mind about the clock ticking away constantly, just X more hours/days left. Feeling that completely melt away and basking in the trip having no foreseeable end was just wonderful. I was very confident as soon as my feet hit the trail, though nowhere near as confident in the last weeks leading up to getting on that airplane... I went into it saying the only things that would end my hike were a traumatic injury or death in the family, all the other challenges were temporary. Sure enough neither of those things happened and I finished. Wish I could put better words to the mindset.

[Christoph]

I was feeling pretty confident and excited that my retirement present (20 years military) and a 25 year plus in planning was FINALLY right here, right now. I was going from start to finish and nothing was going to stop me. I did well. Very well. Hiked 750 miles to just above Daleville, then I looked in a mirror and got scared. I lost 46 pounds in 43 days. Went too darn fast I recon and didn't eat right/enough. So on my second attempt, I'll use what I learned and yes, I've still got that same excitement and drive I had the first time. Only this time will be smarter about it. I'm doing a section with my brother starting at Amacolola the end of April. It's going to be extremely hard for me not to keep going north this year.

[snifur]

highly confident that i was going to make it. my commitment to myself was not to quit in the rain.

[evyck da fleet]

Definitely philosophical. Being my first overnight hike I didn't place any odds on finishing. I was determined to get out of GA since I live here. After that I wanted to make it through the Smokies. I figured if I didn't like it or got injured after that, it is was it is and at least I've seen the Smokies. Once I reached Roan Mtn I knew I'd make it unless injury struck.

Actually I was sitting with six other guys I had met and we all looked around and said one of us isn't going to make it. Having all started in April, we figured if one of us got hurt there wouldn't be enough time to complete the hike that year. No one placed any bets on who it would be. It was just a chances are type of thing. I guess that's why I liked hiking with those guys. It was just about enjoying each day on the way to a destination whether we made it or not.

[Lone Wolf]

... on that first moment of your thru hike or attempted thru hike? More specifically: what sort of odds did you give yourself of completing the journey? Were confident, or doubtful? Or maybe just philosophical about it?

i knew i could do it physically. by the time i got to hot springs i was burning out mentally. i decided then to slow the hell down and just walk til it wasn't fun anymore. i made it to gorham, nh and got offthe trail. i wasn't gonna blow through maine just to get a photo at a sign. too much of a destination

[Dogwood]

No thought of odds. I believed that if I stayed at it long enough with a light hearted attitude with a willingness to adapt and overcome without getting injured it was only a walk... where I could experience things most people don't know even exist. The journey wasn't consumed by backpacking alone or getting to Mt K or a physical trudge. Quite the contrary. Hiking/LD backpacking really is analogous to a journey of life. Staying in the moment, being present, choosing to grow in all ways possible on intention, expecting to contribute to others along the journey, being willing to listen and observe and then adjust, and readjust, and chunking the forward momentum down into smaller bite size chunks worked for me as thoughtful intentions. The thru-hike was very much the antithesis of a "forced death march!" It was a journey of discovery, health, greater awareness, self actualization, humbleness, fortitude, and contribution. This is why LD backpacking has continued to be an outlet a vehicle for betterment not only for myself but so many others.

[JaketheFake]

[QUOTE=Dogwood;2051927]No thought of odds. I believed that if I stayed at it long enough with a light hearted attitude with a willingness to adapt and overcome without getting injured it was only a walk... where I could experience things most people don't know even exist. The journey wasn't consumed by backpacking alone or getting to Mt K or a physical trudge. Quite the contrary. Hiking/LD backpacking really is analogous to a journey of life. Staying in the moment, being present, choosing to grow in all ways possible on intention, expecting to contribute to others along the journey, being willing to listen and observe and then adjust, and readjust, and chunking the forward momentum down into smaller bite size chunks worked for me as thoughtful intentions. The thru-hike was very much the antithesis of a "forced death march!" It was a journey of discovery, health, greater awareness, self actualization, humbleness, fortitude, and contribution. This is why LD backpacking has continued to be an outlet a vehicle for betterment not only for myself but so many others.[/QUOTE

Awesome.

[Starchild]

I knew I would complete it, and also for the first 2/3rd of it I was simply walking home, so there was that sense also of I'm on my way home. (BTW when I got to 'home', there was no doubt I was going all the way). It was just what I was doing and what I was suppose to do.

I had many moments on trail that I knew I was at the exact right place and time in the universe I was suppose to be at.

[Skinny Rooster]

I had been dreaming of a thru hike for the last several years. After I retired in September 2014 decided to attempt an end-to-end hike of the long trail to see if I would like long distance hiking. I lasted two days before calling my wife to come fetch me. I was unprepared for the cold snap I encountered in September. So when I started my thru in April of 2015 I did not begin with a lot of confidence. [But I was prepared for any cold weather I might encounter!] Took it day by day. Injury took me off trail for a week in Pearisburg but I never considered calling it quits and there was no time during my hike that I seriously considered quitting. Meet so many great people and many wonderful memories. The fear of regret rather than failure keep me going.

Plan on going back out there this summer and doing the long trail.

[Traillium]

[QUOTE=JaketheFake;2051964]

No thought of odds. I believed that if I stayed at it long enough with a light hearted attitude with a willingness to adapt and overcome without getting injured it was only a walk... where I could experience things most people don't know even exist. The journey wasn't consumed by backpacking alone or getting to Mt K or a physical trudge. Quite the contrary. Hiking/LD backpacking really is analogous to a journey of life. Staying in the moment, being present, choosing to grow in all ways possible on intention, expecting to contribute to others along the journey, being willing to listen and observe and then adjust, and readjust, and chunking the forward momentum down into smaller bite size chunks worked for me as thoughtful intentions. The thru-hike was very much the antithesis of a "forced death march!" It was a journey of discovery, health, greater awareness, self actualization, humbleness, fortitude, and contribution. This is why LD backpacking has continued to be an outlet a vehicle for betterment not only for myself but so many others.[/QUOTE

Awesome.

Yep!


Bruce Traillium

[rafe]

I was confident and hopeful, totally unafraid, but I knew the odds. My first serious doubts didn't surface until weeks later. Maybe just before Hot Springs. And from there, they just grew and grew 'till I could no longer justify or rationalize what I was doing on the trail. Years later when I started the long, final section I was a different person. I knew what to expect from the trail, more motivated, better gear, and had learned a few tricks for "keeping it fun."

[Platypus2016]

I got dropped off at Springer mtn by my father. I left with very little preparation, and a plan of just hiking for a while. I asked everyone who I knew how long they thought I'd make it... The most "generous" answer I got was 1 week... My father, who obviously knows me very well, he raised me as a single parent, when asked to give me an honest answer gave me......2 or 3 days!

I should have started off with my info.... I am\was 31years old. I was 300lbs, I couldn't jog a mile without stopping if my life depended on it, I was taking about 6 or 7 prescription medications, and I have always given up on things more often than completing them, and had gear that was so horrible (IE: my sleeping bag was from when I was a boy scout, it zipped up to about my belly button). I had no intention of doing a thru hike (and I didn't make it either, I ended up leaving after reaching the quarter way mark..got on a greyhound the next day) so the person who said 2 weeks A. Didn't know how difficult of a journey the Appalachian Trail is (which most people do not, they think it's an paved walking path, just a really long one) or B. Was just being nice or C. Said 2 weeks to give me some motivation.? Because if I would have had to put a set number of days on how long I would last... I probably would have said a week. And most people that met me the first few weeks probably thought I'd quit the day after they met me.

It was incredibly difficult at the beginning, that's the understatement of the century, for a lot of reasons. The biggest was probably my feet,(because I was so out of shape, weighed 300lbs, and had a 50lb pack full of worthless Gear) they were very bad off for the first two or three weeks. Bad enough that strangers often tried to convince me to either quit, or take a break from the trail and see a doctor. I'm pretty sure that the only thing I said out loud for the first two weeks was complaining about my feet hurting (which makes it surprising how many really good friends I made those first few weeks) And being so out of shape physically made it extremely difficult for me. My hiking strategy was basically 1.catch my breath 2. Pick out a tree or big rock I could see 3. Walk to that tree or rock 4.repeat steps 1-3.. But I kept going, I did the average first day i had read about, something like 8 miles (whatever it was to the first shelter) the second day I reaches the same shelter that the two groups o met the first night made it to. And then basically did it that way until I reached neels gap. I am pretty sure the reason I was able to keep up with those groups the first few nights was out of dependence, I had no idea what I was doing (I have hikes and camped some in my life, so I don't !mean depending on them for survival. I didn't have a map, or AT guidebook, so I didn't know how far apart things were, such as water, or shelters\camp sites)....

To shorten this story up, I just kept going, I met two other hikers who were hiking solo, they were both planning to thru hike, and we became really close friends, we hiked together until the day I left. At some point during the hike i started thinking about going all of the way, but i!m not sure when that happened, I would never tell people I was thru hiking.... I would always just say "I'll just Hike until I don't want to get out here anymore, and then I'll go home the next day" I never put a strict mileage quata I had to reach (although sometimes the trail does that for you, like the first say after Fontana dam when I entered the Smokies, the first shelter was 13 miles in, and it was uphill most of the day, but you were sick to only camp at the shelters).

I ended my hike weighing 250lbs (50lbs less than when I started), having a really nice pack full of gear, had cut my pack weight down to 35lbs with food (which !means I weighed less with my pack on after my hike then I did without it in the beginning), I had a blast every single day, although some were very physically demanding and challenging, and when I woke up the morning after we reached the quarter way marker. I just knew I was ready to go home. I had been out on the trail almost 2 months ( never claimed I did any of this quickly, lol) so we packed upnour gear like we did every morning, I told my buddies I was going home, I let them canabalize my pack and supplies, except for my big three (because o had bought all lightweight, quality big Agnes tent and sleeping bag, and a decent Gregory pack, and I couldn't give away that much of my investment... And of course they didn't ask me to, they didn't wants the take any of it, but i told them that they HAD TO TAKE anything that would help them finish their hike, and they were gracious enough to accept my offer.. (None of us three were the type of people who liked asking others for help, that may be why we got along so well, because YOU WILL MEET PLENTY OF HIKERS that aree attempting to bum and mooch their way from Georgia to Maine, and I'm ok with that for the most part I guess, Hike our own Hike and all.... But we generally tried to stay away from hikers like that, but often they will try to attach themselves to other groups, to be able to get anything for free that they could) and then we split my food up between the two of them and at the first road we crossed I just went my own way and they continued with their Hike.

So I was only supposed to make it a handful of days, and enmses up hiking an quarter of the Appalachian Trail! I don't care one iota how anyone else grades my Hike... Inwas\AM very proud of what I accomplished. And I had the best time of my life doing it.

Platypus
Platypus2016blog.wordpress.com

[GreenBlaze]

I got dropped off at Springer mtn by my father. I left with very little preparation, and a plan of just hiking for a while. I asked everyone who I knew how long they thought I'd make it... The most "generous" answer I got was 1 week... My father, who obviously knows me very well, he raised me as a single parent, when asked to give me an honest answer gave me......2 or 3 days!

So I was only supposed to make it a handful of days, and enmses up hiking an quarter of the Appalachian Trail! I don't care one iota how anyone else grades my Hike... Inwas\AM very proud of what I accomplished. And I had the best time of my life doing it.

Platypus
Platypus2016blog.wordpress.com

That's a great story Platypus.

ps - Hill People Gear looks nice. I carry the same way.

[rafe]

Great story, Platypus. Worth the read. Thanks for sharing that.