Section Hikers

[Former Admin]

Are there any Section Hikers in this forum or visiting this forum, this will give us a better idea of whose who.

[Former Admin]

Yes I know the question above seems a little silly considering there are quite a few section hikers here.

Yes I am a section hiker also and the majority of people that hike the Appalachian Trail are. There is a big mis-conception that only thru-hikers are the most knowledgable. Many section hikers have covered many more miles than some thru-hikers. Some section hikers might have 20 years of backpacking experience while some thru-hikers might just have the six months while they thru-hiked the trail. Many section hikers might have covered the same area of trail 20 times where as a thru-hiker might have been thru that area once or twice.

All im trying to point out here is that some section hikers have more experience than a thru-hiker and you should not dis-credit their opinons. I myself have only covered 200 miles of trail and I myself do not give out advice about things I don't know. I started this forum and this site because first of all I have a interest in the AT and wanted to provide a resource others could enjoy and second I also enjoy building websites in my spare time and I take pride and enjoy what I do.


(copied from old forum)

[Hammock Hanger]

I attempted a thru-hike in 01 and due to injury left after 1000 miles. I sttempted to finish it up this year and got in 840 miles till I wound up in the hospital with Lymes. So, in my mind I felt like a thru-hiker and still do, I'm really a section hiker. HH

[Kerosene]

I first hiked most of the New Jersey section of the AT in 1973 along with two other scouting mates at the tender age of 15. Several of us did 70-100 mile sections in the Mid-Atlantic states each spring break for the next few years. College summers were spent trying to earn money, so I didn't get back out for a long-distance hike until I graduated, when my future wife and I did Duncannon to Harpers Ferry (her first and last hike!). I did the Long Trail with my younger brother later that summer.

Career, relocation, graduate school and family interrupted my hiking adventures until the bug bit me again in 1999. Since then I've filled in a few gaps through planned section hikes and spur-of-the-moment day hikes when I go back east. I have now completed over 850 miles of the AT, stretching from Loft Mountain in Shenendoah National Park north to the White Mountains in New Hampshire (with the nagging exceptions of about a mile down the main street of Duncannon, 1.5 miles across the I-80 Delaware Water Gap bridge, and 19.2 miles from Unionville to Warwick Turnpike in north Jersey!).

Early on I was hiking just to get out in the woods and the AT was convenient. I recently decided to complete the entire AT as a new life goal, resulting in the tag line...

[Raccoon]

Just started backpacking; last month's Hot Springs trip was my
very first trip ever. I've gone hiking three times on the A.T.
since, in NC and MA. I've been daydreaming about thru-hiking,
but can't realistically see myself getting the time off to do
it unless I get downsized some year in the February-May time
frame. In any event, I won't let myself think seriously about
it until I've first successfully thru-hiked a shorter trail such
as the FLT.

[SGT Rock]

I'm a section hiker. the first section hike was in the late 70's. The longest was from Wesser to Springer plus the approach trail. I'll keep hitting sections until I finally get to thru-hike. Then I'll keep section hiking until I can no longer hike. Hopefully that is a long way off.

[DebW]

Count me as a section hiker too. Been hiking in New England for 28 years. Started section hiking the AT in 2001.
Have done VT, MA, and CT so far, all SOBO. I'm not counting all the times I happened
to be following white blazes in New England when the AT happened to coincide with part of my weekend loop hike. I'm
really enjoying the longer AT section hikes of 1-2 weeks. A very different experience than day and weekend hikes.
(though I have done a week in the Grand Canyon, a week on Mt. Ranier, and a week at Mt. Katahdin in the winter of 1979).
I'd love to do some even longer hikes, but I'm happy with every chance I get to be out there.

[EarlyRiser]

Ive done three sixty mile section hikes in the Shanendoah area (north twice, south once). ive had very little backpacking experiance anywhere else. but im very enthusiastic when it comes to backpacking and will undoubtadly continue for many years. i hope to thru hike in 2006, with section hikes every summer up untill then (if time and money allows)

[Hikehead]

My name is Hikerhead..and I'm.....a section hiker.

There, I said it and I feel better for doing so....

[Former Admin]

Originally posted by Hikerhead
My name is Hikerhead..and I'm.....a section hiker.

There, I said it and I feel better for doing so....

Welcome to our 12 step program Hikerhead!

[Hikehead]

Thanks Admin. Well I do feel better, now I just have to quit lieing to people while I'm doing my full pack training hikes.

Are you a Thru Hiker? "Yes mam, I started in GA and I'm hiking to Maine, and I'm starving, do you have anything you might not miss in that lunch basket of yours?"

Seriously, I think we all would like to be a Thru Hiker. But we all draw diferent cards in life and mine didn't come up as I would have liked. It's fun to learn about the different ways people do get around to doing a thru hike. I guess I will just have to stay in shape until retirement. If I live that long.

Gosh, this is great, I'm feeling better all the time!!!!

[Hammock Hanger]

all thru hikers are, is section hikers who cram all there sections into one summer. Hammock Hanger

[EarlyRiser]

thats a good way of looking at it. makes me feel better. (not that i still dont want to thru hike)

[Kerosene]

I'm really enjoying the longer AT section hikes of 1-2 weeks. A very different experience than day and weekend hikes.

I find it fascinating how trips of different lengths require different types of planning, logistics, equipment, nutrition, mindset, etc. and result in different experiences, observations, weight change, cravings, patterns, completion rates, etc.

The day hike doesn't require much in the way of planning (although that doesn't seem to stop me from over-planning), provides a quick fix and a little exercise in a different environment.

The overnighter forces you to carry your bedroom and kitchen, and usually too much food, and it allows you to experience the woods at night.

The week-long section hike provides a glimpse of what it takes to do a thru-hike: a little pain, reaching interim milestones, menu planning, a tightening of the muscles.

The month-long hike requires more logistics, especially around re-supply, and forces you to take a few light days to just enjoy the trip.

A multi-month thru-hike requires the right mindset, working a daily routine, comfort with ambiguity, and a little luck.

Needless to say, the completion rates decrease the longer the trip. What you learn from a day/weekend/week/month hike will likely be valuable to a thru-hike, but the successful thru-hiker will need more. It's not for everyone, but it's also just different from hiking the entire Trail over many years and seasons. I'd like to thru-hike just to say I've done it and experience some of the social aspects, but I'd never give up the peace and solitude of off-season section hiking.

[highway]

At the risk of being ostracized, I have never hiked the AT at all. In fact, I have never even seen any of it so I have refrained from "opining" on any subject requiring firsthand familiarity of it! I am just waiting for colder weather so as to do a two-week portion of it in October, my first. Then I will become , I guess, an AT section hiker.

But I am a CDT section hiker already, having done portions in Colorado and New Mexico. It seems a few years ago I developed this weird desire to walk from Mexico to Canada. I was elk hunting, alone, somewhat lost again, and decided that what I really enjoyed was being in the mountains. I decided to forego the expensive out-of-state elk and mule deer tags, leave the rifle and few rounds of hand-loaded ammo home, get a bigger pack [mistake; just didnt know it] and take up backpacking instead.

I was only familiar with the CDT because the Rocky Mountains was where I kept going hunting. I have always known there was an AT, and in searching out CDT info, AT info was what I mostly found. It is only this year that I decided on doing a portion of it. Why I have not done so before is a mystery because, logistically, living in Florida, its much cheaper. It has to be more fun, given its reputation for a social trail, with even permanent shelters, many hundreds more people doing it and a well-marked and even blazed trail all the way. Those are all luxuries which I am not accostumed to, but am looking forward to experience.

I can see that, on the AT, the name "highway" may not command a great deal of respect, given its association with "yellow blazes" and all, and i commend all of you for not snickering to loudly about it. But it refers to elevation, not street, was given to me and I am keeping it!

[slabfoot]

section hiker until i lose my job or retire. the friend spouse and kids like to eat and live under a roof. have done the same thirty mile section of the at about ten times includung all side trails and blue blazes in the area. i really do have to branch out some but i've grown to love cove mountain and saint anthony's wilderness area just north of harrisburg pa. hopefully this site may inpire and motivate me to stretch my comfort zone. pa has thousands of miles of backpacking trails in the state forests and much of my backpacking is directed there. in the back of my mind i have been harboring the dream of a thru-hike. since i was 18 in 1970 the magic of the at has threaded it's way thru my mind. living here in pa sort of at the belly of the trail i've been wondering if a belly-flop (pa-me/me-ga/ga-pa)would be feasable to do in one year. guess maybe i'll stop the dreaming and get back to work. thanks for the forum.

[Uncle Wayne]

My love of hiking / backpacking developed as a Boy Scout. While a scoutmaster, our troop hiked several sections of the AT. My wife and I plan to section hike until we retire and then maybe.... Our next section will be in the Smokies.
It was good to see the admin state that section hikers have valuable expertise to share.

[buttercup]

I'm new to the AT, but definitely a section hiker in training, I'd say. So far, I've only done 33.2 miles of the AT -- sections in Maine, Mass. and Conn. as weekend dayhikes. I'm making my first backpacking trip next month. (Well, second but the other was years ago when I was 60+ pounds heavier and had no idea what the heck I was doing... I think I nearly had a heart attack...) This time, I'm hoping I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing thanks to all of the reading the forums on the AT.

I'd love to be a thru-hiker one day... but I'm just not brave enough to quit my job and do it. So, instead, I'll be hiking sections for the next 20 years so I can still get a chance to enjoy the trail.

-- Amy

[Weeknd]

I am a section hiker, a weekend section hiker. Ahh, highway, I feel better too.

I have loved the AT since I first hiked up Standing Indian about 20 years ago. I have hiked various sections in GA, NC and VA. Never for more than about 7-8 days. I did all of this hiking more than 10 years ago. Believe it or not, I have the same external frame backback that I got for Christmas around 1980 (I badly need a new one). I have hiked extensively in the Natahala region, it is my "AT home" even though I live in AL.

Until, this June I had not been on any trail for more than a day hike in 12 years. This June my buddy, who I introduced to the AT, and I hit the AT in the Natahala Area. We hiked from Stecoah Gap south to Rufus Morgan Shelter then back to NOC. Part of my heart wanted to keep going south. However, my wife and 3 small boys needed me at the house.

Next year we are planning to hike from NOC south to somewhere. The next year or the next we are planning to hike from wherever we've stopped to Springer. My plan is to section hike as much of the AT as I can and hike some other trails also. I dream of a GA->ME thru hike one day, but don't see it right now. Maybe one day one of my boys will need a partner for hiking north.

[Former Admin]

Highway,

Your name will fit in just fine on the AT, also by using Highway you just might run into someone that knows you from here. There are quite a few members at the forum here, that will be out hiking in October.
What section of the AT are you going to hike?