Hi, decided I'm going to thruhike next year. Was curious how much preparation is necessary. On the one hand, I see a lot of people who seem to get a lot of enjoyment about it and that have exhaustively researched every subject under the sun about it. On the other, I've seen some stories about how someone decided they were going to hike the trail with no experience, then three weeks later were on the trail and went straight through. So I know it's possible on either end of the spectrum, but am curious how much preparation should go into a prudent thru-hike. I'm a pretty easy-going person and want to buy more into the advice that I see of just needing to plan enough for your first resupply, and figure it out from there. But want to make sure I'm not being dumb haha.

Thanks for the general advice, and will probably bother with more questions as the time approaches!