Thruhiking

>Solo hiking, better bring a gun
>Cant trust the person I'm with, better bring a gun

They both seem like fine options to me.
I'm actually down here near the start of the PCT, made a little day hike on it last weekend.

>>876506
>good thing about being solo
When you run out of food, you just kill a stranger and eat them. You will feel less guilty than if you brought a friend and ate them.

>>876509
You don't need a gun
>>876514
it's not that serious

It's easier to hike your own hike when you go solo. The AT and PCT are really social trails and you'll make friends on trail

>>876543
yea the guys who were carrying guns had too much weight and were too paranoid.

Go solo unless you know and have made plans with someone who is similar in fitness and also great at hiking. Even then, be prepared to part ways. There are tons of friendly people out there on the trail, and people change out there. I met too many people who stuck together because that's how they started and it usually was for the worse- although there were some who were great together.

>>876506
I'd only go with someone if you've hiked with them before and know what they are capable of. And it's overrated. 90% of people you'll run into are hipster millennials. Thruhiking is for faggots who enjoy being around faggots talking about how faggot they are.

>>876509
In Jesus Christ, amen.

>>876506
>Through hiking

Why? Also, if you are stopping to camp at night then it really isn't, "through hiking". You are essentially being a vagabond.

>>876514
>"Dear Diary: 'Day Two,' the stranger "Dale" whom I met on the AT, tasted better than expected."
>"Had I not met him in my time of need, I surely would have died here on this lonely stretch of trail, for I was stuck in the middle of this 10-mile stretch of trail and my bag of mini-Snickers had run out."
>"Having gained sustenance, I believe I can now make the 5 miles to the road and diner marked on the map. I shall take respite there and refill my fanny pack with 2 bags of mini-Snickers instead of one."

>>876543
>It's easier to hike your own hike when you go solo. The AT and PCT are really social trails and you'll make friends on trail

>"you by yourself?"
>"y-yes, m-lady"

>*that's really fucking odd, doesn't this guy have friends? we better get the hell out of here before he gets weird*

Hiking with someone else is preferable. It's more motivating, someone to talk to, more eyes to look where you aren't, and someone to be there in case you need help.

Also trekking poles are for pussies. Trex mode all day.

>>876900

>It's more motivating
If you're still set on the idea of being incorporated into the vestige of society, maybe.
I cast off those shackles years ago; there's nothing better than solo hiking to explore the outdoors and your own soul.

I will be hiking alone on my thru hike next year. You can hike your own pace, stop when you want. When your hiking with someone else,you're either hiking their pace, or they're hiking yours. Not fun. You will make friends with people going your speed (unless you're a social outcast like that thru hikers are fags guy) and meet them at camp and town most days.

>>876796
Looks like someone is just autistic.

I find going alone and making friends on the way is the best option. You can have people there to push you along so you don't get lazy but you also have the option to stay somewhere longer cause you like. Just like solo backpacking (traveling through countries with a backpack for murricans)

>>876506
OP, I just finished the PCT ask me anything.

Pertaining to your questions, there are no advantages hiking along unless you don't enjoy company. Don't bring anyone with you, you'll meet tons of new people on the trail and in town during your resupplies.

Complications of group hiking for me were primarily group decisions about where to meet up at the end of the day or when we were all going to get started after breakfast. Some people can't hike 20+ miles per day either, something to take into consideration if you're all about smashing miles.

>>877004

Not OP but I have a few questions for you bud.

1) How long did it take?
2) Did you have any recovery days where you just chilled?
3) What was your budget for the hike?
4) Most useful thing you brought?
5) Least useful thing you brought and shouldn't have?

>>877004
For someone who regularly does day hikes, but is really attracted to the idea of through hiking, can I get away with doing some research, buying the necessities, and then just going out there? Will I end up killing myself?

>>877100

I'd like to know the same. I can do 20 miles no problem, but that's with a day pack weighing about 15lbs. I would imaging you'd have to pack way more weight than that.

>>877100
>>877106
Not that guy, but the best way to gauge your fitness/readiness for a thru-hike is to just get out on some multi-day backpacking trips.

Also the PCT and AT aren't the only the only thru hikes in the US, they're just the two most popular. There are lots of shorter hikes that last anywhere from a week to a few months.

I'm prepping myself to do the PNW trail in the next year or two. It's half as long as the PCT but it's more remote and a lot less traveled.

>>876796
>*that's really fucking odd, doesn't this guy have friends? we better get the hell out of here before he gets weird*

As someone who does a great bunch of his hiking alone, that's never the kind of reaction I get.
Most people don't have friends who are into long distance hiking, and even if they do the time windows rarely match, and even if this magically happens, different people usually have different trails they desire to do first.

Out of 3 times I've set plans with friends to join my 150km+ hikes, only once did we actually made it to the trail head together.

On some trails, like the PCT, the relatively safe ones, at least in the starting sections, it's normal to start alone, and so most of the people you'll meet will be in the same predicament, or with a people they 'met' online.
On other, more dangerous trails you'll get some wtf dude aren't you scared to go through this alone. But it's usually pretty easy to join in with others if that's what you're looking for. For the dangerous parts at least. (if you are in better shape than their average member that is, and so don't drag them down, also if you're at least mildly friendly and not obnoxious).

>>877100
listen to this anon >>877112

nothing worse then setting time off for a few months, buying gear worth 1000's of $ and then finding out that you don't actually like this type of activity.

Physically you should be able to do it. So it's just the mental challenge.
The PCT should be pretty friendly for begginers since there is SO MUCH information, many people going the same way that you can join, some with a lot of experience, and it's not too far away from civilization/rescue. It doesn't go through too extreme terrain early on, and it's in a 1st world country with all the implications for personal safety, good hospitals, good rescue services, being able to communicate with the locals through their native tongue and so on.

>>877112
>>877446
I live in a country where setting up camp in the wilderness is not allowed, and official campsites are far and few between. Would going for day-hikes multiple days in a row be a half-decent substitute or nah?

>>877456
My point was that by going on a PCT hike you're taking a risk. A risk that you don't actually like going on months long hikes. That you get bored, that you don't like to be dirty for so long, or away from your family and friends or, being cold/wet/miserable/tired somewhat for so long.

The only way to test this is by doing the closest thing to it. So in my opinion, no. doing a bunch of day hikes where you don't even sleep in a tent but go back home/to a hotel, in the evening is hardly a substitute.

It could serve to gauge your physical readiness (by carrying the extra weight even if it's unneeded) thought, I guess.

Where are you from? Either you're in a small country and you can just go to a neighboring one. Or the rules are not really as strict as you think and staying just the night is either ignored, or allowed.

I've done the GR10 this summer, a popular trail of ~900km on the Pyreneans, and this is my definite answer: hike alone. ALL the people planning to finish it that I've met walked by themselves. All of them.

Advantages:
-you walk your pace (no two people have the same, I guarantee you)
-you'll be able to keep your schedule (if you make the mistake of having one in the first place)
-you don't get angry with your hike-mate over stupid shit (as usually happens after a week or so)
-less chance to stop the trail because of an injury (this is a serious issue when walking long distance)
-you don't get really angry at the weather (the more you are, the less you walk under rain and fog)
(-you can read more)

Disadvantages:
-backpack will probably be a bit heavier
-loneliness, sometimes
-you will be the only one to set up the camp

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Protip from someone who has 25 years hiking under his belt (never At or PCT, but several 1000km+ hikes).

You get your trail legs on the trail, nowhere else.

If you hike 20 miles with 15 pounds, you can do 15 miles with 25 pounds. Eventually you dont mind the miles nor the weight.

I have to adjust for a week at most.

>>877478
To clarify, I originally said through hiking. That may not be the most accurate description. I'm heading to the US and will probably be doing multi-day hikes here and there as I visit places of interest, rather than sticking to one long trail for my entire time. Striving to spend the least amount of nights possible in towns and cities.

That'd allow me to experience a wider variety of landscapes in a shorter amount of time, but your point about the risk is still a very valid one.
I'm from the Netherlands.

>>877497
>Never AT
I've been on the AT a few times when I was much younger but never a thruhike.

Its been a while since I have been out. So I need to train more. I want to do a thruhike and I was wondering what type of preparation would you recommend for a thruhike of the AT
>I knew you didn't do it, but I'm just trying to get a general expectation

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Walk a lot, test your gear and bring money reserves. Its not rocket surgery.

Watch post hike videos to learn about gear that works.

>>876796
the projection is real

Thru hiking is so gay.

>lets walk across half a continent, passing by more than anyone could ever take in in a lifetime, in six months! Lets walk so much that near the end of it our bodies are tired and were depressed. Oh, what a pretty site, one of the prettiest in America! Oh, have to keep walking, have to make 39 miles today cus I took an extra zero because being in civilization was so amazing after I spent 99% of the past five months trudging through the wild with a shower once every three weeks! God damn it, im so stressed because im behind scheduleeeee! Well, that was the prettiest sight in America but I only spent five minutes there cus muh 30 miles a day is so coooool!

>>878071

Fatty detected

>>876506
>>878072
Guy who thinks he can truly appreciate the beauty of 3000 miles of wilderness by constantly hiking through it and rarely stopping to truly take in and explore an area

>he denies that thru hikers robotically trudge through the landscape for a significant amount of time because they have a schedule to meet, are bored of hiking so much, and aren't connoisseurs of natural beauty who know that seeing 3000 miles of landscape in 6 months is kind of silly when a relatively small area can take a lifetime to truly appreciate

>he pretends that his body wasn't sore and tired and sustained permanent (perhaps relatively minor but still permanent) damage after hiking 6 months over mountains with a heavy pack

True master race outists know that while traveling has its place, an extended out stay is best done in a singular area so that one can truly get to know a place (as in, a particular area and the details within it) instead of just passing through it never to see it again, and also so that one may have time to spend on activities besides "muh thirty miles a dayyyy! muh scheduleeee!" Thru hiking is much in part the desire to be "cool" by hiking such a far distance, not the desire to truly connect with nature.

>>878071
In all thing (even non competitive) there's always elitist know-it-alls who try to build superiority over people who genuinely enjoy the hobby.

Example, adult baseball league. I can't say I've met a single person that's worth his weight in horse shit that plays adult baseball. They probably were in bambino league as a kid, and maybe made junior varsity in high school, now act like they're gods gift to the sport, and they will absolutely let you know about it.

Example 2, bikers. Spandex suits, ultralight frame bikes, has 3 alternative helmets for different aerodynamics, and this is a fucking "hobby" for them. Elitist faggots who you can't have a conversation about riding a bicycle with because of extreme autism faggotry.

Example 3, online gaming, ie league of legends. Faggots who will spend hundreds of dollars on skins to make them think they play better. Will blame their errors on other people who are playing the game just fine, and almost certainly enjoying the time spent more than the elitist cumlord with delusions of superiority.

The /out/ version is thru hikers. No big deal. They don't enjoy the outdoors the same as you or I, because they created competition and superiority out of nothing. Nothing at all.

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>>878071
>Hiking on a schedule

>>876908
>He thinks he's cast off any kind of shackles
Humans are social animals. If you think you can survive any extended period of time with zero human contact then you're retarded.

>If you're still set on the idea of being incorporated into the vestige of society, maybe.
Has to be the stupidest thing I've ever read on this board.

>>878088

>Humans are social animals

What is atypical behavior.
Not everyone is similar in the respect of wanting to be around others.
Hermits aren't just things people tell in stories. They're people who prefer their solitude.

>>878088
>Has to be the stupidest thing I've ever read on this board

If that's the stupidest thing you've ever read, I got bad news for you newfag....

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>>877074
>Not OP but I have a few questions for you bud.
>1) How long did it take?
just under 6 months
>2) Did you have any recovery days where you just chilled?
more than I can count
>3) What was your budget for the hike?
food stamps, hiker boxes, yogi hitches
>4) Most useful thing you brought?
titanium long spoon
>5) Least useful thing you brought and shouldn't have?
underwear

>>877100
Yeah pretty much, you'll be fine. It's 95% will power. People I saw on the trail who were more fixated on smashing miles than doing what their body told them to and they ended up injuring themselves or having a bad time in general. Imo people who set an alarm clock every day, bragged or asked other hikers how many miles they did yesterday or what their base weights were, or counted their zeros were complete douches who didn't have any true friends. Thru hiking is not a competition sport.

I never spent more than one night out backpacking at a time and just threw myself into the deep end with $400 worth of second hand backpacking gear and shit from ebay.

>>877106
A base weight around 20lbs without food is average. I just assumed my pack was 35+lbs at any given time with food and water. Pack comfort is key. Most anyone will hike at least 2 miles per hour on any given incline on the PCT. Calculate that with your day light and lunch hour and you'll find that it's not all that difficult. My average day was probably 17 miles and my biggest few didn't top 25.

>>878077
Hike your own hike faggot.

>>878126

wtf are yogi hitches?

>>878126
>People I saw on the trail who were more fixated on smashing miles
Yeah, I intend to pack at least a day or two worth of food extra just so I can have the freedom of taking it easy, going slow, or having a day off. Just being out for days without much to worry about seems amazing.

>>878257
If you thru hike long enough with holes in your shoes, eventually someone will notice and offer to buy you a new pair of shoes. If you complain to your hitch about the price of cigarettes in Washington and they happen to smoke, they will probably give you a pack. etc.. Hitches almost always end up feeling bad for you and insist on helping you out, making them feel good for doing a good deed and getting you what you need... When you consciously complain it with malintent, I've been told it's called yogi-ing.

>>878346
That's exactly what I did. It was helpful during the last sections in Washington too when it started pissing rain. I was able to wait it out all day while others had to keep hiking wet because they allotted themselves a certain amount of food and days out.