Thru Hiker thread

>>881637
How many liters of cum did you drink during the hike?

>>881638
zero

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pics

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>>881650
my setup

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>>881650

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>>881650
2

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>>881650
some random dog I met

>>881650
I actually did a really shitty job documenting it
By 1/3 of the way through I was super jaded and just wanted to maximize my miles

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>>881650
Aftermath of a storm in VA

>>881639
Sure you didn't, bud. Why the Appalachian Trail specifically? I've heard it's a relatively crowded trail.

>>881722
If I had don my research I would have hiked the PCT

The PCT is easier and more scenic

This is most likely a bait thread.

>All the images called "image.jpg".
>No timestamps on the gear.
>Starts the thread with a sentence bound to catch attention.

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>>881915
here is the gear visible in picture 1 with a time stamp

>>881980
fuck i wrote the wrong date lol
i'm legit though, and eager to share my /out/ knowledge with you all

>>881665
>>881662
Very nice, where were these taken?

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>>881637
I'll bite
What were some things/habits you started with that you were regretting? Things you took you didn't need, something you didn't take that you did need, poor hiking habits, etc?

>>882050
The icy one was taken somewhere in NC north of the smokies

The other picture was taken in Georgia not too far from Springer, but it really could be from anywhere on the trail
People call the AT the 'green tunnel' because you're spending 80% of the time walking through the woods with no views

>>881637
>Age?
>Starting and End bodyweight?
>Job?
>Trail name?
>Did you fuck any girl you met?

Also nice doge

I live in PA. I've done from around Palmerston to Harrisburg. Some good parts, some rough parts. I also did a bit in West Virginia. Need to get out soon. Fall/winter is my favorite.

>>882175
>I turned 21 on the trail
>200 - 165 (now at 205 kek)
>currently working on a political campaign. (i'll be unemployed on November 9th) Going back to school in January
>i'll pass on this question
>no, although I had some opportunities to. Some regrets there. Need to work on my game.

>>882051
I took way too many zeroes (zero mile days) in towns and at hostels, spent way too much money
I hiked southbound. When I got out of the Hundred Mile wilderness in Maine I got a gear shakedown from the hostel owner at Shaw's

I mailed home 11 lbs of gear including
>most of my medkit
>the Quran
>steripen
>some clothes
>Nalgenes (replaced with plastic water bottles)
>tons of other miscellaneous garbage

In Gorham New Hampshire I ditched my shitty leaky tent and shelter hopped the rest of the way.
I also got lazy and stopped filtering water. Ended up getting sick twice because of that.
As far as hiking habits, unscheduled breaks and slow speeds are the big one.
In order to make big miles you have to be disciplined with your breaks and your speed.
That means no random 15 minute breaks on nice sunny rocks, no taking it easy on uphills.
Even after you get your trail legs after 300 or so miles, it's very easy to be lackadaisical about your walking speed.
Unless you want to break camp before dawn every day, you need to be consistently hitting 3 mph to make big miles.
This will sometimes mean leaving cool people in the dust, which is unfortunate.
But if you are a young dude, there will always be other competitive young dudes trying to do big miles and you can latch on to each other and chill with them.

>>882193
Pennsylvania is an underrated state. Very beautiful in the fall. The rocks are shitty, but it has some great trail towns.

>>882251
>In Gorham New Hampshire I ditched my shitty leaky tent and shelter hopped the rest of the way.
yeesh. i thought the best part was having your own tent.
did you ever get dinner at Elmer's in Hot Springs? what did you have?

>>882265
>yeesh. i thought the best part was having your own tent.
I made peace with the rodents, wore a bug net, and ear plugs.
The shelters weren't so bad. I am not a morning person, so crowded shelters actually helped me get moving in the morning.

>did you ever get dinner at Elmer's in Hot Springs? what did you have?
I didn't stay at Elmer's
I stayed at Laughing Heart hostel in Hot Springs because I had a mail drop there.
Laughing Heart had a hiker feed on Easter Sunday and I had an excellent dinner there, although I don't remember the specifics.
iirc Elmer was vegan and only served vegan food

>>881915
The default filename for images uploaded from iphones is image.jpg

Do you lack imagination? That must be the only reason anyone hikes the whole AT. Same goes for the PCT. What happened to adventure?

>>881637
Me too.
Trail Name?
Did you smoke weed everyday?
Doing the PCT next?

>>882278
the romanticism of the hike wears off very quickly for most people.
walking through the woods all day becomes the routine.
hitch hiking becomes routine.
scenic overlooks become routine
dollar store food becomes routine
sneaking 8 people into a 45 dollar motel room becomes routine.

the community kept me going. very interesting people out there.
also I started listening to podcasts once I crossed the mason-dixon line, those kept me sane

>>882280
didn't want to say my trail name, but I can't turn down a fellow thru hiker
>Striker
>not every day, but several times a week when I got smoked up
>some day, probably not for a few years
what was your trail name? what year did you hike? sobo or nobo?

>>882292
I respect your reply. But moving forward, now you've probably learnt a whole lot about being out. So wouldn't it be more fun to just look at a map and plan your own route next time. To walk where few have walked - to experience true wilderness is exhilarating in itself.

>>882297
I see what you're getting at
the commercial nature of the trail kind of bugged me
I did go Southbound though which is by far the route less traveled (90%) go northern
There are less services, hostels, and trail magic for southbounders
Southbound is the AT on hard mode and not the crowded shit show that North bound is

That said, I definitely would like to go on a more personal and free form adventure some day
I'm thinking maybe a maritime one

>>882292
Gram Cracker. Hiked NOBO summer of 2015 in 149 days. 100% purist. I'm starting the a nobo thru hike of the PCT May 2017.

>>882278
What have you done that makes you so experienced? Until you've completed 2,000 plus mile thru hike, you really have no idea what it is.

>>882314
I wonder where we past each other. What date did you finish?

>>882324
September 13. Saw a lot of SOBO's from Vermont to the Whites.

>>882328
my peak nobo sightings were in Hanover around August.

>>881637

Post a pic of your legs flexed.

>>882251
>That means no random 15 minute breaks on nice sunny rocks, no taking it easy on uphills.
>competitive

Yeah this invalidates a thru hike for me unless you can finish it at a slower speed. adventure isn't a competition, you're out there for the scenery and nature and you just hurry through it all and suffer because its hard to hike 30mpd

>>882503
>Yeah this invalidates a thru hike for me unless you can finish it at a slower speed. adventure isn't a competition, you're out there for the scenery and nature and you just hurry through it all and suffer because its hard to hike 30mpd
if you want to take it easy you should start when there is still snow on the ground

>>882456
nah, i finished months ago, wouldn't be very impressive anymore
my calves were chiseled though.

>>882793

>nah, i finished months ago, wouldn't be very impressive anymore
my calves were chiseled though

And now you are fatter than ever. Good thing you took no before after and after

>>882793

>September 13.

>Months ago

Quite a web you are spinning

>>881637
Most of us do it in 2-3 months max. You're pretty lame OP

>>882985
september 13th was another thru hiker anon
he hiked nobo. I hiked sobo, I started June 17th 2015.

>>882991
>2-3 months max
bait, but i'll bite.
barely anyone finishes under 4.

>>883036
>bait
>barely anyone finishes under 4.
No, 4 months is about norm for partiers, kids, older people. Most of us adults that atually hike it and aren't there for the social aspect spending our time coming up with esoteric 'trail handles' actually finish in less than 3 months.

>>883786
>bait was not bait
were you the anon that orginally said 2-3?
I think the unassisted record is like 60 days. That should give you a feel for how off that range was.
Virtually no one is doing it in under 3 months.
some people do it in 4
The vast majority do it in 5-6
slowpokes who don't mind freezing their ass off do it in 7

>>883786
also
http://www.appalachiantrail.org/home/explore-the-trail/thru-hiking/faqs
>Most thru-hikers take between five and seven months.
>The average is a week or two shy of six months.

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>>883786
>adults that actually hike it
>arent there for social aspect
>less than 3 months
you sound like one of those wierdos in the lean-tos that spergs out if anyone tries to start a conversation and arent capable of eye contact.
>I'm sooooooooooo much better than these plebs
>I bet they have some weird trail name
>stupid girls, why do they exist
>listen to them, laughing and enjoying themselves, bet they never even heard of Ray Jardine.

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>>881660
>bottle of wine
>potato chips

>>884567
I treated myself to a bottle of wine on thanksgiving
Potato chips were standard trail fare for me

>>883786
>most people average 24 miles a day

>>885807
I've never hiked it but I've hiked many sections and spoken to many, many thruhikers
The southern part is easy af and you're doing 20-30 mile days down there.
The northern part you have some much slower sections but still, most of the trail is fast enough to offset the shorter sections of 10 mile days.

Also, of course, there's a break in period of a week or a few weeks where your daily mileage at least doubles from what you start at, so if you're the type of person to hike 10-15 miles in a day then once you're in trail shape and doing it everyday you'll be doing 20-30. 10-15 miles is pretty standard for a non-thru hiker, so 20-30 doesn't seem like that much.

>>885812
>Also, of course, there's a break in period of a week or a few weeks where your daily mileage at least doubles from what you start at
This is called getting your trail legs. It takes most people around 300 miles for their trail legs to kick in.

Hard tier
>maine
>new hampshire

Moderate tier
>pennsylvania
>north carolina/tennessee
>new jersey
>new york
>georgia

easy peasy tier
>virginia (has hard parts, but on average it's easy)
>vermont
>massachusetts

states that don't have short ass sections
>connecticut
>west virginia
>maryland

not all miles are created equal. 30mpd in vermont might be the same effort as 16 mpd in southern maine
particularly as the seasons change and days get longer/shorter

>>881675
Holy shit it turned the forest upside down.

>>881675
Fake, it's from Australia

>>883786
No.
The fastest thru hike I know of this year was future dad in 76 days. He was regularly doing +40m/day. I could give you probably 20 or 30 fb profiles of people who took between 5 - 6.5 months this year.