I envy those who can get those many days off! hahaWandering Daisy wrote:There are many methods of "thru-hiking". Perhaps we need a definition of what this post means by "thru-hiking".
If thru-hiking is simply doing a long route continuously, you could hike fast and take lots of town days (what seems to be typical of PCT hikers) or hike slow and infrequently resupply or even have resupply brought in by outfitters. If you do half of the PCT slowly one year, and finish the next, is that still a "thru-hike"? That is usually referred to as "section hiking". Is the JMT a thru-hike? Maybe it is too short. It seems short compared to the PCT or CDT or AT.
So I do not agree necessarily that if you thru-hike you have no "intamacy" with the wilderness. I did Roper's High Route. Not sure that is considered a thru-hike. I took 33 days, with only one day off. Only hiked 5-8 hours a day, did two side-trips, lots of poking around at the end of most days, and fished. I really did not do it any differently than any other backpack trip- just did it continously. Also did the same thing for 30 days in the Wind Rivers - no official route, just my own. On that trip I carried 14 days food for two sections with one day off between. I had three "resupplies" on the High Route. Were these "thru-hikes"? Who officially designates a "thru-hike"? Does a thru-hike have to be a big "named" route?
Actually surprised to see the number of those who don't favor "thru-hiking" (pct, at, cdt, such and such). I personally didn't really enjoy the JMT but that could be due to the way I planned it as I only had a short window and was hell-bent on getting to each planned campsite. Now that I do a mix of trail and off-trail, gotta say I enjoy the off-trail better.