Thru-hiker Envy

[Snowtrout]

Like others have said, I have wondered how so many people can get time off from work/school. 3 weeks for the JMT to 5 months for the PCT......and this coming from a high school teacher who gets off 8 weeks in the summer.

I do not envy these hikers. In fact, some I feel sad for. One family of three from Texas hiking the PCT was looking for a new home. Dad lost his job in the oil fields, mom took time off, and their 13 year old daughter was placed on a home school program. From what it sounded like, they might be moving to Oregon once they get there. A new start. Other people we talked to had similar stories. Like the book/movie "Wild", it seems a lot of people are trying to find themselves or believe that doing this "life changing event" will be a cure all for their problems. Maybe. From what I learned out there, they are driven to get to Canada and just happen to be passing through a part of the Sierra my wife and I frequent. If anything, they might envy us who live in and around the Sierra Nevada. Something I think we sometimes take for granted.

My wife and I have summer's off and decided to do it. And we will finish it next summer when time, and lack of snow, allows.

[SSSdave]

As I got into backpacking as a twentysomething in the 70s most everybody read Colin Fletcher's "The Thousand Mile Summer" which I indeed found an enjoyable read but in a list of ways did not reflect my own interests that at the time. There were other Sierra Club books, Wilderness Press classic guidebooks, Sierra North and Sierra South that focused my attention. The latter two has a long list of overnight to 2 week or so trips with most less than a week and little mention of thru hiking. Although everyone was aware a few people hiked the whole John Muir Trial, that was not something spoken with passion by enthusiasts. The only other long trail I knew about in that era was the Appalachian Trail a world away. In those days backpacking was an exciting new thing for the young counterculture generation and small shops sprang up all across the SF Bay Area much like surf shops are along the coast.

My interest was trout fishing in a long list of mystery lakes I had surveyed on my growing pile of 15 minute topos from frequent visits to the Menlo Park USGS Map Sales room that was not far from where I lived. Note my photography interests were still a decade away. A bit of information could be gleaned from terse descriptions in the WP guidebooks or the Yosemite "fishing guide map" but there were myriad other lakes with no information one could only dream about on the map. Those of us that ventured to remote off trail lakes sometimes saw huge trout. Fishing generally was hugely better in those days with many more places with large fish. In those years numbers of remote Yosemite lakes were still being stocked occasionally and I would see those big pisces. In those early years I found that a week to 10 days would get one 3 days into the most remote places with a day or three to explore. Also after a week out most enthusiasts were ready to return to civilization. The new freeze dried meals of that era had various gastrointestinal issues haha. And gear, clothing, and boots were relatively primitive. The notion of taking such equipment on a long trail meant some serious unpleasantness to be endured.

For this person it was never an issue of not being able to slip away from my electronics career to get on a trail for a month or whatever because I began a pattern of taking off long periods between each job until my modest bank accounts shrank down. Heck in 1980/81 I backpacked all summer and then skied the winter. Into my 30s I got into much more and began reading all manner of natural science books as a focus became photography with the earliest 35mm SLR designs. So as more thru trails began to be built and proclaimed, I was already long past the point of ever having an interest in walking them.

[Wandering Daisy]

I am envious of their physical stamina. And their persistence. There are many boring miles they cover too. Not all is the High Sierra!

I think there is a misconception of the wilderness "experience" of thru-hikers. Because they cover so many miles each day, very few have done more then 4-5 day stretches before back in civilization for a shower, cooked meal and the comforts of civilization. They never really get at home in the wilderness. If you read their posts, it is mostly about town time, other hikers, not trail time or solitude.

I think Rogue's travels are more of a wilderness experience. He spends a lot of time out there, with a minimum of "town time". I am more envious of him! I worked at NOLS and spent 35 days solid at a time in the wilderness on each course. I did three courses, with one town day between courses. I got to the point where I would rather not go to town; it would totally disorient me. We got resupplied by horse packers. You get to the point where the wilderness and your tent is home. It takes about 2 weeks solid to get that feeling. I think Rogue has done enough to get that feeling. I doubt the thru-hikers have.

Hey- stay in shape and you can have all the time in the world to backpack when you retire!

[AlmostThere]

Watching one JMT/PCT thru after another hike on, hike on, into the rain, into the dark, marching, marching, marching....

I feel kinda sad for them.

When I happened to do more than exchange nods, had an actual conversation with some of them, they would ask where I was going and ALWAYS the answer was "where?" -- as if the only thing that exists is the trail they are on. I wouldn't trade my monthly/weekly smaller trips for that, not at all, ever. SO MUCH MORE than just hiking mile after mile out there.

[sheperd80]

I envy the ability to take that much time off from life to live outdoors. I like the idea of seeing such a big stretch of wilderness. Conquering such a monumental personal challenge has its appeals. Im one who sometimes enjoys the pain and exhaustion of a fast grueling hike, much the way i imagine marathon runners do.

Theres also a strange appeal to putting together this engineered gear system that has to meet some pretty serious requirements, striking that balance of weight and function. Knowing your gonna destroy several pairs of shoes, covering unimaginable miles.

BUT i dont think a PCT caliber hike would be enjoyable for me. Ive always wanted to hike the HST or the JMT and some day i might. But im more interested in high country exploration, both on and off trail. Creating my own route (with the help of those more experienced) and finding my way to remote locations. Im much more envious of the routes i see done by members here than any popular thru-hike. TRs by Rogue, Daisy and many others portray a more genuine wilderness experience to me. Wandering, exploring and of course fishing remote beautiful places, as opposed to mindlessly cranking out miles.

Edit to add that what i definitely have no admiration for is this "Supported FKT" trend where a couple guys knock out the JMT in 3 days basically sprinting day and night to pre-made camps with the help of a team all to beat some record. This is about as far from my idea of enjoying the wild as you can get.

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[RoguePhotonic]

Yeah I cannot really see myself doing one of the big thru-hikes. It is appealing in the way that it takes you through hundreds of miles of unhiked terrain for me but it's too many miles a day and a certain type of living out there that is required to get your pack weight down. Also after so much cross country I'd rather be doing that and staying off the worn path.

As for finding yourself on the trail I had already found myself long ago. I took to these long hikes as an escape from a life and people that was destroying me mentally, I had lost the only person I ever truly loved and I also had cut ties with anything left I had of substance in life. People copy Wild but I was planning to copy Christopher McCandless. Only the lure of the Sierra stopped me. But after all these years of hiking I know that whatever it is I am looking for is not out there. I feel like I need to move forward in other ways. I also feel the wear on my limbs catching up with me and the extremely tedious nature of being on horrible loose and dangerous terrain has gotten old along time ago. I often only half joke out there to others that I need to retire from this ****.

I'm doing 3 months this year but right now I only see myself doing a month next year and we'll see from there.

[Hobbes]

What's that old adage? All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy? A consistent theme among PCT hikers is the trek becomes a "job". Somewhere around Tahoe, the adventure is over and reality sets in. They aren't even halfway, yet hiking is no longer 'fun'. It's why the vast majority of those who start at the US/Mexico border don't make it to Canada.

Last year, a guy from Tahoe recounted how a buddy of his had warned him not to do the hike (his friend had bailed @ Tahoe). Sure enough, by the time he was finished with the Sierra, he only wrote about 'pounding out the miles' in order to "get it over with". Another hiker, a career FS ranger, worried that he had begun to hate hiking/camping - he quit before Lassen.

Here's an excerpt from a current blogger. Sure enough, the Tahoe demarcation is still applicable:

We arrived at the Echo Lake Chalet by 6:30. I said goodbye to my parents and 5 Star and I started for the trail. I definitely missed my parents and I was a little sad to be back on the trail. A big part of me wants to be home. I miss my dog and cat terribly. The good news is that in 60 miles I’ll be 1,500 miles from the border. 5 Star and I plan on pounding the trail from 5:30 am to 7 pm. We definitely will be putting down some serious mileage. If we average 30 miles a day going forward, which we won’t, it would only take 50 more days. If we average a more reasonable 25 miles per day we would be done in 60 days. We would be done at the end of August. That’s exciting and a huge motivation.

http://hikingwithjason.com/day-69-over-dicks-pass/

My own personal tolerance for being away from home/family solo is 5-6 days. Doesn't matter if it's business travel, a surf trip or hiking. I like to go hard & fast, then get the hell out and rush back home.

[AlmostThere]

I've learned to do things that feed my soul. It counters all the things I have to do, in day to day living. If you find that the activity ceases to feed your soul, why pay to do it?

[Mike M.]

Totally agree with the gist of most of these posts. I don't understand the attraction of thru-hiking. How fun can it be to run a marathon every day? (Then again, I feel the same way about Bob Burd's same-day in-and-out death marches to bag a peak or two -- but I really enjoy reading his reports). There is something admirable and constructive about setting an ambitious goal and completing it, but so many of the thru-hiker diaries I have seen show a constant battle against the tedious daily grind. The focus shifts to friendships made with trail buddies and to the frequent exits for re-supply and the refreshments of civilization. The hike itself becomes secondary, just a job.

My personal preference is for long, immersive hikes on routes I devise myself. It takes a few days for the crud of urban life to wear off and I don't want to bail out at trailheads every five days for resupply and another brush with crowds and modern amenities. When I was younger and more able, I could carry three weeks worth of food and really get away from it all. It made for a rich experience. Then, once you got back home, everything seemed so new and different for a while.

Mike

[Cross Country]

I always thought they were nuts but then I don't like peak bagging so what do I know.