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Show HN: How to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail at any fitness level

by Jimmc414·6y ago·5 comments·view on hn ↗

It isn't an accomplishment, it is an honor. It is an amazing wonder we are incredibly lucky to experience. Before you say you can't,I've seen the legally blind, amputees, octagenarians all finish. Athletic types counterintuitively have a lower completion percentage than the introverted individuals not in particularly good shape. couch potatoes, smokers even. Because unlike a race, you come back to it every day so you have to leave some in the tank, never red-line yourself. Just walk, and eat and rest when your body wants to. It's learning not to push yourself, but hold yourself back

What worked for me was to forget about miles hiked in the beginning and just focus on time hiked. Hike 8 hours a day at whatever pace is comfortable. Take breaks when you need them, eat when hungry, take a zero days, sleep as late as your body seems to need. Don’t pick up the pace until comfortable hiking 8 hours. When you struggle, slow down and breathe

pretrain by getting your ankles,knees strong and lung function through deep breathing exercises. Don’t think about cardio or miles until you start.

The trail is tough in Georgia & Maine and the hiking is slow, so if you are focused on miles in the beginning, it will get into your head. For most this puts you at 12-15 miles a day 3–4 weeks in and minimizes risk of injury. Focusing on miles pulls more off of the trail than anything else. You will get into shape without trying. Cost was $3K for gear and food and lodging 6 months I had $1200 left after gear tent,cookware, stove, h20 purification, high end backback, good sleeping bag, good boots, good socks & liners)

5 comments

Women often do better late in the trail over men because they are much more efficient at metabolising fats and at the end they look great and the guys usually look like concentration camp survivors. So, if you are the latter you must force the protein and calories at times to keep from hitting a wall nutritionally. Oddly, you'll find that you can live on the densest of foods like sausages and little debbies and "cameling up" on periodic breakfast buffets and sweet trail town cuisine whenever you can and is essential for many to maintain weight. For many it will be one of the only times in their lives they will experience the feelings of fat deficiency. Get the tuna in oil over water and use all of it with your dehydrated ramen.

If you have the opportunity to thru-hike, do it or accept that you are going to take a different path. That window doesn’t stay open long for most people so don't assume you have plenty of time later in life. Doing it changed everything for me.

Good luck! Please ask me any questions.

> Cost was $3K for gear and food and lodging 6 months I had $1200 left after gear tent,cookware, stove, h20 purification, high end backback, good sleeping bag, good boots, good socks & liners)

Isn't this excluding the opportunity cost of a 6-month vacation? Most people can't afford even a 1-month vacation...

For someone who gets health insurance through work, you're also adding another ~$3k (or they're uninsured, which would be insane when walking the AT).

So I'd figure the minimum cost at more like $40k (for someone who makes $80k/yr) + $3k insurance + gear/lodging/etc., and that's assuming they have a job right when they get back.

But you make a good point that it is harder and harder to make it happen the more encumbered your life becomes. I'd suggest it as a sabbatical between high school and college. Maybe on a break? Once the career and family starts it gets hard to break away.

Yes, it is excluding the mentioned opportunity cost because that cost is different for everyone. For me, and I am sure others the opportunity cost of not going could not have been higher. I quit my job, sold my car, ended my lease, dropped my insurance so it made those calculations a little simpler. I needed to "find myself" I guess. I'm also not factoring in the revenue gains I have received from just going through the experience. It taught me to embrace the impossible which has changed me enough to allow me to grow from an employee to an owner at the same company in a situation I never would have persisted had I not had that experience.

(Hardest things? Bugs (mosquitos in south and blackflies in north and the ignorant little gnats that have no goal apparently than to try to bask in your breath and land on your eyeballs) and suffering through poor choices trying to time cold weather and cold weather gear)