100 Tips For 2017 Prospective AT Thru-Hikers

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#1

100 Tips for 2017 Prospective AT Thru-hikers – PDF format:

Datto

Datto

#2

Datto, thank you so much for posting this. There are some great tips here and at times your writing is laugh-out-loud funny. Every potential thru-hiker should read this. Thanks for sharing!

OnthegO

#3

Thanks for the kind words.

As a matter of fact, I didn’t even mention the AT hooker – I do have a sense of decorum and taste. I was so naive and she was so friendly I couldn’t figure it out right away:

Datto

Datto

#4

Datto, please check your email.

OnthegO

#5

Hey OnthegO – got it, responded.

Datto

Datto

#6

Thanks! I enjoyed reading your post. I am not sure that avoiding having available a GPS on your phone is a good idea (but I have not yet thru hiked). I am planning on carrying a 5 oz EPIRB as well. But I am going SOBO 3/1/17 from HF WVA. While others are flip flopping from HF, I have not found any that are SOBO from there. So, if the white of the snow and the white of the blaze get too confusing early SOBO solo, I will have both along at least for a couple of weeks.8)

Lawnchair

#7

If I was going to become an instructor for those who are prospective AT thru-hikers, one of the assignments I would give to my students is to watch a complete season of the television show Alone (10-12 episodes or so per season). I think it’s on the History channel if you’re watching TV on Channels versus downloading.

In the most recent season of shows, ten Americans (from the thousands who applied) are dumped out into a mountainous area of Patagonia alongside a large lake, spread about 5-7 miles apart (for those geographically challenged, Patagonia is in South America).

The contestants don’t see each other once they’re dropped off on the bank of the lake. The premise of the show is the last person still there Alone wins $500,000. Of course, that is the big motivator in the beginning. All the contestants are hepped up to win $500,000. Wouldn’t you?

What the contestants find is they’re regularly cold, it rains frequently and for the show, only when they give up or undergo an irregularly scheduled medical exam do they see many other people. Each contestant has a few GoPro-type cameras the contestants use to tell the story of their life while living Alone in Patagonia. Each hour-long TV episode then shows to the viewing public some of the self-shot footage from a few of the contestants to create the TV story of the contestants.

Sure there are dissimilarities to an AT thru-hike but the really important parts that are similar are these:

  1. Each contestant rather quickly figures out – within days – it’s not the gear or their backwoods skills that becomes important. it’s how they deal with their mind. Each contestant can back out of the experience anytime they want just by making a phone call and declaring themselves tapped-out and a boat full of camera people show up, take them back to civilization and fly them back home to the USA. Backing out becomes so very tempting to a few of the contestants right out of the gate. They miss their family, it’s raining all the time and they’re cold much of the time. Some remember what it was like sleeping in a warm bed with their spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend or sending their kid off to school in the morning.

That makes some of the contestants ask themselves, “What am I doing out here?” and a few realize, “I cannot do this.”

Heh, just like starting an AT thru-hike.

  1. Each of the contestants figures out they have to, as a priority, learn to enjoy the experience. For those who realize early on they don’t like the experience, they quickly go home.

Heh, just like starting an AT thru-hike.

  1. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone interested in watching the show but the few people remaining in the end – they’re driven. Sure, it’s the $500,000 still as a motivation but along with that, they are driven to finish. Driven.

Heh, just like those who end up carrying their full backpack in a continuous journey past every blaze on the Appalachian Trail.

If you’re fortunate enough to have access to the show on your TV set or have access to the usual places for viewing on-line/downloading, check out the show. I think you’ll enjoy the adventures of the contestants. It is so interesting to see how the contestants change over time.

Heh, just like an AT thru-hike.

Datto

Datto