100 Tips for 2017 Prospective AT Thru-hikers – PDF format:
Datto
Datto
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
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
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
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:
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.
Heh, just like starting an AT thru-hike.
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