I have enjoyed hiking and backpacking for many years and have only been out on weekend or 2-3 day outings. I have always dreamt about a thru hike on either the PCT or the AT. I would like to hear from others that have completed thru hikes on how they found time away from work or family. I realize some were between jobs, school or were retired. Any ideas or personal experiences would be appreciated… Thanks
Xman
step 1: quit job.
step 2: tell family to chill for 5 months.
step 3: get to at or pct terminus.
step 4: take a step.
step 5: repeat step 4 approx. 5,000,000 times.
enjoy:boy
the goat
Unless you are incarcerated or disabled, thru-hiking happens when its your highest priority. 
freebird
:lol @ goat… Wished it was that simple for me, I would already have done one. It is a little harder for someone with a fulltime job, wife and 2 kids to simply quit the job. I have thought of the leave of absence and that would be a possiblity. My immediate plans are to do a shorter thru hike like the OHT or the OT over in Arkansas. I may be one of the ones in the future who makes my thru hike once retired. Thanks for the comments goat and freebird… :cheers
Xman
I like a lot what freebird said. You have to make a conscious decision to make it your number #1 priority. There is always going to be something, even if you are a student or between jobs, there will always be some other aspect of your life that will seem like a good reason not to go. Afterall you are totally committing yourself for 5 months. But if you just take the plunge and say that you are going to do it regardless of the inconviences the rewards for that sacrifice will be beyond your wildest dreams. Good luck taking that plunge!
The Northerner
I couldn’t agree more w/Freebird. If finances are an issue, then draw up a budget/savings plan that will allow you to not only have $ fo gear/hike, but also cover all of your financial responsibilities like usual, while you’re gone (+ a couple months bill $ after you get back so you can absorb your experience and look for a job). Figure out how much you need to save each month and open a savings account specifically for your hike.
That’s what I’m doing. I’m having to save about $10,000 (gear, hiking for 6 months, 7 months bills while I’m gone). I know it sounds like a ton, but I’m working 2 jobs to make it happen in 1 year. Whereas I don’t have children, I do have a partner and life responsibilities, but I have included her in all of my discussions/decisions and made sure she’s comfortable w/taking care of the homestead while I’m out hiking. She knows I’d be miserable if I couldn’t do this. I’m also taking as many steps to get things set-up or auto bill pay, so my partner doesn’t have to suddenly take care of paying my bills.
It’s only 6 months…I know, sounds like a lifetime, but in the grander scale of things, it’s not. The experience will be invaluable…I say, find a way to make this happen for yourself. It’s not selfish, we all deserve some “me” time from time to time in life. Like I always say, the most important things in life are not things…they are experiences and relationships. Go have an experience.
By the way, I’m not really in a transitional time of life, other than not being 100% sure what career path to take, so I decided to make my hike my focus and got a 1-year temp job that pays enough for me to save the $. Work will be there when I get back next year.
Michele
Michele and Northerner,
Thanks for the words of incourgement. There is no issue with equipment, I have plenty. I would have to better prepair myself financially for my family while I was gone. I guess I am looking for a prespective from someone who had the courage to put a family on the back burner and leave a job just to do a thru hike. I know everyone of us has family, but a wife and kids at home is a gigantic reason for not being able to do a thru hike. I agree with other comments about making it a priority but I wonder if those others were more free to do the thru hike? I do also appreciate everyone’s comments, its good to hear them.
I have had a couple of oppertunities in the past and didn’t take advantage of them though. Now I am finding myself pondering the thought more and more. Thanks again to everyone for commenting on this… :cheers
Xman
For some, putting a “family on the back burner” isn’t courageous, it is selfish and irresponsible. This must be an entirely personal and carefully thought out decision. There are multiple journals which chronicle hikers leaving he trail to deal with family issues. There are others in which the stay-at-home family is a source of support and encouragement. For me, once the children and mortgage were underway, a six month thru-hike was put on the back burner. This year I will content myself with a three week thru-hike of the SHT.
BenEClone
I hiked with several people with family and kids at home. One had them meet him along the trail evey few weeks for some family time. Another left the trail because he couldn’t stand to be away so long. There have also been families who have hiked together and found it a great time to bond. My suggestion, get your family to Traildays, the Gathering a Ruck if possible. Get them into the hiking community, introduce them to people planning to hike when you do. Get them involved in your planning. Some families with small children use pins on a big AT map to track where mommy or daddy are. The more supportive and involved they are the easier your time away will be. If your spouse can understand your dream you will be much happier. If your partner complains the whole time you are hiking most likely you will be miserable.
Good luck!
Grassy Ridge
Usually people who do a major thru-hike are at a change in life. Either just gone into retirement, mid life crisis, lost job, or just graduated and don’t know what to do next.
How to get the time away from family and other obligations? That’s a tough one. For me, the answer was to split the AT into 2 sections, and do it in 2 years rather than one. Often it’s easier to get away for a month or two than it is to get away for 6 months.
Peaks
Xman -
I have run into a number of families that thru-hiked together over the years. In '04 on the AT i hiked with the ‘Garland 5’ for a few weeks (3 kids, the youngest “Zing,” around 10yrs old). Last year on the PCT, i hiked for a while with a mom & her two kids - a 13yr old boy & 11 yr old girl. Families tend to have wonderful bonding experiences on the trail. There have been a few families that have even hiked with babies!!! (“Family from the North” - AT '00 &'01) But, that is extremely difficult, and some people would say its dangerous. All of these children were ‘home schooled’ while on the trail. I’m absolutely certain that these children have learned more on the Trail than they would have ever learned in school during their hikes
I don’t know anything about your family, but have you thought about hiking with them? Maybe you could get a leave of absence or something from your job.
Quite a few thru-hikers that i have met were told that they were welcome to return to their job after their hikes.
I personally had an interesting experience when i first decided to thru-hike. I was a pro windsurfer at the time & I was very worried about my biggest sponsor who had provided a decent salary for a number of years. I put off telling this particular sponsor about my plans to hike the AT ('96) until the last minute. About two weeks before i left, the owner of the company called me into his office & told me some “bad” news - he would only be able to pay me 50% of my salary for 1996 because of some financial difficulties that the company was having. He thought that i would be upset & maybe even drop his company as a sponsor, but instead I was ecstatic & told him that i needed 6 months “off” to hike the AT. He said “Great! i’ll see you in October!”
I have never met a thru-hiker that did not say it was a turning point of sorts in his/her life. Most would say its the single most important thing that they have ever done. So the question “how can I afford to do it?” might rather be “how can i afford NOT to thru-hike?”
Good luck & Happy Trails!
freebird
Being a teacher, I asked for a Leave of Absence from my principal. Being a cool principal, she said yes and had the board approve it. The school got a substitute teacher for the remaining part of the year and the beginning of the next school year.
On the home front, I began working on my husband a year before my hike. I started with ‘I wish I could hike the AT’ and gradually went to ‘When I hike the AT’.
Slow Barbara
Just wanted to say thanks for all the great replies. It is awesome to hear from people who have completed a thru-hike. My day will come Lord willing it may just not be as soon as I would like. My wife has been on a couple of overnight trips and she enjoyed it and she has even shown interest in a longer maybe even thru-hike. If she did go it would at least be when the kids where older and on there own. That is awesome that there have been families hike long distances together. In the mean time I will keep dreaming about a thru-hike. I never really leaves my thoughts though, some times it’s stronger than others. Thanks again to everyone’s posts. :cheers
Xman
I took six months out with my daughter (“Thistle”) in 2003 to thru-hike the AT. I had worked for thirty years with my employer here in the UK and they were very decent about giving me a leave of absence to coincide with Thistle taking a gap year before university.
Everyone at my place of work got right behind me and I had an obligation to keep them posted all the way along about my experiences and what I was seeing. At towns and POs all the way up the AT I sent hand written journal notes home to my wife here in Edinburgh and she put my trials and tribulations on to trailjournals.com. That process was also an excellent way of keeping in touch with my wife emotionally even though we didn’t get the chance to speak to each other very often. When I came home she didn’t feel we had been apart for 6 months, though I had considerable difficulty with the idea of not sleeping in my tent 5-6 nights a week!
I was lucky in all sorts of ways, one of the biggest was knowing that I had a job to return to. Both my daughters were in full-time education at that time, and I don’t think I could have tackled it without a guaranteed income lined up on my return.
For other people, especially young people, the critical issue is much more likely to be money than time, I’d say. People who haven’t considered this kind of thing before assume that it costs little to live in the hills for a few months. Nothing like as cheap as people might suppose. A great many hikers are knocked off the Trail I suspect not because of desire/commitment etc but because the funds give out.
Without question the AT gave me one of the richest experiences I’ve had in my life. I am basically an old git, and (I realise now) had become quite cynical about the world. A few months in the company of hikers and passing through the communities of Appalachia absolutely redeemed my faith in human nature. Different people get different things from the experience. The hills and the forests (and the occasional bear and rattler) were amazing, but ultimately for me the experience was about people. I found it very humbling.
Just for the record I should say that we made it to Massachussetts - our visas expired and we had to return home. Thistle and I will be back on the AT this summer to finish the job.
I think I’ve rambled enough here. I do hope you find a way to make the hike, it’s a dream well worth holding on to.
Carnethy Bob