"Luxury" thru-hiking

imported
#1

I’d like to know what folks think of this: A company called Foot Travel (in N.C.) has started offering “supported” thru-hikes of the A.T. for about $10,000. Their website is at bighike.com, so you can read for yourself what they’re about. It sort of sounds like slackpacking, but for the entire trail. I don’t like the idea on the whole, but I was happy to read on their site that they avoid camping at shelter sites (at least that way, other thru-hikers don’t have to compete with them AND the Boy Scouts). They also pledge to support the ATC and trail maintenance groups with a portion of the money they make. They’re supposed to start offering trips next spring, according to Outside magazine, which recently published a brief about this.

John Galt

#2

I read something similar to this last year, maybe a different company. It was when I first started researching my now plan to thru-hike next year.

At first I was like, “hmmm…that sounds kind of cool, not having to carry 80lbs on your back, etc.” haa haa…I was still not yet informed about gear and was thinking about my days humping my pack in the military!

I suppose if someone has physical limitations and the money, and this is the only way they’d be able to experience the AT for a thru, then I’m in support of it, and I especially hope any company that does this donates a large percentage of their profits to trail maintenance clubs, etc., seeing they wouldn’t have a “product” to sell w/out them.

This concept is not for me, however. I want to carry and use my 2.2 oz alcohol stove that I made yesterday! :girl

Michele

#3

Ill agree with Michele that this sounds ok for disabled folks But… other then that its a joke. Anyone else willing to spend that much money to “slack pack” the entire trail will never make it. Real Thrus will shun them if not ridicule them, they will have few friends, and at the 1st sign of snow or bad weather they will will bail. I wouldnt invest a dime into this.

Norm

#4

Do they do the actual hiking for you?:oh.For that money I could probable climb Mount Everest

Old&in the Way

#5

To each their own. Why is everyone so upset by this concept? Yes, I agree it’s not the route I’d take for my thru-hike. But that’s just me. If someone wants to shell out 10 grand for a thru-hike, so be it. It seems people these days just look for a reason to moan & groan about the most trivial topics.

Phreak

#6

I think it would diminish the whole concept of thru hiking if you had a bunch of yuppies bragging about how they “thru hiked” the trail. I wouldn’t neccessarily shun these folks but I sure would give them a hard time about it. Imagine getting into a trail town on a rainy day only to find all of the hostels filled with these folks! I don’t think it would happen but I suppose it doesnt surprise me that another hard earned experience is being commodified and sold to the masses. I’ve seen this type of thing all over the world. It used to be a sign of pluck and grittiness when you’d travel to certain parts of the world but now they have four star resorts and “guides” who will carry all your **** up places like Mt. Kilamajnero.

They also have trips like these along the Milford and Routebourn tracks in New Zealand. BLAH

:x

stryper

#7

Im surpised that the concept of guided/assisted/supported walking along sections of the AT isn’t more widespread actually. I have used similar services in the past in New Zealand and Australia. Sure it isnt a man vs the wilderness type experience but it does have advantages:

1.Using an alpine guide has enabled me to access areas of NZ that as a non mountaineer I wouldnt even think of trying to walk into solo without rope and iceax skills and allowed me to hike the overland tack in Tasmania carrying a 2 year old in my bacpack

2.A good guide who is well versed in the local flora and fauna and such things is really valuable to the non local naturalist

  1. Having someone to carry/ slackpack all your gear allows you to carry serious photography gear, sketchpads, easel and paint or whatever takes your fancy

  2. Knowing that all you have to do is walk 10-15 miles a day and arrive at point X at time Y in order to get a bus to the 5 star hotel where a shower/meal awaits gets kind of attactive after age 40 or so.

  3. would i use such a service to walk all the AT?-no way but for sections sure, even if just to get some variety

koalabear

#8

i’ve spent more than 10k and still haven’t gotten outta VA… i thought a juxury hike was doing whatcha wanted to when ya wanted to and not worrying what everyone else thought was supposed to be “Thruhiking”

most folks spend way more than they think they should on their hike…most accept luxuries along the way…and seems like most enjoy bitching and moaning about how the other guys miles don’t count cause (insert whatever reason you think should be in there)

also seems like many would like to make a buck off of the uneducated for something you can do for free and for fun

Burn

#9

I don’t see anything at all wrong with a “supported” hike. They will still do the miles, which is further that most Americans will ever walk.

But, they will certainly have a different experience than those of us who carried our packs all the way, and shared shelters and campsites with other like minded individuals.

Historically, almost everyone has some support at some time while thru-hiking. It’s just that a fully supported thru-hike carries it to the maximum.

Peaks

#10

honestly I don’t care who you pay to hike or how you do it. I don’t see many people with $10,000 sitting around choosing to spend it to walk 2000 miles. They might do a section here or there, but a through hike. no matter who you pay to carry your stuff or where you spend the night, you still have to walk a long way every day. I have a n older aquaintance who has spent 20 years section hiking pieces of the trail, he even charter a plane to land him on a lake up north to access part of the trail for a section. if that’s how the hike appeals to him so be it. For me I prefer to hump my own gear and sleep in mice infested shelters without a shower for three or four days, but then I don’t have money to burn either. One of the greatest things about the trail is that it is the great equalizer. No matter who you are, where you come from, or how you choose to hke, everybody on that trail has to walk the miles. You wanna pay me ten grand to carry your stuff for six months, so be it. HYOH :cheers

Grassy Ridge

#11

When I told a good friend I was going to thru-hike the AT, she said, “You’re kidding, why would you want to do that to your body?”

My point being, we are all taught from day one that there are only 2 choices, right/wrong, black/white/, good/bad, heaven/hell, etc. In reality, the only limits to our choices are the ones we create or “buy into” in our own heads.

If someone chooses to thru-hike the AT fully supported, and this is what they choose to define as their “fun” and “meaningful experience,” then I think they should be able to. Respect-Respect-Respect coming and going from all directions is a must though.

I do find it interesting that as long as someone is trying to beat some time record, it is ok to have a fully supported hike in most people’s eyes. Life isn’t about competition, although, our culture would have us think differently.

This hiking fully-supported concept is like everything else in life, I hate brussel sprouts, my partner loves them, I’ll choose not to eat them, but she can have as much as she wants. When it’s all said and done, we’re both full w/whatever we chose to define as good food. No different here.

Michele

#12

No.1 Rule: Hike your own hike. At least that’s what like a zillion websites said when I started researching for my hike! Right? :girl

Emily

#13

who cares if someone wants to walk the AT with someone handing them fruit and sandwiches at every road crossing? or if they wanna shell out big $$$ to have their tent set up for them every night? i don’t think i’d like it at all, but if others think it’s the only way they can do it, more power to 'em.

Also, this is nothing new, warren doyle has been leading paid supported hikes for years now. i think he charges 10 grand as well.

the goat

#14

than Warren Doyle’s hikes? I had a friend on the doyle hike that seemed to enjoy it… he has hiked the AT in various forms about five times… whatever. does anyone really care? The fact of the matter is that the trail is way more used than it used to be. Every year it seems there are more and more supports being built into the system. I hiked in 2000 and then good portions again in 2001 and 2004. Each year there were more and more hostels, slackpacks, etc etc. Soon come we will walk from hostel to hostel… But then, the AT, at least in recent history has become a fantastic communal experience with both nature and our brothers and sisters who walk with us… especially northbound… if you want solitude there are many ways to get that…

goat: just looked up and saw your post… warren’s hikes are cheaper than that… I personally am indifferent to the whole group hike or solitude thing… just go walk and smell the beautiful forest and gaze in wonder on clouds shooting past your ankles… gazing up on cliffside stealth spots watching meteors and the vast blackness of space and bathe in the beauty of a simplified life… man has travelled so far in the name of “progress”… enjoy the natural mystic…

aswah

#15

Brother Aswah,
Your words are wise. You got it.

Lorax GA>ME 04
No turn left unstoned

Lorax

#16

Brother Aswah,
Your words are wise. You got it.

Lorax GA>ME 04
No turn left unstoned

Lorax

#17

A 96 through-hiker named Junker ran a similar service in 99. He had almost entirely upper middle-age or retired groups. None of the folks made it past central Virginia, but Junker had business all the way to Maine, with new hikers paying in to slack them for large sections of the trail. He estimated for the original group it would have cost them $6-7K if they had gone all the way to Maine. There was never any friction. Most of the folks with Junker car camped and rarely stayed in hostels in town in order to save money.

Bearpaw

#18

Alright, so there’s no appendix on this trailjournal thingamajig to define these elusive hiker terms for me. Thus I must ask here…what exactly is “slackpacking”?

Mad Max

#19

The Appalachian Trail Circle Expeditions (1975; 1977; 1980; 1990; 1995; 2000; 2005; 2010) were/are ‘labors of love’. They are grass-roots, non-profit, non-commercial, non-institutionalized endeavors without parallel in these regards and also in participant completion rates. No one gets paid. Our wonderful support van driver in 2005 got a meal stipend of $3 a day because that is what the support van driver of the 1975 Expedition got. So ‘personnel expenses’ for the entire 127-day journey is $371. Our main shared expenses are the insurance, registration, taxes, gas, oil, and repairs for the support van. Throw in a few campground fees and money for stove gas and garbage bag liners to complete the expedition costs to the participants.
There are no liability papers to sign either.
The Appalachian Trail Expeditions are in a class by themselves and will always be.

Warren Doyle

#20

Where’s Baltimore Jack when you need him!

Papa Smurf