Prehike nerves

imported
#1

So, I’ve been excited ever since a buddy of mine and I decided to hike the trail in March of '04. I guess the reality is starting to hit me now and the excitement, although there at times, is occasionally replaced with nervousness. Anyone else feel this way?
In addition…i just found out that my partner will no longer be hiking the trail with me. So, i’ll be heading up the approach trail on Feb 29 to hike my first white blaze on March 1st all by myself. Should this even be a concern?

C-Giddy

#2

I know the feeling. My bud and I are due to start in a little over 2 months now (feb 1). It seems like i have SO much to get inline in SO little time. But I imagine most will take care of itself. Now that the weather has gone to pot here in Michigan, i am even more excited. It’s going to be great.

My only advice is to relax, i find that to usually be the best advice for everyone in every situation. Except maybe if you are getting eaten by a bear…
see you out there
ben:cheers

Benny the Bull

#3

Don’t worry about the nerves. Truth is alot of pairs tend to split after a while anyway; so maybe it saved some trouble on the trail deciding who got the stove till the next town. seriously though. nerves are a good thing; it keeps u from forgetting toilet paper the first night out (you do have toilet paper right?) j/k Just keep making the lists; checking them twice; and its gonna be even better than you can even imagine. And you have a better chance of being eaten by lost thru hikers than a bear. Since usually u can appease lost thru-hikers with a lipton ; you should be OK.

Big Boy

#4

C, yer gonna have company along the way. I will be doing the same exact senerio that you are doing. I have hiked GA alone already, and there are plenty of people you will run into. In march I know of at least 8 people starting the 1st. We should have plenty of company. Oh remember, after climbing the approach trail, you have at least 2 days before you will see anything that tough. By Tray Mountain you’ll be king of the mountian! Not sure how you are getting to Amicalola, but if yer flying in, I would be more than happy to pick ya up at the airport, I am going there myself and can also share some denatured alcohol, since i doubt they let flamables fly.

Burn

#5

“The first step is always the hardest.”

Right now, get out there everyday and walk, walk, walk or hike, hike, hike where you live right now even if you have to do it in snow and ice.

Hiking the trail is one of the toughest most physically demanding things a person can do because it is day in and day out for about six months or so. It’s really tough. So use the next few months to get yourself in the best physical shape possible (running, walking, hiking, going to the gym, etc.). And if you do that and do it right, then you might be one of those who makes it out of Georgia and maybe if you’re really in good shape and do everything else right, then you might complete the AT.

Your partner dropping out may be a blessing. It is most difficult to find a good hiking partner. The best thing is to find one on the trail, you are confortable with and you will find many of them. Just let it happen. And plan, but most importantly exercise, exercise, exercise.

Good luck. See you out there. :cheers

Maintain

#6

The A.T was something I was supposed to be doing with my hiking buddy. He’s injured himself quite badly since we decided to go to the U.S. It looks like I’m now coming alone. I know what you mean about the nerves, I feel it to sometimes. Don’t worry though, if you need company there will be plenty of it in march. Stay focused about why you’re doing this, that should help a little bit.

Ross

Ross

#7

Wow, that’s a really nice offer, Burn. Thank you for your kindness. i acutally have a couple friends in Atlanta who I am very excited to see before taking off. And one of them was very excited about seeing me off at the Approach Trail. But if anything changes, i’ll be sure to post. Thanks again though. That’s really awesome of you. See you in March.

C-Giddy

#8

I completely understand how you feel. I am leaving in February and have been planning now for nearly 1.5 years. It is amazing knowing how close the trip is. For me the greatest source of stress has not come from the details that remain in planning, but rather an injury to my achilles tendon from a trip I took a month ago. Although I have two months for it to heal (hopefully) it is the kind of injury that could ruin my trip. I will be seeing a podatrist shortly, but am keeping my fingers crossed that things work out according to my schedule.

Andy Brown

#9

I wish I was feeling the “nerveousness of the nearness” like you all are–instead I have to deal with the focusing on normalness of life until 2005. You are blessed to be leaving in a few months. Hang in there, I think the kindness that Burn extends is just a taste of what you’ll see on the trail!

Kyle

kyle & lisa

#10

I will be out there the first week of March as well. I also share in your alternating feelings of excitment and nervousness. Even though many of us will be starting out solo, we are all in it together.

I look forward to meeting all my fellow '04 Northbounders soon.

Scott

#11

I thru-hiked this year and I was incredibly anxious before I left to the point where I was experiencing physical symptoms. I wasn’t so much nervous about hiking the trail as I was walking away from the comfortable corporate rut I had been in for 18 years. Once you get out on the trail for a few days, the simplicity of trail life will take over and hiking the trail will eventually become a lifestyle rather than a walk with an end-point.

P.S. why the heck is everyone starting so early? yes you avoid some of the crowds, but prepare to freeze (we had a major snowstorm in the Smokies in the middle of April this year) and not see spring (e.g the beautiful wildflowers and leaves coming in on the trees) until somewhere up in Virginia.

Sticks

#12

oh and i am not a nice guy…people just don’t know me yet.

i will give you my oatmeal and ramens if you’re low, cause i don’t have to carry it any more.snacks are on me!!!..does that make me nice or just looking at the alterior motives…and a ride from a place yer near takes 5 mins outta the way, and you get to hear someone elses views and expectations of the trail for 2 hrs to the falls…i wouldn’t miss that ride for the world!

burn

#13

…so i guess i should have known. Actually, the “C” doesn’t stand for cynic, but your motives do make alot of sense. Either way, thanks again. I still think it was a ((dun dun DUN!!)) “nice” offer. :eek:

See you in March. My God…only 98 days to go. :x

C-Giddy

#14

Prehike nerves and are very common. I pretty much stopped sleeping 2 days before I started hiking this year and actually didn’t start sleeping regularly until several weeks into my hike. I think I slept a total of 8 hours my first 4 nights on the trail. I am not nervous by nature but I was sooo excited to be a thru-hiker I couldn’t stop thinking about it even after I had started. I got my trail name “Sleepwalker” because on my 2nd night after starting from Springer, I didn’t sleep at all and finally at 2 am I said, “screw it, I’m heading out.” I was pretty much a zombie coming into Neels Gap.

Sleepwalker

#15

Dont worry. Plain the best you can and then just go!!! Stay focused and keep heading North. As the months role by, just keep heading North!! And as those months pass,just keep heading North!!! You will never regret it.
White blaze/Pack on Back

Virginian

#16

All of these fears are completely normal. I can remember so well being very nervous in january and feb of last yr. I’d be totally excited to go and hike and then the next day this feeling of uncertainty and fear would come over me. Did I realize just leave school to hike the Trail?? I think it seems a bit risky when you’re waiting for your start date, but I can asure you that as soon as you hit springer, or make your first friend or get to a shelter at dark, that things will all make sense and you’ll get this great feeling that you made the right choice.

A-Train

#17

Thanks for the posts. I figured I probably wasn’t alone with these feelings of uncertainty. I guess I just need to be sure. Guess i should get my Christmas list together. (Asking Santa for lots of trail equipment). Oh, I’ll be there on March 1st…and I can’t wait.

C-Giddy

#18

I still get prehike jitters after 10,000 AT miles. I once forgot my shoes! Can you believe that? i forgot my friggen shoes! To somehow use the words ALONE and MARCH in the same sentence when talking of AT Thru hikeing is wow! If your coming off springer in march youd be lucky to take a whiz without someone spotting you. I once finished a sobo on march 4 on springer. Must have seen 300 thru hikers in 2.5
days that last 30 or so miles.
The jitters go away pronto once your hike begins and your sitting at some GA shelter with the picnic table half on fire cause your still figuring out your stove, and you feel like a wet piece of bread since its been raining all day and youve carried a pack up some mtn that has no name… The
jitters pretty much vanish at that point. Ahh I love long distance.

Heald

#19

Hey Heald, don’t forget the countless boyscout troups i saw. one boy looked like he was carrying a refridgerator in his pack, and he wasn’t small compared to the other 10 yr olds. It was the sweetest site of my shakedown hikes. well next to the southern stripped skunk.

burn

#20

Burn is a crazy man … watch out for him and his chain smoking … Glad to hear you are going to hike burn … and ps Tray Mt was a joke! (just kidding)
Seriously though, nerves are part of the journey and very normal, and as far as hiking alone goes … it is the only way to thru hike … i started with 4 other guys, all quit … but not me!!!

Waldo