I love to hike both alone or with a hiking partner, but I was wondering how two (or more) people hiking together for 1 to 6 months don’t end up killing each other!! One AT’er said “lots of space” helped to keep the peace between him and his hiking partner. Any other thoughts/ suggestions?
Long Haul Sally
I hiked a good portion back in 2001 with my best friend (best friend since we were 11). We were 23 at the time and even though we’d had some tricky times in the past hiking day in day out with someone can be tiring. We were about ready to impale each other with our hiking poles by the Smokies. Then a revelation did bestow itself upon us. Our agenda’s were obviously different although we both loved being there, and having a good friend to hang out with in camp is always a bonus. So, we decided to hike seperately during the day and meet up for lunch or just meet at the place we would stay for the night. It worked out much better that way and gave us something to share at days end.
Thats when i realised that hiking is a solo sport, as good as it is to have a good friend to enjoy it all with, it’s your legs that carry you, no one elses.
That said, we did hike together on and off and it was fine because we both realised this.
Good luck with you whoever you hike with, whether you hike with yourself or a friend.
Cheers
Cheers
Cheers just put it better than anyone else could. Remember how you use your time in real life and as you get more into the trail you’ll find that your seperation from home will creap back in and your comfort will rise. Hiking alone gives you your walking meditation and having a friend in camp that knows you is great for sharing, but all honestly, hiking is a solo sport.
Even in town when sharing a room with someone, we would plan to meet up for lunch, but I would run around town on my own.
the stronger and more settled you are in yourself the more you will want to have someone around as a buddy, not as a shadow or as a pace setter.
Lastly throw you schedules out and focus on no more than 300 miles at a time, alays take side trail and trips never do what everyone else is doing and F*ck them if they can’t take a joke!
Goof
Goof
Well, I can’t help but weigh in that that there are plenty of folks that hike with partners successfully. While many are in romantic relationships, I’ve seen some really functional pairs of friends, too. Plus, there are many partnerships or even small teams that form on trail and end up staying together for the duration. Sure, some teams fall apart, but many manage to stay friends/married/together, etc and come out stronger for the experience. There will always be occassional tense moments, but there would be anyway, even if you weren’t on trail.
Besides the gear-sharing advantages, there are many intangible benefits to sharing such a life-changing event with another person. That partner, of all the people you know before your hike, will be the only one who knows exactly what you went through, and can relate to how it has changed you. Family and non-hikers want to understand, or pretend to, but they usually just don’t get it. Your partner will.
There is also the reality that two heads really are better than one. Sometimes you just need another person to tell you when you’re not thinking clearly, and are about to make a bad decision. This can be especially important when conditions get dicey, or when hypothermia or heat stress enter the picture. On less developed trails, it can make route-finding easier, and stream-crossings safer.
Hiking with a partner means making compromises sometimes. You need patience and compassion if one of you is injured and the other is healthy, or if one of you is just having a tough day. Sometimes you need enough mental strength to carry the both of you along for a while. You need to find a pace that works for you both, and you need to learn to work together. And the single most important skill - you need to be able to laugh. A lot. You’ll want to anyway, so that’s the easy part.
I truly enjoy having my partner there to share the views, the joys, the pain. Two trails and counting, always walking together (!), and Jeff and I haven’t managed to kill each other yet! I won’t say the odd thought of the ol’ hiking pole to the head never crossed our minds, but we’re both still eager to hike together again, if that says anything.
Don’t categorically rule out hiking with a partner. It’s not for everyone, but when it works, it can add to your experience tremendously.
Chipper
some of my best days we spent hiking with a crowd and some days it was pure hell. I had a guy hike on my heals and in fact he stepped on my heals at least 2 times, and he would not leave. I enjoyed him at campsites and towns but sheesh, don’t walk so close that you step on me.
Castro, sweet cheeks, willow and MC and I hiked a bit together and then we would pass or stop while the others did their own thing too. I remember one day while completely alone, i stopped in the middle of no where, and was amazed and in a daze looking at a lady slipper lily… but it was growing on moss which was growing on a rock dead left of the trail. i just was bewildered how that happened when everyone obviously walks all over it i would imagine. I must have stood there for some time checking it out.
i suddenly had this weird idea i was being watched…castro was like 100 paces ahead in a unseen shelter and was looking at me like, what is wrong with that guy…is he looking for blazes and feeling lost…it’s funny how you can not get away from people on the trail, and when you think yer alone, someone is just paces ahead taking a nap right on trail or reading a book. In the middle of nowhere is oh so relative too.
Burn
Chipper has it just right. Next to lack of cash, the thing that makes attempting thru-hikers quit more than anything is missing the person they are in relationship with if that person ain’t on the hike. Of course there are strains either way; hiking together or being apart, life, like the Trail, has its’ ups and downs. Those of us who have the good fortunes of enuff money, good health, strength and determination to hike months and long distance together, should only be humble and thankful for such blessings. My wife and partner of 22 years and i thru-hiked the AT together in ‘05, 183 days, hippies in our fifties. We bickered and pissed and moaned, same as we do at home, but we are way stronger and accomplished together from the sharing of the long distance goal-oriented journey.We went to Trail Daze in Damascus this year ,06, and had opportunity to assist Bob Peoples’ Hardcore project and spent four nights in our tent on our beloved AT.Last day,(helping build the new shelter, we slept on the site on the Trail,) my Woodrose said to me, “Y’know, I haven’t had a shower in five days, and I’m not that dirty.” If you have a partner like that, how could you leave her home ? We are going to attempt a thru-hike together nobo on the PCT in '07. Peace is the only way. Muleskinner, Woodrose and Bella, AT Ga-Me '05. If you have a dog like Bella, you better not leave her/him home either. Thanks, Chipper, hope to meet you and Jeff together, hiking partners, out on some trail someday.
Muleskinner
Muleskinner, you’re going to find out something pretty terrific when you and Woodrose head out to do the next trail - you’ve got the thruhiker team thing already figured out!
Jeff and I took some time to get the bugs ironed out on the AT, but we felt like we were back in familiar territory when we headed out to the PCT. Sure, new place, totally new conditions, but still the same pair, doing the same things that we enjoy. It was great.
Chipper
Well Gypsylulu and I still are great friends as well as sis’s… but really… we’ve changed a few things around since springer as far as being trail partners…
the touk