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What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

outsideonline.com

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Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#121

Post by reneherse »

chrismartin wrote: post #24
justinator wrote: post #2

I've done quite a few very strenuous, multi-week races on bike, including riding the Colorado Trail in 7 days [0], and riding to, then summiting all the Colorado 14ers in 34 [1] - as well as participating in the Tour Divide [2] twice. I would call my fitness before these races as "peak", but I wouldn't call myself anything but near, "onset of over training syndrome" afterwards. The only thing I experienced similar to…

The conditions of a race are very different from a thru-hike done for enjoyment. I got the best sleep of my life on the PCT. 8-9 solid hours each night (sometimes I would wake up to eat), and an hour nap after lunch every day.

That sounds like backpacking paradise, of which I am delighted to hear of as a contradiction to my experience. I hiked the New England section of the AT in high school, but our small party included a guy who snored louder than anyone I've ever met before or since. A wet, sucking, horrific noise that to the mind of my light-sleeping sixteen y/o self was surely identical to the sound of a giant lamprey or hagfish, slurping the innards of its living, long suffering prey, still undead after twenty-odd very very long nights...

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#123

Post by baddox »

chrismartin wrote: post #44
baddox wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I did the JMT I was restricted in the last leg by the volume of my bear cannister. That's mostly what I was thinking of. I dropped from around 3500 calories per day to around 2800, and I sure felt it (also the last leg is by far the most difficult, southbound).

Yes, the southernmost stretch of JMT is also the burliest stretch of the PCT! Many thru hikers bend the rules for bear canister use. We carried canisters because we had to, but I don't know any PCT nobo'er who was able to cram all their food inside for the long Sierra Nevada (JMT) stretches. We slept next to our food so that we could chase away the bear.

Yeah, that would have been nice to have even just one more day of food outside the cannister, but I was pretty committed to following the rules.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#125

Post by hsitz »

bootload wrote: post #118
hsitz wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

""One thing that stuck out with me is that they only hiked for 8 hours/day. That seems like a light day! compared to these races," Actually, this is probably true. 8 hours a day, averaging 18 miles per day for 486 miles over 29 days is not that much. I don't see where they say they had 20kg packs, which is quite high weight for a thru-hiker. (EDIT: See now where he says he had 40 pound pack, which is probably at heav…

" 8 hours a day, averaging 18 miles per day for 486 miles over 29 days is not that much." Have you done this?

No, although I've done many days of more than 18 miles in the mountains, including 50 mile single-day mountain races. (The elite runners complete those in around 6 to 7 hours, over terrain of similar difficulty to Colorado Trail.) I don't mean to downplay their achievement, but the article is about a pair of average thru-hikers, out for a relatively short thru-hike. It is something that the average person can do, if they set their mind to it.

It doesn't really make sense to compare that effort to a race of any kind, let alone a mountain bike race -- since the thru-hikers we're talking about were not doing it as a race. Of course their effort was done at a lower level of intensity. For some perspective, a fellow recently set the Colorado Trail record with a time of 9 days 12 hours, almost three times as fast as the thru-hikers in the article: http://johnzahorian.com/coloradotrailfkt

For anyone interested, here's a youtube video documenting the record effort. The guy is kind of a celebrity in hiking circles, in large part because of high-quality videos he makes of his adventures:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk6CrWJdRto

(Zahorian's effort set the "unsupported" record, which means he carried everything, including all his food, from the start, and didn't stop at any towns along the way to resupply. Most hikers carry only enough food for 3 to 5 days at a time, and resupply along the way -- understandable because it's much easier than carrying everything from the start.)

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#126

Post by douche »

gydfi wrote: post #119
morgante wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I vividly recall one of their dinners: Dried ramen noodle, straight from the bag. I'm embarrassed to admit how many times I've eaten that on hikes. For my next long hike I'm probably going to ditch my stove completely: it's not so much the weight, but personally the last thing I want to do after a day of hiking is cook.

I'm embarrassed to admit how many times I've eaten that while not on a hike. "Sure, I could boil some water. Or I could just sprinkle seasoning on the top and eat it now..."

Exactly. Ramen, uncooked, crunched up, with the flavor packet sprinkled over it was a great favorite of some of my friends in college...

When there aren't any cool ranch Doritos left, what are you going to do?

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#127

Post by bbcbasic »

eigenvector wrote: post #55
munificent wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are the easy steps. You forgot: 0: Acquire the free time and money to not have to work, take care of others, etc. for extended periods of time.

No, that's irrelevant because of all parent's 3 points could easily be part of a job like land or mineral surveying, field biology, forestry, and so on. You don't have to quit working to go outside and walk around all day.

Or have an outside office with stand up desk and treadmill.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#129

Post by SamWhited »

bitexploder wrote: post #50
somethingsimple wrote: post #26

How does one get started doing this kind of thing? Ever since moving to the US, and specifically to the PNW, I've been wanting to hike, but I don't know where to start. People here seem to grow up used to it, but I don't know what equipment I need, what food to bring, how to get to the trails (do I drive? what if there's no parking?), etc.

You just kind of... do it. Step 1.) Pack what this dude tells you to and follow his advice for food -- http://www.adventurealan.com/best-backpacking-food/ Step 2.) Go when temperates are cool at night, but not cold (high 40F as a minimum). This allows you to buy cheap gear to learn with. Step 3.) Pack the gear this guy tells you to -- https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-ultimate-hikers-gear-gu... Step 4.) Buy the ch…

> If you are athletic stick with "trail shoes" and not hiking boots

Use what works for you, but I completely disagree with this. I thru-hiked the AT in 2014 in full hiking boots, and didn't have any of the feet problems like friends in normal trail shoes did afterwards; I would have rolled my ancle several times if it weren't for the support, and it only took two pairs (friends with trail shoes went through a lot more when the bottoms got too worn out and got slippery on wet rocks or started to peel off).

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