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What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

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

#141

Post by deepGem »

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…

Man, how did you survive on 5 hours of sleep ? I rode my bike for 200 km in 11 hours and post that, slept like a log for 9 hours. I mean, I was knocked out. Couldn't open my eyes despite alarms.

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

#142

Post by GavinMcG »

ceocoder wrote: post #138
jon_richards wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best foods for backpacking are actually peanut butter, salami (depending on the brand), cheese, and nutella. They all have roughly the same calorie density at about 70% fat. Toblerone actually comes surprisingly close (even compared to other chocolates/candies). Raman noodles or tortillas or something like that are generally used as a carrier for those foods to keep you sane, but they aren't very good from a weig…

> Some people actually just drink cooking oil, but it's rarely worth the tiny bit of extra weight efficiency. Is this really a thing? I've read quite a bit about thruhikers and have never encountered this. If you have any more details, mind sharing?

I've encountered it once. He preferred to mix it into foods whenever it made sense to do so, though.

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

#143

Post by mprovost »

tluyben2 wrote: post #137
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.

>Acquire the free time and money to not have to work, I do a lot of work while walking and hiking; as a programmer, most my time is spent thinking which I do not need a computer for. Well, I need a phone or tablet to find stuff on internet to think up a solution, but I can do that during walking. And I do. It won't give me a month of 8 hours / day, but it does give hours of walking per day. I did hikes of 4-6 hours /…

That's really interesting did you document any more about your process?

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

#144

Post by peteretep »

microtonal wrote: post #139
morgante wrote: post #80

By far the best shape I've ever been in was after hiking the 270-mile Long Trail in high school. It's the only time on my life—before or after—that I've ever been not overweight. The amazing thing about thru-hiking is that you can start in any shape and come out healthier. For a while last year I toyed with the idea of hiking the Appalachian Trail. I even did a few practice hikes of a week or two, but ultimately real…

Why not do something that is easy to maintain on a daily/weekly basis? I cycle to work every day (approx. 11 km, so 22 km per day). In the summer I usually take a route where I have to climb quite a bit twice a week. Going by train/car takes approximately the same time. I am fit and have a good weight. When I was still studying, I climbed indoor twice a week, which made me extremely fit. But after a couple of years I…

The simple answer is that you can't outweigh a fork, and until he/she sorts inputs, outputs will have little effect on weight loss.

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

#145

Post by amrtn »

eigenvector wrote: post #54
joeframbach wrote: post #10

After doing 2000-mile treks on the AT and PCT, I can say that hikers generally get their "trail legs" after roughly 500 miles or one month. Damascus VA and Tehachapi CA are big spots for zeroes and recalibration, and then you're off to the races. This post is excellent in showing the changes in those first 500 miles, but doesn't go on to show much about what happens after. That peak performance is maintained very wel…

I agree with your assessment generally, but there are some caveats. When you start to get into around the 10th week and beyond, there's a wall you can hit if you aren't eating well enough. This is not really an issue on American or European long-distance trails where any sort of nutrition one desires can be arranged in your resupplies (and you can eat ravenously on town days) but if you do multi-month trips in the 3r…

That was exactly the case on my 18 month bike trip in Alaska, South America, SE Asia & China. We found it very difficult to pack or even find enough quality proteins (and at the time we didn't know they where that important tbh). In the end I lost 20 kgs and went from 85 to 65 for a 178 cm 30 y.o. guy.

That was 5 years ago and I managed to mantain that weight by taking care of what I eat. I think that trip changed something in my metabolism and helped to know myself better.

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

#146

Post by bootload »

hsitz wrote: post #125
bootload wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" 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…

"No, although I've done many days of more than 18 miles in the mountains, including 50 mile single-day mountain races."

With a pack? I ask because running over this terrain is hard. Hats off hard. But with a pack, things are different. You don't move as fast. Thanks @hsitz for the video.

"Most hikers carry only enough food for 3 to 5 days at a time, and resupply along the way"

Unsupported. I did't see if the original was unsupported - can't imagine carrying 30 days food. Even the PR1M I've used is pretty heavy. [0] Possible but you'd strip out all but the useful food. With re-supplies, do they have access to water?

"lower level of intensity."

Totally agree with this. Still hard yards.

Reference

[0] https://flickr.com/photos/bootload/4549780731

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

#147

Post by bootload »

hsitz wrote: post #135
nether wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

18 miles can be quite an effort if there's over 7,000' of elevation gain. We're not told the grade of the trail but I imagine it's not flat.

The CT is about 500 miles long and has about 90,000 feet of accumulated elevation gain, which averages out to 3,200 feet over each 18 miles. That's not especially much for mountain hiking. One thing that makes the CT a bit harder is that it lies mostly at altitudes over 10,000 feet, where the air is thinner. Hiking 18 miles/day is quite an effort in any case, but still doing it on a hike like the CT is something the…

"One thing that makes the CT a bit harder is that it lies mostly at altitudes over 10,000 feet, where the air is thinner. Hiking 18 miles/day is quite an effort in any case, "

Altitude would stop a lot of people. How long to acclimatise living at sea level?

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

#148

Post by bootload »

hsitz wrote: post #125
bootload wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" 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…

btw @hsitz I ask this question not to be rude, but to work out if overconfidence is driving the answer cf: ~ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13620745

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

#149

Post by wapz »

BarkMore wrote: post #104
mrfusion wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldnt you need a tent for mosquitos spiders and Scorpions?

Most people will want some sort of netting when there's moderate to heavy pressure from biting insects. I carry a three ounce mosquito net in these situations. A full tent is not required. Insect repellent and site selection (don't sleep next to lake) handle low bug pressure situations. I don't worry about other critters where I hike in the PNW.

How light do you get your pack (minus the starting liquids).

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

#150

Post by wapz »

ucaetano wrote: post #29
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.

A good way is to sign up for group hikes and camping trips from REI and other places. You can also look for hiking clubs and ask for help, or find people at work/school who hike. Finally, you can start doing research by yourself and learn by (sometimes painful) trial and error. My first major hike (9 days at Torres del Paine, solo, I was 19) was hell, shitty gear, overweight backpack and so on, but was amazing and I…

Just a small comment I don't recommend anyone to try to learn hikes/camping by themselves. Hike and camp with a buddy until you are very, very experienced (even then I still recommend not being alone).
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