Backpackers Vs Thru-Hikers

Hey, hey, you through hiking? Yeah, you on a backpacking trip? Yeah, stupid, stupid. Damn, through hiking so stupid, am I right? Who wants to go live like a homeless person for four to six months on a trail? Get a job, right? I mean, wait, wait, wait, no, backpacking. It's, it's so silly. It's not even a challenge. Why would you just want to go out for a weekend and then come home whenever you can spend four to six months on a trail hiking thousands of miles, am I right? No, actually, I don't believe in either of these things. I quite enjoyed all the years I did of long-distance hiking and now that I've taken a step back and gotten back to my roots, I am very much enjoying just getting out on weekend backpacking trips with my friends. But I've noticed there seems to be a really big divide between backpackers and through hikers, especially here on YouTube, and I can't understand why. Backpackers seem to really hate the idea of through hiking and through hikers seem to, well, not really care. About a year ago, I did a video, actually, in this room up against this wall with YouTube's own Dan Becker. We sat down and had a huge conversation about all kinds of things. But one of the things that we talked about in that video was backpacking versus through hiking and what the differences were in my opinion. And some of the comments on that video kind of shocked me, to be honest. I guess, sort of. For years of making content here on YouTube about long-distance hiking, I'm definitely used to the occasional misunderstanding, snarky comment of people saying, Why would you want to hike 20 to 30 miles a day? Or, I don't understand why you don't stop and smell the roses. What's the rush to get to the end? People simply not understanding why I'm doing those things. Like I said in that video, through hikers backpack, but backpackers don't through hike. Through hikers are backpackers, simply because that's probably how they got into through hiking, was starting with backpacking, but backpackers aren't through hikers. And I think that's really the root of it. It's misunderstanding. So today, I wanted to do a full deep dive and talk a little bit more about the nuances between backpacking and through hiking. And not to bear the lead here, and this might shock some of you guys, but it doesn't matter what the differences are, right? It doesn't matter what you want to do, as long as you are out in the field, and you're having fun, and you are discovering something new about yourself, and you're in nature, connecting with it, and getting away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. That's all that's really important, isn't it? But just for the sake of argument, and to have a little bit of fun, I want to talk about the main differences. In that video, I made a comparison between backpacking and through hiking, and I said, it's kind of like running, and the difference between running a 5k and an ultra marathon, and people took that completely the wrong way. I wasn't saying that one was better than the other, or one was more hardcore than the other, and you should do one over the other. I was simply using that as an example, because backpacking and through hiking are very similar. At the core of it, it's the same thing. It's about getting out in nature, it's about hiking, and it's about camping. But the mindset and the end goal are very different. If you're running a 5k, you're just going out for three miles. You're running it, and you're done. So the training is probably not that much. The lifestyle, the effort you're putting towards doing it, probably doesn't take as much time, but if you're doing an ultra marathon, it's a lifestyle. It's something you really commit your time to, so that's what I was trying to say. So to start off, let's talk about duration, right? Obviously, this one is a duh. The duration between the two is very different. If you're doing something like a through hike, odds are you're probably going out for a few weeks all the way to four to six months. And during this time on the trail, you're moving through different environments, different seasons, different mountain ranges. You might be in the desert one moment, and then up in the high alpine mountains in another moment. Going through different national parks and national forests, so you're constantly moving through different places and even different states, whether you're hiking from Georgia to Maine, Mexico to Canada, but you're constantly changing environment, and you're out for a long time. If you're doing a backpacking trip, odds are you're probably going out for a couple nights, maybe a weekend, or an entire week. But after you get done with your trip, you're coming back home. You might be going out to do a loop hike, or an end-to-end, or an out-and-back, and you're probably going to be staying in the same area, whether that is a wilderness area, a certain national park, or a certain national forest, and you're probably staying in one season during each one of your trips. Speaking of national forests, have you guys entered my huge backpacking giveaway that I announced a couple of months ago? I decided to partner with the National Forest Foundation to help raise awareness and support for our national forest, something I've spent a ton of time living in, doing all of my through hiking and backpacking over the years. Well, if you haven't signed up for it yet, check out my link down below. To sign up for the giveaway, all you got to do is enter your email, and that gets you an entry into the giveaway. Or, you can make a small donation to the National Forest Foundation, and that gets you extra entries to be able to win great prizes, like an Evolve Supply Coast Space Ranger 50 liter backpack, my new backpack that I just put out, a one-hour live session with me, where I can help you plan out your next backpacking trip, or through hike, some awesome national forest swag, and some other gear. So again, if you're not registered, make sure you click the link down below, get registered to win some of these great prizes, and help raise awareness and support for our national forest, something that we couldn't do through hiking or backpacking without. Alright, so getting back to duration. Again, I think the main differences are you're moving through different environments, in different seasons, in different states, whenever you're doing a through hike, and you're out for so much longer, or the backpacking trip, you're just kind of staying in that one environment, and you're only out for a certain amount of time, and you're returning back to your quote-unquote normal everyday life. Now, does it matter how long you're going out for? No, not at all. Again, I am very much enjoying just going out on these smaller, multi-day backpacking trips with friends. Right now, the last thing I want to do is go out for three months onto a trail. So, one's not better than the other, but that is a big difference. Speaking of that, the next big difference is going to be mindset. I think this is probably where the biggest divide happens, because it helps kind of set up my next points that I want to make. The mindset is very different between backpackers and through hikers, right? I think the best example that I saw anybody give of this was actually in the comments on that video, and I couldn't have said it better myself. They said, Backpacking is more like a sport, where through hiking becomes a lifestyle. Perfect. Backpacking is something that you get into as a hobby, as a sport, something that you do on weekends, on your vacations. But you kind of have your normal everyday life, your friends, your family, your job. So, when you go out on a backpacking trip, it's an extra thing that you're doing. It's a vacation from your normal everyday life, right? Well, with through hiking, through hiking is your life. It becomes your lifestyle, because you're committing multiple weeks or months out of your life and out of your year, away from your job, away from your friends, your family. So, it is definitely a massive part of your identity, because it is your life. You don't just get to come home afterwards, and that's not to say that backpackers can't live a lifestyle of being into backpacking. But, odds are, it's the thing that you do on top of your regular everyday life, and through hiking is your regular everyday life. So, with those mindsets being different, it changes a lot of stuff, like gear. Another massive difference between backpackers and through hikers. Backpacking gear is typically a little bit more geared, no pun intended, towards luxuries, right? Again, you're going out for a few days, maybe a week, and you want some luxuries in the backcountry. So, a lot of backpackers are gonna take things like a camp chair, camp shoes, little inflatable pumps, maybe a bigger backpack with more bells and whistles, so it's gonna have a brain on it. It's gonna have a sleeping bag compartment, or maybe you're gonna take out a bigger tent. I know backpackers that take out cots, because they want to get off the ground and have an actual bed. So, when you're doing a backpacking trip, it's about having a little more comforts, and you're not gonna be as worried about weight, because again, you're just going out for so many days, and then you're coming home. So, carrying that extra weight, having those extra luxuries, taking out something like a steak, or really good food to cook, is not gonna be a big deal to add that extra weight to you, because you're probably not gonna be putting in as many miles for as long. With thru-hiking, thru-hiking gear is very centered around weight. Number one, thru-hikers want ultra light gear. Super simple gear with no bells and whistles, and the reason for this is because when you're on a thru-hike, again, you're carrying this weight every single day, and a lot of times you're adding weight to that main thing, right? If you're on a backpacking trip, you usually start with a certain amount of weight, and as you go, that weight gets less, and then you come home. On a thru-hike, you start with a certain amount of weight, and then that weight dwindles down as you eat your food, and you drink your water, but then you got to resupply again, and then this time, instead of three days, you might be carrying five days of food, and might be carrying three liters of water instead of one liter of water. So that weight is constantly going up and going down, so having a light base weight is very important to help save your knees, your shoulders, your back, and just make you be able to put out those miles every day, and keep you healthy on the trail. The other thing is the bells and whistles. Thru-hikers don't want a lot of bells and whistles simply because you're relying on gear every single day, and if you're a backpacker, and something breaks in the field, you deal with it for a couple days, you go home, you can repair it or replace it. On a thru-hike, again, you're not going home, so you're using one thing for multiple months, and you want to make sure it's going to last, and it's going to be easy to repair in the field. I know for me, that's why I like super simple gear with no bells and whistles. I hate zippers, hate zippers, because zippers can break. I don't like Velcro, because Velcro gets dirty and nasty, and then it never sticks again. So these things are important to thru-hikers because they want their gear to stay reliable, be simple, it's less stuff to mess with, and again, weight is such a big issue just because you're constantly adding and taking away and putting a lot of strain on your body for very long amounts of time. And that leads me to another point, which is food, another massive thing between the two. So backpackers are probably going to plan out all the food that they're going to carry for their backpacking trip. Again, you might be going out for a few days or maybe a week, but odds are you're probably going to carry all of your food from day one to the day you get off the trail, right? So you're able to spend a little more time thinking about nutrition, thinking about weight, calories, all that stuff, and taking quote-unquote good food or better food with you. Or you might plan on taking a handful of rehydrated backpacking meals or dehydrated backpacking meals, because again, you're only going out for a few days, so you're probably willing to spend a little extra money on nicer food. Well, on a thru-hike, you're burning a ton of calories and eating a ton of food every single day. I read something once that said that your typical thru-hiker between 15 and 20 miles a day will burn up to 8,000 calories. So most thru-hikers can only carry about two to three to four thousand calories in their pack a day, so it shows you there's a massive calorie deficit. So thru-hikers need super high calorie, super dense food, and because you're buying so much of it for such a long period of time, you want it to be cheap. And unfortunately, that comes with buying cheap, horrible processed food that you're going to be getting at some of the places that you're at. Again, on a backpacking trip, when you start, you can kind of go to the store and you can kind of pick out what you want and take your time and really put your food together. When you're on a thru-hike and you're coming into a smaller town, your only options might be a Dollar General, a convenience store, a gas station, and the occasional small-town grocery store that probably doesn't have a big selection to begin with. And unfortunately, you're kind of left to buying cheap, crappy, processed food. It never fails that when I talk about the food that I eat on a thru-hike, I get all these funny comments. People being like, I can't believe you eat all that crap. It's such ultra processed food. How can you put that in your body? Well, it's because those are the options that you have and you're trying to be smart about getting a lot of calories for not a lot of money. So those are massive differences between backpackers and thru-hikers. Again, that's not to say that thru-hikers can't eat better on trail. It's gonna be more expensive and probably a little harder to find. You're probably gonna have to send yourself resupply boxes. And it's definitely not to say that backpackers can't eat horrible food because I know a lot of backpackers that eat absolute garbage when they go out onto the trail. So I could keep making points of the main differences between backpackers and thru-hikers, but I think you guys probably get my point by this point. I said point, point, and point. You can see the main differences. But again, at the heart of doing both of them, it's about getting out into nature. Spending time on the trail, spending time in the forest, in the mountains, and getting away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. So at the core of both of these things, they're the same thing. One might just be for a few days and one might be an entire journey of multiple months. But at the core of them, we're after the same thing. So can't we all just get along? Can't backpackers and thru-hikers just coexist? Because I think that backpackers have a lot to learn from thru-hikers, right? Thru-hikers spend a ton of time on trail really dialing down their gear, really understanding calorie intake in their environment, how to be comfortable or uncomfortable. And backpackers really understand taking their time, enjoying the surroundings more, having more comforts out on the trail. So I think thru-hikers can really learn from backpackers and backpackers can really learn from thru-hikers. So at the end of the day, these two sports teams that are kind of fighting each other, I think is kind of silly and again, I think that there's a lot that we can learn from each other. I know that I really, really, really loved backpacking for so many years and then I transitioned into thru-hiking and gave eight years of my life to it. And now being able to take a step back from that and getting back to backpacking, I've been able to kind of take those things, each kind of discipline, and use it in the other one. I mean so much of what I learned when I first started backpacking I used in my eight years of thru-hiking and now that I'm getting back to traditional backpacking and bigger trips, right, mountaineering, packrafting, where I'm carrying more weight, I'm taking those things I learned from thru-hiking, that simplicity, that weight, and applying it to my backpack now and having way better backpacking trips than I ever did when I first got into it. So there's a lot to learn from each other. Speaking of that, what are you? Are you a backpacker? Are you a thru-hiker or are you a backpacker that's thinking about thru-hiking or are you a thru-hiker that's kind of done with it and getting back to traditional backpacking? Leave me something down below and let me know your thoughts. Guys, I hope you're taking care of yourselves. I hope you're taking care of each other. I love you. And as always, thanks for watching.