Thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail With ZERO Experience - Pros and Cons

Hey y'all, Dixie here. Today I want to reflect back and talk to y'all about some of the pros and cons of my through hike of the Appalachian Trail being my first backpacking trip. For those of y'all who have been following this channel for the 10 years that it has been around now, that's so crazy to believe, but anyway y'all might remember that in the fall of 2014 I quit my engineering job in Colorado, moved back home to Alabama and started frantically researching backpacking gear and by March of 2015 I was taking my first steps on the approach trail to the Appalachian Trail which was the beginning of my AT through hike and since then I have done other long distance trails like the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, the Florida Trail, several international trips and then coming up very soon I'm starting my through hike of the Arizona Trail. So anyway, I just felt like it was time to revisit that initial through hiking experience and think about since most people don't start off a long through hike as their backpacking trip, what were the good things about that and then maybe some of the not so good things. So to start off the pros, I'd say I probably didn't realize how bad backpacking sucks until I had committed to doing the whole Appalachian Trail. I often wonder if I had done some sort of shakedown hike or if I had been on a weekend backpacking trip before committing and announcing to all my friends and family that I was going to through hike the Appalachian Trail, if I might have gone, wow this is actually pretty hard and you know it beats you up and if I would have even considered doing 2,000 miles of it or if I would have just been like you know this is fun occasionally but I really don't think I want a six month trip like this. I'm honestly glad that I don't know the answer to that because I really am glad that I through hiked the Appalachian Trail and when I say I'm going to do something I'm just going to do it. Kind of in the same vein, I think the next pro to this situation is I'm not as obsessed with being comfortable on trail as I might have been otherwise. Because I started off with a trail that's so difficult terrain wise, just rocks, the cold when you first start out, a lot of rain the whole trail, I think that things have to be pretty rough on me to really make me feel like I'm super uncomfortable on trail because the bar was just set with that type of experience being what I got acclimated to right out of the gate. So also I think along with that comfort thing my gear choices have gotten me by but I'm not just like set on oh my gosh I have to have all of the creature comforts that I have at home. Next, I think by just jumping right into a through hike I kind of spared myself from analysis paralysis because a through hike you really just cannot plan for every day of a six month trail. I mean I know there are some people who have certainly tried and then they just like ball it up and throw it in the trash can or they just stress the whole time but for me I knew that was just too big of a task. Now don't get me wrong I definitely stress researched the weeks leading up to when I was going to start the trail but I kind of had to rely on gear choices that were made by other people like blogs that I read as I was doing research and I did make sure that those people were actually successful in finishing their through hikes. You know I didn't take gear advice from somebody that got 20 miles in and quit but I think if I'd gone on a short hike first I might have gotten bogged down in obsessing too much over planning and gear and then I just might have never gone. And finally probably the biggest pro is the trail itself. The Appalachian Trail has a lot of support for the hikers from the communities that surround the trail. There are lots of trail angels and trail magic that are delivered from the trail towns all around. You're just randomly walking through the woods and boom there's somebody cooking hamburgers handing you food. There are people who are offering you rides all the time or a place to stay for free. There are lots of bailout points along the way. You know you're not truly ever in the middle of a vast wilderness that you know you've got to hike 100 miles before you're gonna come to a road. You pass road crossings quite frequently. They may not be super busy but like there are a lot of bailout points and I think that that makes for a great beginner trail having so many people that are willing to help the hikers out and you know a lot of opportunities to to get out if you you know mess up your supplies or end up injured etc. Now let's talk about some of the cons of my Appalachian Trail through hike being my first backpacking trip. It kind of includes the same thing as the Last Pro because the trail is so supported and so well trafficked. There are a lot of hikers out there and just the community surrounding it. It kind of sets the bar so high that other trails feel lonely. You meet new people all the time on the Appalachian Trail. On other trails you could go days without running into another person. You might expect you know hey it's a weekend and I'm coming to a road crossing maybe there will be some trail magic even though you know on these shorter trails or even some of the longer ones like the Continental Dubai Trail where you're out in the middle of nowhere there's not going to be any trail magic but it's just like you get acclimated to that so in the back of your mind because you're obsessed with food because you're a hiker uh you know you just kind of grow accustomed to that and so when you experience that as your first go at it it just you know makes other trails not as exciting in that way. The next con is I'm probably more obsessed with pack weight and the weight of individual gear items than I would have been if I had started off as a weekend backpacker. I feel like folks who start off backpacking on the weekend they're out there more for leisure and I know that there are exceptions to every rule but when I've made videos about you know things that backpackers ditch first it's like there's a difference between through hikers and backpackers and maybe through hikers ditch this or whatever and so like I agree there is a difference and a lot of times weekend backpackers are willing to take more stuff and have more comforts but when you go on a through hike you're going to cull some of that stuff because you don't want to carry extra pounds for 2,000 miles you're just not going to do it you might start off that way but most people at some point you know sit down and go okay I really have to reassess because my body hurts and if I've got stuff in my pack that I'm not really using because I've got to do 20 miles a day to finish on time you know so I'm not having this leisurely time at camp that I was having when I backpacked on just the weekends you know it's time to reassess so because I started off with that mindset like everything has to be you know as lightweight as I can I've never been an ultra lighter because I couldn't afford it to start with and then afterwards I started getting camera equipment and now my pack's just too heavy but still for trading off and getting more camera equipment I've learned to shave weight on other areas I'm willing to have less comfort at camp so I can carry more camera equipment but I think when I first really saw this in myself is when I went on my Kilimanjaro trip and you were allotted a certain amount of weight to take because you had quarters carrying your gear even still I just you know of course I'm going to go with my most lightweight rain jacket I'm going to go with my most lightweight sleeping bag I'm going to go with you know and I just I couldn't get out of the mindset of being as lightweight as possible and while I am sure that my porter appreciated that because I didn't hit that max weight you know there were things that would have made me more comfortable on that trek like having a heavier weight rain jacket that I just couldn't shake because I was in that thru hiker mindset when the summit of Kilimanjaro was not a thru hike and you know so I could have afforded to have more weight. Next doing a thru hike as my first backpacking trip kind of ruined weekend backpacking for me it took a long time for me to just want to go on a shorter trip especially because my first three backpacking trips were the Triple Crown Trail so the Appalachian Trail Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail so I didn't really see the point in going through all the effort of loading up my gear to go on just a weekend trip you know especially here in Alabama or whatever I don't think people probably even realize because I'm so used to stress and over preparing for a thru hike I actually really stress a lot even when I packed for shorter trips so it's overwhelming to me so preparing all of that you know and having all of that stress to just go play in the woods for the weekend I know it's weird but it's the way I am now. Finally the last con I want to mention is I guess I've more or less been chasing the dragon since I completed my thru hike of the Appalachian Trail going from you know being a good little girl and member of society and salutatorian you know first loser of my graduating high school class and then engineering in college for several years and then working as an engineer for a short time with the Department of Agriculture in the state of Alabama and then in the oil field out in Colorado so just all of this structure and deadlines and timelines and control and then quitting my career to go on a six month long backpacking trip you know something that I had never done so throwing myself into this brand new experience and experiencing backpacking for the first time and having that freedom to choose what I do every single day for six months and then hitchhiking for the first time and sleeping in a raging thunderstorm and meeting new people every single day amazing people and then overcoming the biggest challenge of my life at that time which was actually completing the thru hike all of that was just so incredible and filled with so many highs that no other trail could offer that again right because I've kind of done all of that now there are still things that are amazing about some of these trails that are first like coming face to face with a mountain lion for the first time seeing a grizzly bear you know in person not behind a cage for the first time so I still get little bursts of that on some of these other trails but as a whole nothing could ever compare to that experience again and so I think that that it's sad but it's bittersweet right it's wonderful that I got to have that experience well anyway that is all I have for y'all today if anyone watching has done a thru hike as their first backpacking trip and you've got some pros and cons that you could think of I would love for you to share those in the comments below but even if the reverse if some of y'all started off as weekend backpackers doing shorter trips and then did a thru hike I'd like to hear your list of pros and cons and what you think about that experience but anyway thank y'all so much for watching and we will see y'all next time