7 Mistakes Rookie Thru-Hikers Make on the Appalachian Trail

what's up everybody rocket here and today i want to talk to you about the top seven mistakes that rookie at through hikers make while hiking the appalachian trail [Music] it is so great being back on the youtube channel of the trek but let's not waste any time let's talk about the first mistake that rookie at hikers make now this one i definitely made the same mistake by starting the appalachian trail way too early in the season you'll know in the last couple of years that through hiking season for the at seems to be starting earlier and earlier where i noticed people starting in february and early march i was one of those people that also started in early march march 10 to be exact i would not recommend starting the at at least until april mid april would be a great starting point you're going to bypass a lot of that winter weather in the south but still get relatively great weather in the northern part of the appalachian trail so number one mistake definitely definitely definitely starting way too early you guys if you remember from my vlogs on the at i was miserable the first couple of weeks i was always cold my face swelled up i just looked a hot mess and i felt a hot mess as well so first mistake definitely starting way too early in the hiking season there is no rush just because you see other hikers starting super early does not mean that you have to as well there is no prize for being the first person to katahdin so mistake number two is pretty simple because i think a lot of people also make this mistake they think that they can go out on the at with one pair of shorts one pair of socks and nothing else and a tarp and they're gonna survive so the mistake number two is significantly under packing for the appalachian trail i know that when i started the at i thought hiking in a t-shirt and shorts would have been a great idea in march come to find out it is still winter in the south just because it's in the south does not mean it's going to be summer year round so i didn't pack anything extra i didn't have hiking pants i had my rain pants my pajama pants and a pair of shorts i was miserable so i definitely under packed there were so many things in the very beginning that i thought i could have used but i left it home a flea sleeping bag liner would have been great the first few weeks on trail but of course i was counting my grams i was measuring ounces i was really worried about my base weight a lot of hikers seem to gauge their value on how light they can get their pack don't get me wrong i definitely try to lighten my pack in between each trip i try to cut out the things that i don't need but i also think that when you're starting on the appalachian trail those extra few ounces in those extra few pounds are not going to hurt until you figure out what you'll need to help give you a little bit extra comfort while you're settling into life on the a t if i can give you one bit of advice on this second mistake it is do not worry about grams yes they add up to pounds but unless your pack is 70 pounds it's gonna be okay you can send things home at every town you get to and you're gonna eventually start packing out pounder beers anyway you shouldn't really be that concerned with grams when you're packing out a 16 ounce pbr from town mistake number three is the exact opposite of mistake number two people packing way too much stuff i once met a guy on life on my first day of the at who said that he was gonna pack whatever he wanted to make himself more comfortable this man had a legitimate wooden and metal hatchet strapped to his back his pack was easily 80 pounds his dog's pack was way too heavy for the dog as well and he said that he had three extra pairs of boots he had things that there is absolutely no necessity for on the appalachian trail there is no reason that your pack needs to weigh more than 30 pounds comfortable if you're researching gear and finding the best suitable thing for your needs there's no reason why your base weight should be 60 70 pounds there's just no reason not to mention your knees will thank you when your pack is not 60 pounds so i'm just saying there's no reason to pack out the hatchet the extra pair of boots the pot the pan the mattress you don't need all that stuff with proper research you can survive fairly comfortably with a basement around 20 pounds which is what my basement was to start the at and i thought it was perfect mistake number four is knowing when to take a break so you guys will remember if you watched my vlogs that about halfway through the appalachian trail i got off trail to attend a wedding but a week before i got off trail for the wedding my left knee started really really hurting to the point where i limped into harper's ferry some of those last miles in tarpus ferry were some of the most excruciating for me on trail because my knee hurt so bad i took two weeks off but i had been having knee problems for weeks leading up to that off and on so i just didn't want to i didn't want to quit because for one i knew i was already going to be off trail for this wedding and two i did not want to leave my tramley i love the people i was hiking with and i think a lot of that was i spent all of virginia just really bagging miles and really just pushing my body to see how fast i could get through virginia i loved the challenging aspect for me physically i was great however when i started having some knee pain i just pushed it off i took ibuprofen i didn't listen to my body and so i think a lot of appalachian trail through hikers they get out there and they start experiencing injuries and they think well i'll be fine i don't want to leave this group i have to keep up and they end up really really hurting themselves to the point where it takes them off trail so there's no rush there's no reason why you can't listen to your body and when it's telling you i need a few zeros or maybe i need a week off do you listen to your body because if you don't you will really really regret it when you're sitting on your couch and the rest of your friends are summoning katahdin mistake number five is don't be overly competitive about mileage in the very beginning we set out to do 10 miles a day and we were very quickly doing more than that because we could and by day 10 everyone in my family or everyone in my group was experiencing excruciating knee pain back pain hip pain feet pain just all around general fatigue and we realized that we were worrying about catching up to people or doing the manage that everyone else was doing and we realized that we shouldn't have been worrying about everyone else's mileage so we started cutting back on our mileage doing around eight to ten miles a day and we started noticing all of our pain went away so instead of focusing on what you're seeing other people do on instagram on facebook or your other friends that are they're doing it or people that did it before you there is no reason why you have to calculate mileage like it's life or death i made this mistake where in the very beginning my tramline wanted to do slower miles and at first i was okay with that until we hit virginia and we were still doing these 14 15 mile days and i really wanted to kick it in because i was seeing other people doing my first 20 my second 20 i'm pulling consecutive 20s and i was being really competitive and i wanted to keep up with them and as you guys know it results in me being pretty significantly injured and having to go home for a few weeks so although you do need to plan your mileage accordingly for resupplies there is no reason to be overly competitive you will all reach katahdin when it is your time and trust me do not rush that journey because it is one of the best things you'll ever do in your life and the minute you come home you will miss it like none other just enjoy it i wish i could go back and tell myself this a year and a half ago is just enjoy it there is no reason to rush it you will get there when it's time to get there and you will miss it every day after you get off trail mistake number six is a little funky i felt like this was more of a mistake i made before i left for the trail however can still happen while on trail a lot of people think of the appalachian trail as this romantic adventure this amazing escape and it very much is however if you think you're gonna go out there and feel great all the time smell great all the time if you think you're gonna be this regal statue of just perfection don't get it twisted there were so many f-bombs i dropped on trail i screamed at mosquitoes i screamed at trees i screamed at myself i screamed at the rain i did not always have myself composed and having this romantic idea of the trail can really limit the way you enjoy the trail mistake number six is romanticizing the trail a lot of the vlogs and the videos and the documentaries and the books they just make it seem so powerful and it is however it's also terrible at times it is miserable you smell like a dead carcass or rotting in the sun you feel like a dead carcass rotting in the sun you slip you slide you cry you scream it can be just terribly ugly so my mistake number six is do not romanticize the trail it is a tough and she will cut you down and she will remind you every day that she is the boss so although you should have these great and a wonderful emotions when you think about the at and possibly hiking the at but do not romanticize the experience because it is very very tough and my last mistake mistake number seven this one is the most important because this was one of the biggest mistakes that i made on trail out of the entire time doubting yourself i doubted myself from the very first day i remember the first week on trail i kept saying well you know i'm definitely not going to be that 25 percent that makes to katahdin i'm just gonna see how far i go and then when i got off trail for my injury and i came back two weeks later i kept telling everyone yeah i'm back but it's only for a few days i think i'm gonna quit here soon my knee really hurts because when i got back on trail my knee was still excruciating but i couldn't not get back on trail and see how far i could go so i got back on trail and i told everybody i'm definitely quitting i just there's no way i can make it i'm just gonna go until i've had enough luckily for me i never had enough because i pushed and pushed and eventually the pain was tolerable for the remainder of the trail and i made it to katahdin and so for the entirety of the trail i kept thinking there's no way i'm gonna do this well there's no way i'm gonna be proud of myself at the end because of all that non-romantic bitching and screaming that i did on trail i kept thinking is this something i'm even going to be proud of when i get done i kept thinking is there a better way i could have done this is there more i could have enjoyed it should i have taken more zero should i take in less zero should i push bigger mileage should i push smaller mileage and i kept doubting myself the entire time and looking back i i'm thankful for that reminder of the reality that the trail is hard but i wish i would not have doubted myself so much because i think that had i had a little bit more confidence in my skills and my ability i would have maybe enjoyed the trail just ever so slightly more so if you're thinking about the appalachian trail and thinking that it's this 2200 mile impossible trail do not doubt yourself because like everyone says backpacking is one foot in front of the other and you keep doing that until you get where you're going and it doesn't have to look the same as everybody else's if you want to take zeroes you take zeros if you want to push miles you push miles if you want to have a tram we have a tramly if you don't then don't but don't you dare doubt yourself because doubt is the enemy of success so if you're gonna doubt yourself there's no way you're gonna succeed unless you continually remind yourself that although i feel like i'm not capable i have to be and you just have to keep reminding yourself that although it's hard and although you feel like you're gonna quit you just never will as a rookie there's always mistakes to be made and even if you are the most prepared hiker in the world you will still make a mistake you'll still drop your phone into a waterfall you'll still get a blister you will still eat that uncured salami and have a bellyache climbing up mount everett you will still make mistakes so whatever you're going to do do the research enjoy it have fun and just learn to laugh at yourself because we all know type 2 fun means you're going to laugh six months after the fact when you're telling your story to your friends i just want to say thank you so much for the track for having me on it feels so good to be back on this channel and for now this is rocket signing off you

Channel: The Trek

Views: 73,818

Rating: 4.8583508 out of 5

Keywords: appalachian trail, thru-hike, through hike, julia sheehan, mistakes, advice

Id: Y1wcEsEZ7js

Length: 10min 48sec (648 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 28 2020