A Day In The Life Of A Thru-Hiker

hey y'all Dixie here by request today I am going to run through what a day in the life of a through hackers like or at least what a day in my life is like while I'm through hiding so when I wake up which is usually around 6:00 a.m. or so sometimes a little bit earlier more often than not maybe a little bit later but I go ahead and get up and pee because chances are I've probably been needing to get up and pee for a while I know that's not good but anyway I get out and while I'm out there I go ahead and grab my food bag and return to the comfort of my sleeping bag now if I was thinking the night before when I set up and I set up in an area that's open where you might could enjoy the sunrise and hopefully I oriented my tent to where I could do that with the vestibule open while I'm in my sleeping bag so I can be warm while I'm watching the sunrise and start my morning routine and then if I'm in the deep dark depths of a forest then you know I might not so much worry about the Sun coming up once I return to my tent I go ahead and plug my phone up that way it can start getting a charge for the day most the time I leave it off during the night and I don't like to charge it the night before because then if it's cold even if I sleep with it I seem to always lose a couple of percent on my charge so I go ahead and wait till the morning and charge it while I'm going through cooking and eating and packing up and all of that so then I go ahead and start breakfast or at least the most important part of it which is coffee in my coffee in the morning I generally put a Carnation Instant Breakfast or if I can't find any of those at the resupply before that stretch then I might use hot chocolate or some powdered milk and honey or sometimes I just have to drink it black when you're a coffee addict you'll take it how you can get it for breakfast I usually do something pretty simple like oatmeal or a pop-tart something like that usually all of my food is based around what I'm trying to do that stretch so whether I'm just trying to do normal knowledge or for some reason I'm trying to push through that certain section and get more miles done you know that controls how easy it is to make my food or you know if I'm willing to take a little bit more time with it while I'm eating breakfast and drinking my coffee I generally look through the terrain that's ahead of me for the day and try to pick like a targeted mileage for the day and kind of eyeball maybe where a good stopping point might be or sometimes I'll read a book through the Kindle app on my phone also throughout my morning routine I try to drink anywhere from a half a liter to a liter of water to go ahead and get my hydration going for the day once I'm done eating I go ahead and wash out my food pot kind of clean up everything from breakfast and while I'm packing up my food bag I go ahead and grab out some snacks that way I have second breakfast while I'm hiking usually right about the time that I'm cleaning my food pot after breakfast or sometimes even right in the middle of breakfast out on the CDT my body decides that I need to go number two and for some reason while I'm out on trail it's not something that my body is like I recommend you do this at some point it's like it becomes an emergency and it has to happen right now I mean I have been in the middle of breakfast and have to set it down and go run but when you're out hacking for several days and I assume it's the same on section hacks but I know for sure on through hacks it's like you're a member of one of three different groups and it can change during a through hack but you're either a morning paper and not paper are you one of the sporadic ones that just kind of goes you know whenever but you can ask Aaron it is pretty frustrating to be wanting to do a certain mileage by a certain time and then suddenly that happens it seems like he always had to go in convenient times for him like oh I don't know climb and graze peak but of course you know before you leave camp once you get to camp or at certain breaks during the day is the best time to have to go poop I hate that word poop have to go doodoo I don't know whatever you want to call it it's the best time to do that but I guarantee you your body will let you know whether it's a convenient time or not then I brush my teeth and comb my hair and I tend to put baby powder in my hair so I go ahead and do all that stuff and then braid it next I pack up my toiletries my electronics again anything left that might be out with food once I get that all organized I set them out in my vestibule outside my tent then while I'm still in my sleeping bag usually because I'm a baby about the cold in the morning I go ahead and change my clothes inside my sleeping bag and pack up my sleeping clothes into the little clothes bag and then also put that out in the vestibule and then finally I unzip my sleeping bag and then cry at the saddest part of the day which is deflating my sleeping pad I mean it's like the most awful sound in a through hackers laughs if you have an inflatable sleeping pad or even if you can't Brown other people who do because when you hear that noise you know that the morning is over and it is time to climb out of your tent and start hacking finally I go ahead and cream my sleeping bag into the compactor bag that lines my pack and then I put it in my sleeping pad and climb out of the tenant from there I break down my tent roll it up put it in its stuff sack and then put it down in my pack and all of the little things that I was talking about are separate outside of my tent I go ahead and pack those and I put my snacks inside my hip belt throw on my pack and then I am ready to roll now as a side note here if it's raining I do things in a little bit of a different order instead of putting all of my stuff outside of my tent obviously and then you know packing up my tent while everything's getting soaked I go ahead and pack everything inside my pack while I'm in my tent and then put the pack outside the last thing I do then is break down my tent and strap it to the outside of my pack now my target of time to leave camp is usually about 7:00 a.m. that's what I aim for sometimes it ends up being a little bit later 8 a.m. and there have been even later mornings now that's not necessarily typical of through hackers a lot of people wake up before the first ray of sunshine even comes out and they're up throwing their stuff in their packs eat in a bar maybe and then you know hiking out and eat some snacks as they go and some people even pack up they don't eat anything at all until a couple hours later when they stop for breakfast at any given point some people are early to rise early to bed myself I am more like a late to rise late to bed but you know you just get in your groove when you get out there and you figure out what works for you after packing up and getting going I basically haq and haq and haq and haq sometimes I will take a morning break and it's inspired by maybe I've gotten hot in my puffy or rain pants and raincoat you know if I've put something on to be a little warmer or even my sleeping clothes if I've decided to hike in my pajamas or maybe even I've hit the first water source and I'm refilling water because I didn't camp near water and so I might go ahead and take a little break there but again the morning break is sometimes optional it depends on how late I leave camp sometimes I just go ahead and push through into lunchtime if I do take a morning break though after morning break guess what I do I hike hike hike hike hike I generally hike two to three miles per hour depending on of course how steep the terrain is and also if there are blow downs or it's really muddy if there are a lot of creek crossings you know all of that of course takes a little bit of extra time so for second breakfast I'll usually have a pop-tart if I didn't eat that for breakfast or some crackers and I even like those little pouches of baby food just kind of some little snacks and stuff I find and I try to mix it up each stretch that way I don't get sick of the same thing over and over now around noon ish I kind of start scoping out a good spot for lunch so like the ideal break spot would be a beautiful summit that also has a water source and it just seems like those two things don't usually happen usually you hit your water source before the climb so anyway I do like to take lunch near water though that way I can go ahead and camel up and get hydrated and kind of drink as much as I can there that way I'm not not drinking that much there and then total bunch of water to the next water source so kind of try to Campbell up so I have to carry less right after lunch also if I'm fixing something for lunch that I'm cooking then I want to not have carried a bunch of water to just sit somewhere and cook that has no water when I could have just cooked at the water source now I just want to add in when I've talked about all these breaks obviously if it's raining then this whole schedule thing is shot because the rain will definitely dictate your brakes unless you find you know some kind of cover shelter but again then you're gonna spout there because you know you get to do it without getting soaking wet but if lunch time doesn't necessarily fall next to a water source then I always try to go for the view at lunch I'm gonna sit down take my pack off take my shoes and socks off let my feet air out if I can sit in the Sun you know if it's been kind of a chilly day I do that and kind of collect the warmth like a reptile if my pack or tent or sleeping bag any of that stuff is damp because it's been raining but now the sun's out I'm gonna go ahead and dry those things sometimes I cook lunch sometimes I fix like English muffin or a wrap again that really depends on what I'm trying to do that stretch and if I just want something easy or something warm and on lazy days or if I'm breaking with somebody else and they're not done eating yet then I go ahead and take the opportunity to get in a little nap and usually at lunch or at some other break during the day I'm gonna drink another cup of coffee because it's just so good and it's like liquid motivation now after lunch if I am NOT impressed with the mileage I've done so far then I might try to pick up the pace a little bit I know a lot of people tend to slow down after lunch but I feel like I tend to push bigger miles in the afternoon I'm also one of those people that works well after procrastinating so you know under that pressure so I guess that's my hack and spell to you so I tend to after lunch I'm like okay I got it I got to get this in you know I got to make the miles that I didn't make earlier today now later in the evening after I feel like I've you know worked pretty hard after lunch I'll probably go ahead and take my final break of the day evening break eat some snacks and I know that after that break is gonna be my final push to camp so at that point I might start eyeballing how many miles have I done how many did I want to do for the day is that number still possible or you know am I even doing more than I had originally intended and now I can kind of take it easy you know just kind of fill it out and assess today if I'm in grizzly country at this I'm gonna go ahead and cook dinner because I go ahead and cook dinner before it gets dark and before I'm at camp I don't fool with the whole you know triangle thing that that is a fine method to use but I just don't want the smell of cooking food anywhere near my camp not even 100 yards so I make sure when I'm in grizzly country I cook at least a mile before I get to game now some people already up and walk in for the sunrise I generally get to enjoy sunrise from Camp again if it's visible but usually in the evenings between my last afternoon break and when I set up for camp the Sun sets somewhere in there so I always like it when I'm up on a ridge line and I can enjoy the sunset while I'm walking and that's really kind of my favorite part of the day I mean everything's just golden and beautiful and I'd end up taking way too many pictures and videos but that's really my favorite part of the day you know I've worked hard that day and everything's getting kind of peaceful all the animals are kind of settling down and everything seems like well it's about to rest now when it's about 20 to 30 minutes before a complete darkness I'll go ahead and give gut hook another look over and see am I about to start a 5-mile climb that maybe I'm not motivated to do all in the dark and you know if you're on a climb there's a good chance that you might not be able to find a good flat spot I mean it kind of makes sense right so you know go ahead and scope that out look at some of the comments and gut hook and see if anyone says like hey yes this is a 5-mile climb but there is a good spot in two miles up the climb you know so I just go ahead and start scouting out where I might want to camp for the night a lot of times if I lollygag during the day I don't mind not hacking to make up for it I kind of enjoy not hacking I've seen some critters and things I feel like I might not have seen otherwise because I'm not hack and I like how pretty the Stars look I like how creepy the trees can look you know I just I really do enjoy not hiking and I think it's a completely different experience and if you've never tried it don't knock it till you try it I will say though that if you are just starting the backpack it is a good idea to go and setup during the daylight where you can kind of see everything you want to make sure that the camp spot is safe and relatively flat and that there are no Widow makers hanging over where you're gonna set up your tent and for those of you that don't know a Widowmaker is a dead tree limb that can fall and kill you but when I get just about ready to stop for the day usually I'll say to myself you can do one more mile like you can do one more mile you can always do one more mile and one more mile get you to Canada or Maine or wherever you're trying to go once I finally do pick a campsite I have to decide am I going to set up my tent or am I going to cowboy camp now reasons for cowboy camping might be there's a meteor shower and you want to catch some shooting stars while you're going to sleep or maybe you just want to enjoy the Stars anyway or maybe you're aiming to wake up really early the next morning because a certain restaurant in the town that you're gonna hit tomorrow closes at a specific time and you know you have to hike fast to get there or if the post office closes and you got to get your package or whatever so and then some people just like the ease of cowboy came because they don't have to set up a tent but either way you have to decide once I've made my decision which for me it's normally my tent just because I tend to freeze and the tent is warmer I'll go ahead and blow up my sleeping pad and then lay out my sleeping bag that way it has a chance to loft up while I'm doing everything else it's legal and safe to do so I will build a campfire because I really love sitting by a fire I just feel like that's the most relaxing ending to a long day of physical activity I know folks often call it hacker TV and that's really what it is I mean Trust sitting by a fire and not going into a trance staring at the fire I mean it's almost impossible for me if I'm not alone and there's somebody else to man the fire then after I've built one I go to my tent and change my clothes put on my pajamas my warm leggings my long sleeve top my puffy my warm wool socks I mean I just really get all bundled up well I'm changing I usually do a little bath you know hacker bath I take the wet laps and I'll bathe all the gross areas of my body I mean everything but you know what I mean the essentials and take my braids out sometimes sometimes leave it in but I try to take it out and kind of let my hair air out and you know breathe and I might run the brush through it if I do take my braids out of course not everybody brushes their hair and puts baby powder in it and braids it you know so everyone has their little quirky things that they do and I think each person's routine is probably a little bit different than everyone else's just like everyone in general kind of packs their pack you know similarly but not the exact same and then I cook dinner if I'm allowed to have a fire then I'll cook over the fire because I just really enjoy that once I'm done with dinner I cleaned my pot I brushed my teeth and I go ahead and get all my scented items my toiletries check all my pockets for food wrappers and then put all of that stuff in my food bag and go hang it or at least get it away from my tent and if I'm in an area that you can't really hang a bag then the last thing I do before I climb in my tent for the night is I pee because I hate having to get up in the middle of the night and go pee so just go ahead and even if I feel like I don't really have to I do like my mama says you know when I was growing up just try and usually I can get something to squeeze out then I normally climb in my tent and send a message on the in reach update the family let them know I'm alive ping on my location and then I usually wrap up the day by writing in my journal and then usually at some point before I go to sleep once I've kind of settled down I'll go ahead and review the terrain for the next day I don't necessarily look at it too much in depth you know I I really scope it out better in the morning but I'll go ahead and just kind of give everything a look over you know how far it is to the next water source some of the climbs I have to do and maybe kind of recalculate how many miles per day until I get to the next town once I'm done with that then I cut off my headlamp and I go myself to sleep and get ready for another long day of doing the exact same thing I know some people probably wonder how can you stand to do the same exact thing every day and while yes it is technically backpacking every day so it's the same thing but it is often so different from day to day one day you might be walking in the desert and the next day you're up on mountain peaks you might be in a deep forest one minute and the next thing you're in an open field and then sometimes you're even walking straight through suburbia I mean it really is amazing on a thru-hike how every day can be different you might meet different people who totally change your day maybe you're having a bad day and you're suddenly so inspired to push on and that was the exact person that you needed to run into that day to you know help you feel encouraged I mean it's just a crazy experience that you do the same thing for six months but every day is so different it's like you get to pick up and move you know I told my mom that I always feel like I'm packing up my apartment and moving somewhere else you know each day because that's exactly what I'm doing and like I said this is a typical day on trail for me but the beauty of trail life is you get to choose you have complete freedom of your laughs there I mean sure if you run out of food you know you kind of got to push it to get to town but again you caused that right like that is of your doing some days I do not hug but other days I'm like you know what this is a perfect camp spot and I'm done I'm setting up here I'm gonna enjoy the sunset and maybe I'll wake up a little bit earlier in the morning the point is that yes while you do kind of get into a rhythm or routine out on trail it's it's the most free I've ever felt in my whole life but again everyone does things different I'm sure that there are people who would tell you that this is not how they do a through hack at all but I do think that all through hikers do tend to get in some kind of rhythm and find over time what works for them so if you have any questions about a typical day in my lap on the trail please feel free to leave those in the comments below and I will be happy to answer your questions and thank you all again so much for watching and supporting this channel and we will see y'all next time

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 703,338

Keywords: travel, hiking, backpacking, hike, gear, adventure, fun, story, Appalachian, Trail, PCT, CDT, thru-hike, Auburn, Alabama, epic, climbing, canyon, national, nature, mountains, update, park, lake, trail, tents, camping, summer, University, Aubie, River, stream, Mountains, National, Scenic

Id: NYXfdKfIRZE

Length: 19min 47sec (1187 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 05 2018