The Appalachian Trail vs The PCT

hey y'all Dixie here today I want to talk to you about the differences in Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail now that I have completed that through hike on both of them and no worries I'm not like taking science to anything yet now this is gonna be a brief overview video I want to you know touch on as many aspects of each trail as I can but know that I am going to do more detailed videos about these specific topics on the Pacific Crest Trail and I have likely done them already on the Appalachian Trail so you can check the older videos for these topics if you want to hear more about them before I get started I want to explain to you my perspective so that you understand where my opinions are coming from on these matters and why I might have seen what I saw so in 2015 I threw hiked the Appalachian Trail heading northbound and in 2017 I through hiked the Pacific Crest Trail heading northbound also the year that I hiked 80 was a pretty normal year except for it was pretty rainy when I got to Maine we called it the Maine soon that came through Maine because there was so much rain and on the Pacific Crest Trail it was a record high snow year in the Sierra Nevada so the rivers were raging and there was just so much more snow than what is seen in a normal year so I do want those things to be understood moving forward so just to give you a little background information on both trails Appalachian Trail is the older of the two trails and it runs from Springer Mountain Georgia all the way to Mount Katahdin in Maine it passes through 14 different states and spans 2189 miles depending on the year the Pacific Crest Trail is a little bit longer it spans two thousand six hundred and fifty miles from basically Mexico to Canada through California Oregon and Washington the Appalachian Trail was completed in 1937 well the Pacific Crest Trail was deemed a scenic trail in like 1968 but it wasn't actually officially completed until 1993 so the Appalachian Trail has nearly 60 years on the Pacific Crest Trail as far as being a completed long-distance trail now for discussing elevation the highest point on Appalachian Trail is six thousand six hundred and forty-three feet and that's at Clingmans Dome in Tennessee is actually the state high point also and then on the Pacific Crest Trail you're at over double that over 13,000 feet on Forester pass in the Sierra Nevada now well that sounds crazy you know that it's that different and it seems like oh my goodness so on the PCT you must be like straight up and straight down and it's actually quite the opposite the Appalachian Trail is known for being like a roller coaster you go straight up the mountain to a peak just to go straight down and you know do it all again the Pacific Crest Trail you kind of you know if I want to say ridge walk more so than on the Appalachian Trail so when you gain elevation you kind of tend to stay there there are clients I mean you're still hiking mountains but the Pacific Crest Trail is graded for livestock so a lot of people ride horses out there while the Appalachian Trail is a footpath only basically so you know there were places on the Appalachian Trail where your hand over hand climbing and there's nothing like that on the Pacific Crest Trail in a normal year so even though the Pacific Crest Trail is longer than the Appalachian Trail it actually usually takes people less time to do the PCT than the 80 and even though I took way more zeros on the Pacific Crest Trail I still finished it in less time than it took me to finish the Appalachian Trail I think that a lot of this is because the grade of the trail allows you to do more miles it's not as strenuous it's not as physically challenging so you do get the miles knocked out faster and most people's daily mileage is higher on the Pacific Crest Trail than the Appalachian Trail I mean if you look at me I'm maxed out in 24 hours the most miles I could do and on the PCT I did 62 miles in a 24 hour period while on the Appalachian Trail the most I ever did in a 24 hour period was 33 miles now that is not to say that the Pacific Crest Trail is easy it's just that I think it's less physically demanding so you're able to do more miles in a day than on the Appalachian Trail one of the biggest questions I've received is you know how is water on the Pacific Crest Trail is it as bad as they say you know is it really way worse than the 18th there is so much water on the Appalachian Trail it's very plentiful there are a few areas that you know maybe in New York it got a little dry but for the most part there was water every you know five miles at most it is definitely not that way on the Pacific Crest roll especially in the desert this was a wetter year so we were more fortunate with more frequent water sources but that isn't always the case you do have longer carries you are going to have to carry more water now the water sources you know are in existence on the PCT and are gonna be without water a lot of times people will cash put water caches out so especially real dry stretches so there was like a 40 to 50 mile stretch at the end of the desert that had no water sources on trail you could walk you know extra miles off of the trail to a water source but nobody likes to do off trail miles there are trail angels who keep water stocked at the caches and you know regardless of either trail you get word way ahead of time what the situation with the water is from section hikers people who are ahead of you posting on social media whatever you'll know the situation especially if you have the guts app on either trail so water is not something to freak out about on either of these trails to let that be a deal breaker for you but you know it is a concern and yes there is considerably less water on the PCT in certain stretches as far as resupply goes for the most part your mileage between resupply points is going to be a little higher on the Pacific Crest Trail and on average not you know every stretch necessarily but on the Appalachian Trail it seems like every three to five days I was crossing a road where I could go into town I didn't go into like every single town that I possibly could on the 80 on the Pacific Crest Trail it's much more defined you know you're you're pretty much going to have to go in when you get the opportunity again not always that way but in general when you get to a road you're gonna you're gonna go into town and so I would say the average on the PCT is more like five to seven days but with both trails you can be in town in about five days if you so choose one thing that I did notice it was different on the PCT is that when you're going to town getting hitches take a little bit longer there's generally a little less traffic depending on the road of course but not as many people are familiar with the PCT and what's going on with it as the 80 and also the trail communities along the 80 are just stronger in general and it's more like people wanting to help people but again it's an older trail it's been established longer the PCT is getting there though but it is noticeably different so also the hitches into town are usually longer as far as distance from the trail to the town that you're going to resupply in the Appalachian Trail is a lot of times pretty close to towns ten miles or less and on the PCT it's not abnormal to have you know ten mile plus hitches and then sometimes even two-part hitches so you'll have like a turn-off you know if you'll be on one main highway and you'll have a turn off you know to go on another highway to get to the town you're trying to get to so you may you know get to experience two different hitches but it's cool you get to meet more people along the way whether on the Appalachian Trail it was very common to get rained on it was normal on the Pacific Crest Trail I got a light sprinkling while in California and then the rest of it and maybe had one day in Oregon where it rained a little bit and then several days where I got sleet Adhan and snowed on in Washington which that's normal for the Pacific Northwest right but certainly way more days of precipitation on the Appalachian Trail in general the temperatures on the Appalachian Trail are expected so I never had you know a crazy cold snap or anything like that on the Pacific Crest Trail I did experience that and the desert I had been sweating I had been taking siestas you know to just stay out of the Sun and having a night hike more in the desert and then I was about to send my warm layers home or at least ahead to where I expected it would get cold again and I'm so glad that I did not do that but because before I knew it there was snap and I always liked freezing the last few days of the desert so I mean it can change so quickly out there of course at higher elevations so I would say that weather is a little scarier on the Pacific Crest Trail in the way that you don't necessarily know what to expect temperature-wise and you kind of have to be prepared for anything at any time I was never without my warm base whereas on the Appalachian Trail during the summer I slept in shorts and a tank top you know but on the Pacific Crest Trail sure there were some warm nights but I would just sleep in like my sports bra and underwear or whatever but I never got rid of my leggings and my warm top so of course there are some differences in gear you need more specialized equipment for the Pacific Crest Trail if you go out on the Appalachian Trail with the wrong gear you can correct your mistakes pretty quickly I mean even going southbound through the hundred mile wilderness there are exit points I would pay more attention to what you need if you're gonna go southbound on that blazing trail but if you start a nobo through hike on on the 80 I don't know I just know so many people who had no idea what they were doing and it's like they still survived and a lot of them even still finish their through hike so I think the Appalachian Trail allows for a more error whereas the Pacific Crest Trail is a little more brutal in the way that it's not so forgiving so I'm not saying that you know it'll be a total detriment to you know your life if you don't have exactly the right things well the PCT it is recommended that you have a bear can and I'm micro spikes and an ice axe and the Sierra Nevada we're on the 80 you really don't have to worry about that for the most part there are areas where they recommend having a bear canister but you can just not camp in those areas and like I said you know for the PCT you definitely don't want to be without some warm weather gear hema King vs. tinting so I think for the most part you can really do either on either trail I think with more trees on the Appalachian Trail it's obvious that it might be easier to find a better setup than on the Pacific Crest Trail but I do know people who panicked the whole PCT and you know with the lack of rain you can cowboy camp if you need to if you can't find trees to set up but I think that you know there are little patches of trees here and there even in the desert that if you were really set on hand making you could make it happen but for sure hammock King is more common on the Appalachian Trail than the Pacific Crest Trail dogs on the trail so I didn't see quite as many dogs on the Pacific Crest Trail but I did see some so people do take their dogs out there I did a video with a girl who had her dog out on the Appalachian Trail so I might do the same thing with my friend milestone who hiked with her dog Ragnar on the Pacific Crest Trail so everyone always talks about how the Appalachian Trail has way more people on it right well in 2016 four thousand six people were actually recorded at some point as doing a thru-hike weather northbound southbound flip-flopping and all of that and those are people who were actually on the trail 947 reported completing the trail which is a 23 percent success rate or a completion rate for the 80 and just so you know 12% of the people who were reported you know on the trail through hiking were South bounders now for the PCT in 2016 to the same year 3500 people requested a permit a lot of times the PCT a reports people who request permits don't ever actually show up on the trail so it's likely that there were less than 3500 people but not necessarily everybody who is out there through hiking got a permit right I mean not everyone follows like what you're suggested or supposed to do so I I don't know exactly how many people you would say we're actually out there through hiking even if all 3,500 were out there you know it's still 500 less than what were reported on the eighty seven hundred and eleven people said they finished the trail in 2016 which means that 20 percent of the 3,500 completed the trail but again not necessarily all of those 3,500 were out there and nine percent of the people who registered registered as southbounders so yes the Appalachian Trail could have you know anywhere from five hundred to a thousand potentially more people on the trail and speaking of people I would definitely say that the culture on the Appalachian Trail is much different than the Pacific Crest Trail Appalachian Trail I feel like has a lot more camaraderie Tramell ease you know Trail families are certainly more prevalent and you know I think a lot of that has to do with the shelters and the shelter log books so on the Appalachian Trail they have three-sided structures known as shelters and you can stay in them or camp around them and a lot of people gather at those places because they typically have a privy orbitz toilet the shelter a water source and a firing so people like to gather up and you know just tell stories about the day share their experiences and a lot of people still hike alone on the Appalachian Trail so it's not like you have to be or you will be around people all the time it's really up to you and if you don't want to be around people you just don't camp at one of the shelters you can go you know camp somewhere else now on the Pacific Crest Trail there really are no shelters you have your random you know little old log cabin or you know shelter like bad weather shelters and things like that emergency shelters but it's not common at all to see shelters I can probably count on two hands maybe even one the number of you know structures that you can sleep in on the Pacific Crest Trail so I think that that affects the culture a lot also you know log books on the PCT are not as common it some of us more often that you see those in town and by then you have service on your phone and you know you're already communicating with people that way but on the 80 it's fun to get to a shelter and check in with the shelter logbook and see you know when your friends were there how many days ago someone so passed through or just to get you know news about what's going on and in it it's almost like social media of the trail and people on the Pacific Crest Trail tend to camp a lot more scattered out so some of the water sources you know if you haven't had a water source and in a decent stretch then you might have people that camp together at a water source but people get so used to dry camping so camping somewhere where there isn't a water source that it's not a big deal to them to camp near water and I think that it's more of an issue for people who have through hikes the Appalachian Trail previously they tend to huddle up near the water sources because they don't like the idea of you know being without a water source in case you knock your water over or something leaks or whatever so I think that it's not just that the people are nicer on the Appalachian Trail in the Pacific Crest Trail but it's just it's more set up for that trail community whereas the PCT is a lot more kind of you know thin for yourself so even though there are no shelters for the most part along the Pacific Crest Trail you do still find your occasional privy or Pitt toilet perk we'll definitely vouch for the fact that the Appalachian Trail has way more privies than the Pacific Crest Trail because he plays a strange game with himself where he sees how long when he first starts to through hike he can go without taking a poop in the woods so he lost a lot quicker on the Pacific Crest Trail I think been on the Appalachian Trail as far as trail magic goes there certainly is a lot more trail magic on the Appalachian Trail again you know more roads intersect with it it's easier to set up trail magic the community following the Appalachian Trail is a lot bigger so of course you're gonna have more you know trail angels and people who want to be involved but I did not mean to sell short the people on the Pacific Crest Trail who are trail angels there are definitely some amazing what I call fixed trail angels so the ones that are known to be at certain locations along the Pacific Crest Trail but as far as like the random acts of just generosity and things like that it certainly isn't as common on the Pacific Crest Trail as on the Appalachian Trail something else that goes along with the whole community is trail names I noticed on the Appalachian Trail that people tended to get a trail name a lot quicker and it's kind of seen more seriously on the 80 so once I became Dixie I was not like oh my name is Dixie well I mean it's Jessica but I guess they call me Dixie out here no it's not that at all on the Appalachian Trail on the Appalachian Trail it is I am Dixie my rat-race name is Jessica or my you know synthetic world name is Jessica but I am Dixie but on the Pacific Crest roll people are a lot more hesitant also I noticed that it's several hundred miles at times before people ever earn their trail name and so I don't know it just they don't stick as much I think by the end it's you know more accepted and and people don't act so like off about it they leave no trace principles for the Appalachian Trail versus the Pacific Crest Trail are pretty similar I will say that where you can and cannot have fires is a little more strict on the Pacific Crest Trail and rightly so because they experience you know a lot of wildfires and so you have to pay attention you know is the chance for wildfire huh how windy is it you know am I in an exposed area whereas on the Appalachian Trail it's much harder for me to think of where you shouldn't or aren't permitted to have fires and even though you're permitted to have fires on the Pacific Crest Trail you really should use common sense because a lot of the fires that they've experienced out there have been from carelessness so just because you can doesn't always mean that you should out there whereas on the Appalachian Trail any time we had a fire I never felt like we were going to burn the forest down and did in the bathroom thing the rules again are pretty much the same except on the Pacific Crest Trail they do ask you to pack out your toilet paper while the Appalachian Trail says that it's okay you know to dig your six-inch cat hole and bury the toilet paper on the Pacific Crest Trail though especially like in the desert you just don't have the same soil microbes that can break down toilet paper as quickly you know as the soil on the Appalachian Trail it's just basically two different worlds so speaking of the desert and then like the lushness of the Appalachian Trail that is something that is very very different especially if you start going northbound so the Pacific Crest Trail is almost like several different trails you go from the desert into the High Sierra you know into northern California which is different than the rest of it into Oregon and Washington and and it's just something different you know in each of those regions whereas the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine you're pretty much always in what they call the green tunnel and you know there are areas that are exposed and and you do experience some different terrains but for the most part it is forested and I know a lot of people think that that means that the Appalachian Trail is not beautiful and that is false so the Appalachian Trail the lushness of the forest was just amazing anytime rain things just got even more vibrant and green and beautiful and there were all these little critters that would come out when it rained and and just you know for somebody who likes to see the up-close things like the bugs and the creators and the flowers and you know you you just see nature thriving there where'd you go to the desert and although you can see out and it's much more beautiful than I ever expected it could be it's definitely not that you know healthy forest feel it's much more barren and just you know kind of like you think a desert would be it's very almost brutal the things you see on the desert you know they're not like soft flower petals it's like cactus and you know so I mean it's just two different worlds but again it's not desert the whole you know Pacific Crest Trail but I'll tell you what green tunnel you do get on the Pacific Crest Trail you'll really appreciate because you don't realize how much the trees block you from the wind and the Sun and the rain so concern of a lot of people who planted it ate through hikes are bugs and wildlife so the Appalachian Trail has a lot of bugs has a good bit of wildlife and you see a lot of the same things on the Pacific Crest Trail you know squirrels and birds and yada yada but I will say that the amount of rattlesnakes that I saw on 80 versus the PCT is crazy so on the Appalachian Trail I saw one rattlesnake in the state of Pennsylvania and they're protected they're on the Pacific Crest Trail I saw ten rattlesnakes and all of them in the state of California now there are also a lot of crazy-looking little critters in the desert you've got scorpions and like the centipedes and just you know wild things I also saw the biggest salamander I've ever seen in Washington but now all of these things are cool to me I really enjoy seeing those there apparently tarantulas in the desert in California that I missed out on those I didn't get to see them the Appalachian Trail does have these little red FS that I didn't see on the Pacific Crest Trail and I really missed seeing them as far as bigger wildlife goes I saw seven black bears on the Appalachian Trail and only four on the Pacific Crest Trail I guess there is like a very slight slight chance that you could see a grizzly on the Pacific Crest Trail but I think that that is very uncommon and very unlikely some people have reported seeing mountain lions I didn't get to see on the Pacific Crest Trail is actually hoping that I would see one you don't have to worry about that on the Appalachian Trail I saw moose on the Appalachian Trail on the PCT no moose only oak and I know on the Appalachian Trail everyone freaks out about ticks but I only saw like one crawling up my pants leg and like wine on my pack I mean I I think I saw two the whole time and neither one of them was attached to me and on the Pacific Crest Trail I never saw two so overall as far as critters and Wildlife goes sure I guess there could be more scarier sightings on the Pacific Crest Trail than on the Appalachian Trail but honestly that's part of it like that's part of being in the woods it's part of the adventure and you know you just never know what's gonna be around the next corner and that's really exciting so expenses which trail is cheaper to high costs seem to be higher out in the west coast than East Coast the cheapest place that I ever spent time in was the south so in the southeast on the Appalachian Trail it's more affordable than once you get up north but still even those areas are cheaper than what I experienced out on the Pacific Crest Trail it's not like a you know huge difference and I have not calculated my own personal expenses yet for the Pacific Crest Trail but I will do that and I will have that information like my cost analysis laid out in my ebook that I'm going to do for the Pacific Crest roll like I did for the Appalachian Trail which will be just kind of like a guide and and planning you know like how to prepare for the Pacific Crest Trail but in just you know observation I can say that staying in towns was a lot more expensive on the Pacific Crest Trail than the Appalachian Trail the cost of food in towns and groceries and things just seemed to be a little higher but say it costs you a thousand dollars a month on the Appalachian Trail if you're not like too strict on yourself the Pacific Crest Trail might be you know this is me throwing out a number it might be $1,200 a month you know to $1,500 a month for the same level of comfort but if you hike the Pacific Crest Trail in you know five months where it took you six months on the Appalachian Trail then the costs might you know average a little bit but I will do a video that details more of the cost breakdown on the Pacific Crest Trail at a later time alright so the mental versus physical challenge I think that I have you know made it pretty clear that in general the Appalachian Trail is a more physically challenging trail than the Pacific Crest Trail well the Pacific Crest Trail to me was more mentally challenging and I can't really you know put my thumb on what made it that way for me I guess you know obviously my body hurt in general less on the Pacific Crest Trail than the Appalachian Trail so I mean the physical part is pretty easy but through hiking in general is more mind-over-matter than anything especially in the Sierra Nevada and that's where it's you know it's hard for me to I guess be fair to the Pacific Crest Trail but there were a couple of times where I really thought that I might not make it out of this errand about it and I never really experienced that on the Appalachian Trail and again I don't think that that's normal for the PCT I know I have known people that have completed Appalachian Trail and then did the PCT more like you know oh it's easy it's nothing but I can tell you for me this year the Pacific Crest Trail wasn't nothing I think that maybe because there is less camaraderie and for me there was less you know traveling experience on the Pacific Crest Trail maybe that is what made it's so much more of a mental challenge than anything and just knowing that you are in more isolated areas things do seem more barren you are more at the mercy of the elements because a lot of the trail is much more exposed I think that all of that weight into it you know stressing out about water more you know because the water sources are further apart stressing out more about the food have I packed enough food have I packed too much food you know and having to wait longer periods to correct your gear and things like that um I think that those things weighed heavier on my mind which of course would increase the mental challenge of the whole experience one thing that probably also helps keep the morale high on the Appalachian Trail is that you're going through like I said 14 different states so you have all these little mile markers and even though you know at times the Appalachian Trail kind of looks the same because I said from Georgia until like I don't know Massachusetts like goodness it still looks like Georgia you know but you know the fact that you get to cross all of these state lines is just encouraging we're on the Pacific Crest Trail even though the terrain looks and feels different you know throughout the journey it takes forever to get through California like I'm never gonna get there but of course you know I went into the Pacific Crest Trail with you know the memories of how it was on the Appalachian Trail so maybe for people who through hike the PCT for the first time you know that's not such an annoying thing but I will say crossing the state lines on the PCT means a whole lot more it may be because you're so sore on the Appalachian Trail that you just don't care about anything else you know I don't I don't know but I think for the most part of us if you ask people who have done both trails they will tell you that the Appalachian Trail is more physical while the Pacific Crest Trail is certainly more mental cell service so maybe this ties in partially to why the PCT is a little more mentally stressful there is less service on the Pacific Crest Trail than the Appalachian Trail for at least Verizon carriers so on the Appalachian Trail you know pretty much every day if not then certainly every other day I could get some form of communication out whereas on the PCT it was not like that at the beginning there's pretty good service through the desert but towards the end in Washington and in places in Oregon it's it's pretty spotty and in the Sierra Nevada it's almost non-existent so it's certainly more common to go a few days without being able to get in touch with people which is a little stressful you know if you're worried about what's going on at home or you know you just want to vent to somebody about what's going on you know and you happen to be alone at the time or you know for whatever reason so that probably does tie in to why the Pacific Crest Trail might be a little more stressful so start in finish line I have to say that I don't know I think that the Appalachian Trail takes the cake on this one so the start the starting point being at Springer Mountain you know it's not as exciting as Mount Katahdin up north in Maine but it is still you know like some budding some point whereas on the Pacific Crest Trail you just kind of walk up to this monument in the desert you're like well I'll be down there it is you know but I have to say that the ending in on the Canadian border was especially exciting for me because I had never been in another country before so getting to you know walk from the border of one country through my country to the border you know the other one it was it was just kind of a neat experience um but again the monument is nothing to really you know get real excited about whereas like the sign on Mount Katahdin was just something that was like I don't know you you had to fight this huge mountain you know for five miles or so to get to the top and after you're you know 2,000 almost 200 mile journey so I think that if you do an oboe hike or even a solo one on the Appalachian Trail that you're going to have much more of like an epic finish than you will on the Pacific Crest Trail purism so for some of you all you're like what in the world is purism what do you mean well if you are on the Appalachian Trail or any long distance trail around through hikers you'll hear people say to each other like are you a purist or well I'm not a purist so basically to complete a thru-hike of any trail it means completing all of the miles out of that trail within a 12-month period but there are certain levels of purity in completing these trails so the Appalachian Trail it's very black or white you may have like alternate paths and things like that but if you want to be considered a purist you stay on the Appalachian Trail and pass only white blazes and you don't take any of those like alternate routes whereas on the Pacific Crest Trail there are things that you don't want to miss out on so like a crater lake the rim trail is an alternate there's an alternate that goes up to Mount San Jacinto and their end up being fire closures and things like that so it's impossible to do every single foot of the Pacific Crest Trail in a year pretty much at this point but that doesn't mean that you're not a through hiker because you can do every single like open mile of trail you're just not you know you're reaching a level of purity isn't as crystal clear and black and white as it is on Appalachian Trail so that is hard for a lot of people who consider themselves purists on the Appalachian Trail to go over to the PCT and be like what do you mean I can't do every mile of it what do you mean there's a closure you know so that is a big difference between the two trails you know it's not common that a section of the Appalachian Trail is closed whereas on the Pacific Crest Trail it's not common that you have a year where there's not a section closed and that fact nearly drove me crazy so what I did was just to make sure that I hiked every single mile of open trail and some people on the Pacific Crest Trail because it's a journey from you know Mexico to Canada they consider being a purist connecting footprints but sometimes the fastest way to you know get around a closure is gonna cut off some open miles of trail and so it's really just something that you end up having to decide for yourself while you're out there and you know trying to understand like what does this hike mean team I talked to a lady who is working on her second Triple Crown this year while I was on the PCT and you know I asked her I was like which of the three trails is your favorite I have to ask and she said when somebody asks you do you want the mountains or the ocean you know why can't we just have them both and she said that each trail has its own charms and its own beauty and and she's right she is absolutely correct and you know even if I went back to the Appalachian Trail and through hiked again it's not going to be the same experience it's never going to be the same as it was so you just have to go wow that was a great experience now let's try something else you know so in a nutshell the Appalachian Trail for me was just a magical experience there is just so much history there and you know you see it as you go through and you and it's just something that I can't describe and you have to go out and see for yourself the communities are stronger and more closely knit and like I said there's just more camaraderie and teamwork and and it's not so much about vast beauty as it is you know stopping to smell the roses right directly in front of you and enjoying the small things but the Pacific Crest Trail is you know more wild it's less established less controlled you know it's more volatile and more exciting and more and adventurous I guess a thru-hike in general is adventurous but it's just got that you know going out west wild feel to it so it really boils down to what kind of adventure you're in the market for I met people on the Pacific Crest Trail who it was their first backpacking trip just like you know the Appalachian Trail was my first backpacking trip ever so I don't think that for either thru-hike that previous backpacking experience is necessary I think that there is more room for error on the Appalachian Trail sure it might make you feel more comfortable if you've had test runs with your you know gear and things like that but it's all about what adventure you are seeking for yourself but I will say that if I had to read hike at this point the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail again I guess I am picking sides but like the 18 you know I my heart and soul are with the 80 I feel like the 80 gave me soul and life and the Pacific Crest Trail tried to like steal my soul in life you know but that's not to say that the finish line wasn't sweeter because of you know the more difficult challenges that I was faced with it to be fair you know the Appalachian Trail was my first through hiking experience and just like your first love or anything you know your first car or whatever you're always gonna have a stronger bond with that memory because it was the first you know so I don't know I wonder if people who have hiked the Pacific Crest Trail first in a normal year that go and then hike the Appalachian Trail if they feel you know that that love with the PCT like I do with the 18 so I don't know because I can't undo what I know I've talked a lot about how these trails differ but the is on either trail you still stink you still homeless and you know you're still gonna have an amazing adventure with awesome people it's still going to be a life-changing experience whichever you do so the point is go for it you know if you're thinking about doing it through hike I think either trail you're going to be absolutely amazed with and it will really teach you something about yourself well I hope that you all enjoyed this information and that maybe if some of y'all are trying to decide you know which trail you'd like to through hike first that it maybe helps you make that decision but if you do have questions about you know one trial versus the other in a certain aspect that I didn't cover please feel free to ask that in the comments below I will go you know deeper into some of these details on the certain aspects before I get out there on the CDG so y'all be on the lookout for that and with that we will see it all [Music] you

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 184,860

Rating: 4.9415617 out of 5

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

Id: DAQVuZH7U0M

Length: 35min 3sec (2103 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 13 2017