Which Trail Should You Hike? - How To Thru Hike ep1

[Music] this is certainly the trailhead did i finish i don't even know i'm gonna say i finished today uh july 1st at 2 48 pm i'm starting the eastern continental trail just 4 800 miles to go until key west florida so you've decided you want to do it through hike that's awesome i've found a lot of love in these types of trips hiking across the country the small towns i get to visit and see the animals and plants that i experience along the way the epic views and the interesting people that i meet and most of all the community i've become a part of it's really an amazing world to be in the first question you're probably asking yourself is which trail should you hike or maybe you've already decided on a trail in which case i still recommend you watch this video because i take a little bit of a different point of view than most would on the subject there are mega long trails like the appalachian trail or the pacific crest trail both over 2000 miles take months to complete and are truly a standard in the long distance hiking world but there are also shorter trails i have done the 300 mile sheltoe trace trail in kentucky the roughly 300 mile pin hoodie trail in alabama the 100 mile you into highline trail in utah and the 60 mile ocean lake trail in florida now these are among many many other shorter trails as well in many ways you get a similar experience hiking a shorter trail than you would something that's say 2 000 miles long like the appalachian trail but you also gain a lot more than that and that's what i'll be talking about in this video today i would never tell anyone not to hike the appalachian trail or not to hike the pacific crest trail they're both amazing things but what i will say is hike a shorter trail first something in the range of 40 to 200 miles a trail like the appalachian trail or the pacific crest trail or the continental divide trail is a massive commitment oftentimes you have to quit your job sell your kids sell your home you know leave all of your friends and family behind and then just be gone for months at a time could be as few as three months or it could be as many as six seven or eight months and the problem here is that these trails aren't guaranteed only one out of four people that actually attempt the appalachian trail are successful so imagine leaving everything behind and then within that first week or sometimes even within that first day you realize this isn't what you thought it was it's a lot harder than maybe you imagined or it's just not that fun so as you can see i'm in rain mode uh it's not really it's oops it's only kind of drizzling now but i was just going over some uh 1100 meter peaks and it was nasty it was insane i was up in the clouds the wind was blowing trying to like blow me off the mountains uh obviously i did not film that because i was scared for my safety well anyway uh check me out right now the trail let's see if we can do you see a trail that's because there is no trail and you inevitably wind up going back home this would be very depressing given you've probably told everyone in your life your friends your family your job you know that you're going to be gone for months off on this big adventure that would be extremely hard so truly it's an unfortunate thing but it can be avoided and here's how i kind of think how start small and then go big do a shorter trail first something that's less of a commitment something that can be done in a short vacation from work and then go and plan and do the big hike after you've seen how much in person you truly enjoy doing this how much you truly enjoy walking through the woods and climbing mountains and meeting all these people and visiting these small towns you know once you've seen how much you love doing that in a smaller condensed through hike then go after the very large through height for many the at or the pct is their very first overnight trip and that works for some but of all the reasons to quit a thru-hike beyond injury or finances this is actually something in your control you know how much do you actually enjoy doing this how much do you want it so why should you hike a smaller trail first what is this going to net you how is this going to help you when planning and going after a larger trail like the cdt well as we've already mentioned it's less of a commitment you can easily take the time off work to do a trail that's in the 40 to 200 mile range versus having to quit your job and go hiking for months at a time this way you'll have the opportunity to see for yourself and ask yourself is this something that i would enjoy doing four months further you know if you go off and hike for a week or two weeks or even just three four days ask yourself is this something that i would enjoy for five to six months and maybe you might even find that it's the shorter trails that you love the most and that's really cool i personally love doing these shorter trails you know because i can just go off for a brief amount of time and have this amazing experience and not have to commit too much of my finances my life savings or you know too much of my time to go off and do these you know you can have that through hike experience in a condensed form so maybe it is these shorter distances the 40 to 200 mile range that you love the most that would be a very hard lesson to learn if you just go out and try the appalachian trail and figure that out there when you're beginning your 2000 mile hike that maybe it's really fun for 200 miles but once you start going beyond that it you know you're getting diminishing returns so doing a shorter trail first and it being so much less of a commitment to see where your heart truly is is a really big reason to kind of go out and try that but beyond that even going out and doing a small trail is the perfect opportunity to get used to your gear before the big one i personally had gone out and tried to through hike the appalachian trail in 2012 and not only did i fail because that was one of my first ever backpacking trips but also my first night on the at was also the first time i was using a lot of my gear it was maybe the second time i'd ever set up my tent it was definitely the first time i ever used my stove and when you're talking about compressed gas and putting a lighter up next to it you know and you're telling your hiking mate on your first night ever that hey this is the first time i ever used this thing you know you're certainly going to get some weird looks whereas if you go out and you already have some experience with these things you'll feel a lot more confident in yourself you know you'll feel a lot more confident in your chances in completing this goal and also having a good time while completing this goal so my story is very similar to many and i feel that your first night of a multi-month long hiking trip should not be your first night using your gear you should already be very familiar with that stuff by the time you get there so hiking a shorter trail first or maybe even just going out on overnight backpacking trips is what's known as a shakedown hike to go hike something smaller before your big trip and get used to the things you have to shake yourself down and see if this is the gear that really works for you or to maybe find that some of the gear you bought isn't gear you really like which would be a much easier lesson on a small trail than it would be finding that out when you're on a 2000 mile hike where it's much harder to acquire new gear and change things out and maybe your finances are a little bit more locked because you know you've quit your job so these shorter trips also give you something else and this is something that i've been an advocate for for a very long time these shorter trips are an opportunity to learn new skills you know to go out when the weather is really bad and just see how you deal with it you know because if you're hiking for months chances are you're gonna run into some really nasty weather it's much more fun and much easier to deal with that when you're close to home and learn how to and it got a lot colder and thunder and lightning started to crash like how to deal with the rain or how to use your gear simply becoming more comfortable and confident in the outdoors how to deal with blisters and what food you like and how much food you should actually be eating per day these are all little things you can kind of pick up on smaller trips and generally you can think about it as a backpacking 101 so i recommend trying to find a shorter hike a shorter trip that you can do near your house and then you have the added benefit of being close to friends and family who could help you out if maybe you come into a little bit of trouble you know maybe a situation arises that you're not so sure how to deal with it or maybe you find that you're just really uncomfortable and you'd like to come home and swap out some gear and then maybe try it again next week or a few weeks down the line with a whole new perspective on what you're about to face again all of this being so much harder to deal with if you are far from home you know what happens if you come across some really horrible weather it is raining and hailing and i'm gonna put the camera down or maybe you're running into failures with your gear things are ripping and tearing or maybe things aren't keeping you as warm or your sleeping pad has popped you know all of this is much easier to deal with close to home and learn how to deal with it close to home it is snowing from 100 degrees a record heat wave in salt lake city to this in the past i had done a video about some shorter trails that i thought were really really awesome so be sure to check out that video but let's also talk about a few trails here so maybe you live in the southern appalachian area well there is the 90 mile foothills trail which is i think a really amazing jumping off point if you're planning on later hiking the appalachian trail or something larger you're going to experience a lot of the same things that you would in this more condensed version as you will later on in the much larger hike if you live in florida or maybe planning a florida trail through hike there's the 60 mile oceana lake trail if you live up near minnesota maybe the 300 mile superior hiking trail could be the one for you let's say you're on the west coast maybe in northern california there's the 40-mile timberline trail or the 165-mile tahoe rim trail both of which would be a great experience to have before maybe hiking the pacific crest or for those in washington there is the 90-mile wonderland trail which looks incredible even things like the 200 mile vermont long trail would be great practice or of course the 100 mile you into high line trail in utah texas has the 90 mile lone star trail and the list goes on and on and on really nearly every state has some shorter trail some shorter hike that you can get out and find your legs on and later when you're doing your 2000 mile hike you can tell others that you're around about this shorter trail that you did previously but you don't necessarily have to find a shorter through hike maybe you live close to the appalachian trail or the pacific crest trail or maybe you live close to a longer trail then you can also do a section hike of that trail of any distance that you should want just getting out on that super long trail near home setting aside a few days or however many days you want and just seeing how far you can get i know doing a section hike doesn't have that same romantic aspect as doing a through hike but i promise no matter the distance or the trail that you choose you can still have a life changing experience on it personally some of my best experiences have been on these shorter trails so let's get back to the original question here which trail should you do and i don't mean the shorter trails as i think probably the one that's closest to home is the best one but i mean which uber long trail should you do and this may sound obvious to some but i think you should do the trail that calls to you most so hear me out on this one a lot of the people that want to hike the triple crown the at the cdt and the pct start with the appalachian trail because in a lot of ways it's the easiest logistically you can learn a lot on it it's the most convenient and accessible to thru-hike but maybe you want to hike the continental divide trail and that's the one that calls to you the most that there's something about those vast wilderness that you would be passing through hiking above tree line or hiking through the snow in colorado or being in grizzly country up in montana and wyoming maybe it's that challenge that calls to you the most i think potentially that is the one you should go for despite maybe the fears you're having about it certainly hiking a harder trail first i can't stress this enough you need to do a lot more research before going out on that you know the appalachian trail you can kind of set out and figure it out along the way something a little bit harder you really want to be a little bit more prepared for something like that but i say you should go for that one because in the end you may only have one chance at doing this say you go off and hike the appalachian trail when really you wanted to hike the continental divide trail instead you come home you find the man or woman of your dreams maybe you find the career of your dreams and you never get to hike another long trail again you know this may sound silly but it happens to a lot most people that hike a long distance trail only wind up doing one i think in a lot of ways it's when they come home you know life catches back up you know they're running out of money or they're looking for a new career and they wind up settling down in the meantime while they're planning out that next hike and then they just never quite get to do that next hike now my reasoning for why you would never get to hike again you know finding the love of your life is a pretty optimistic reason but i'm sure you could come up with a lot worse scenarios on your own as to why someone may never hike a long trail again so you may have had a wonderful experience on the appalachian trail or maybe you didn't but you will always wonder what it would have been like on the continental divide trail instead or the pacific crest trail instead or the pacific northwest trail or the great divide trail so i think you should follow your heart and do what calls to you most some may require more research and planning than others but in the end i think it would really be worth it so i say do what you love after failing my first through hike attempt on the appalachian trail in 2012 i came back four years later after doing loads of shakedown hikes training very hard and doing a lot of research i came back and not only hiked the appalachian trail but i hiked five 000 miles from quebec canada all the way south to key west florida including the appalachian trail i attribute my success to that research planning and training going out and doing these shorter trails these section hikes before going after that big one having to quit your job that maybe you really like and leave your life which maybe you really like is very very hard even if you don't like it so i think you should make that worth it in every way that you possibly can so there's a lot of cool trails out there and i hope ultimately this series as a greater whole is very useful to you in getting out and doing them so thank you for watching this first episode i look forward to having you back for the next one don't forget to like this video and subscribe to this channel for more videos like this and of course videos of my own hikes on long trails across the country so i'll see you next video where we talk about how you can prepare for your first long distance hike

Channel: JupiterHikes

Views: 100,640

Rating: 4.9505105 out of 5

Keywords: how to thru hike, how to hike, how to backpack, thru hike, thru hiking, appalachian trail thru hike, pacific crest trail thru hike, backpacking, hiking, ultralight backpacking, ultralight hiking, ultralight, super ultralight, long distance trail, long distance hiking, uinta highline trail, superior hiking trail, sheltowee trace trail, appalachian trail, pct, national scenic trail, national recreation trail, california hiking, florida trail, section hike, section hiking, nst, at

Id: Ytk9jAkTuA4

Length: 17min 40sec (1060 seconds)

Published: Thu May 28 2020