Date: 2023-07-31
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Miles today: 0.0

It has been a week since I summited Katahdin to finish my thru-hike. Now at home, 7 hot showers and 21 real meals later, I realize that I have some additional information to share that might be of use to future hikers, plus some reflections on the full adventure. This entry is advice driven, the next will be more equipment-based, and the final will be reflective.I did a lot of research for this hike. A LOT. Mostly from the same sources that everyone else uses, so I thought it might be helpful to list out the things that came as a surprise despite that research.Your body will harden to the point that the elevation gains will not be an issue. If you get fit in advance, this will happen faster. By the time I reached the Smokies on the first leg (HF-GA) and NH on the second leg (HF-ME), my body was more than ready to roll out of my sleeping bag and knock off 4-5000 ft of elevation. Didn¢t stop once up Blood Mountain. Didn¢t stop (except to wolf down a snack) up Katahdin. Can¢t say I always enjoyed it, but I really stopped worrying about the elevation profile for the next day. The change was much more than simply ¢trail legs¢ would have led me to expect - some days I didn¢t recognize my own body in terms of what it could do.Your mind will harden, too, in terms of what you consider challenging. 20+ mile day? Yes, if I need to. Vertical/semi-technical rock climbing? Sure. Crossing high streams? Done carefully, sure. Hiking through water and mud? Bears? Rattlers? Pfui. The hardening was much more noticeable in the north (primarily NH/ME, but a couple of sections in PA and NY). You need to be prepared and rested physically to go through this mental metamorphosis up north - hikers that were already stressed often hit the wall with these additional challenges and left trail.  They say it gets harder in NH and ME, but they don¢t tell you why.  I always assumed it was because the mountains were higher and more frequent, so more elevation. Wrong (well, true, but that wasn¢t the reason it was harder). For me, NH and ME were harder because the downhill sections were very difficult, particularly in the rain. Vertical and rocky, meaning any mistake is painful, if not bone-breaking and hike-ending. Requiring enormous focus and slow and careful precision. Very few thru-hikers I spoke to complained of the climbs. You could see the whites of their eyes when they talked about the descents (Moosilake, Kinsmans, Garfield, Madison, Bigelows, Katahdin). The other thing harder about NH and ME was the importance of weather in your planning, similar to snowstorms in the Smokies. Some summits (Mt Washington, Mt Katahdin) weren¢t feasible in bad weather; some sections (Kinsmans, Mahoosucs, Wildcats) were far more difficult in the rain; streams swelled to be unpassable, particularly in the 100 Mile Wilderness. The only way to stay sane (and safe) in NH and ME is to make sure you have spare days in your plan so that you can pace yourself and time the weather.Hostels are a linchpin to your hike. Going into my hike I had viewed hostels as a place to get a bed every 3-5 days. They were actually much more - a source of community, to meet other hikers; a source of tips on upcoming sections, from both hikers and hostel owners (many of whom knew their areas very well); an oasis of recovery for sore bodies and wet gear. Particularly in GA, VA, and ME, the hostels were excellent and put a focus on helping hikers to succeed. I know they helped me.Friction is important. Your shoe¢s grip on its walking surface is crucial to your safety. Roots (wet vs dry), rocks (wet vs dry, rock type, different angles), bog boards (wet vs mildewed vs dry), mud - I found myself paying a lot of attention to how much grip I had in different situations. Particularly up north, where you are scaling a lot of rock, the degree of grip you have completely determines your route up the rock face. My first shoe change was to get a better grip (Vibram) after several falls. Slimy bog boards, in particular, were kryptonite to me. Make sure your shoes have good grip and replace them when the grip wears down. I went through 6 pairs of shoes. The trail changes throughout its length.  Yes, I knew this intellectually. But somehow I imagined that the Appalachian Trail was one big green tunnel with bigger and smaller mountains. It isn¢t. There is certainly a lot of ¢green tunnel¢ - forest trail sheltered under spreading canopy. But there are also balds, and alpine zones, and bogs, and ponds. Sheer granite slabs and boulder fields and cliffs and notches. Conifer and hardwood forests. Rivers and streams. Trail design varies too, by state and club. If you've done one section of the AT, you haven't done the AT. For a thru-hiker who gets to experience this all in a short period of time, it creates a broad canvas of experiences and memories.A 2 person tent is 30-40% more weight but 3 times more comfortable than a 1 person tent. The ability to have all your gear in the tent with you, rather than outside, is pretty convenient. But WHEN IT RAINS, being able to separate out wet and dry areas in your tent is a lifesaver. Ever try to strip off wet clothes in a tent and keep the inside of the tent dry? It is really hard. Also - bugs in Maine are a real issue, and can make shelters uninhabitable. You will spend more time in your tent. It¢s nice to have the space to stretch out.Where you are in the bubble will have a significant impact on your hike. Just in ways that are difficult to predict.  When I did the southern leg (HF-GA) in the fall, there were relatively few other hikers, and those that were there were SOBOs or FF¢s on their 2nd leg, so faster and more experienced than I was. It was pretty quiet in terms of community and I needed to go to a hostel to meet more than 2 hikers at a time. When I did the northern leg (HF-ME), I intentionally started off with the FF bubble¢¦which was great and convivial for the first couple of nights. But I hadn¢t planned for the fact that I would be trail hardened and they (having just started) would not be. So I started drifting forward, losing most of the flip floppers and joining the tip of the early/fast NOBOs. Fast NOBOs were generally younger, and certainly faster than I was. It took a while to start tracking with a consistent group through Vermont, NH, and Maine. On the other hand - on neither leg did I encounter the full bubble, so never had a problem with shuttle and hostel reservations or shelter capacity. No firm recommendation here, but just be aware and patient. It will eventually settle out and you will find a group to track with. Solo hikers are at a disadvantage in Maine. I am a pretty committed solo hiker, with a strong point of view about not compromising on speed and distance just to be able to match up with other compatible personalities, and before my hike was largely unconvinced by the case for tramilies. I was lucky to team up with great partners in both the South and the North for a portion of my hike, but never felt hiking solo was a clear disadvantage until I got to Maine. Crossing high rivers, making your way through Mahoosuc Notch, and working down tricky descents are best done as group activities, and knowing someone was watching my back was a real asset.That¢s it. Most everything else I needed to know was readily available from reading Trail Journals, books, or Reddit.My next entry will focus more on equipment.