10 Things No One Tells You about Thru-Hiking

1. You’ll hurt all the time.

It’s true. There are aches and pains every day. I think that when we first started hiking, I had this idea that after a couple weeks I’d magically wake up with my trail legs and every day would be easy. Wrong! Every day is hard. Even as your body becomes stronger, you simply push yourself that much harder. And you learn to live with some discomfort. This discomfort part is ultimately what makes the hike so rewarding.

2. You’ll realize your limitations are mental, not physical.

When we first started our hike on the Appalachian Trail, Paul was convinced he couldn’t hike 20 miles. We had many days where we hiked 17, 18, or 19 miles, and yet he still doubted we could break the 20-mile barrier. Then, one day, we hiked with another hiker, and we covered 23 miles. It felt the same as hiking 19. Suddenly we started hiking 20 miles every day. We realized how much our perceived limit was not physical at all, but mental.

Eventually, on the PCT, we found ourselves hiking over 40 miles in a day, something I had never even imagined when we first started on this adventure. You can do more than you think you can. Thru-hiking will really show you what your body is capable of, and you’ll be impressed with yourself.

3. You won’t find the answers you’re looking for.

A lot of us are drawn to trail life because we are dissatisfied with consumer culture, corporate culture, or we struggle to conform to societal expectations. The trail gives us plenty of time to grapple with life’s big questions, but don’t expect to find any magical answers. If you are questioning the direction of your life right now, you’ll still be doing so when you return from the trail. In fact, you may find yourself even more disillusioned with the expectations of society. If you’re lucky and open, you’ll stumble into new opportunities, but don’t expect to come away from the trail with any clarity on what you should do with your life.

4. You’ll be bored a lot.

Thru-hiking at its core is just walking. Every day you wake up and you walk all day. Not every day has great scenery, some days are hot and miserable, some days you just don’t feel like it. And this could persist for weeks. You have hours and hours to spend with your own thoughts, putting one foot in front of the other. A lot of people get tired of it and decide they are done hiking. But for those who walk through that boredom, there is something rewarding about coming through the other side. You have to endure the boredom and the discomforts if you want to thru-hike an entire trail.

5. You’ll talk a lot about poop. And food. And gear.

Every thru-hiker has a good poop story. And we’re all hungry all the time. And we all check out each other’s gear. This is 90% of conversations on the trail.

6. You’ll have a lot to think about.

When you walk all day every day, you’ve got a lot of time to spend with your thoughts. You might be expecting to have deep insights as you wander, but really, random things pop into your head. You’ll think about people no longer in your life, about fights you’ve had, about the job you no longer work at. Random songs will pop into your head for no apparent reason. Your mind is free to wander, and all these random thoughts do actually help you work through things, even if you don’t realize it at the time.

7. You will miss the simple things.

On the one hand, thru-hiking will open your eyes to just how little we need to survive and to be happy. On the other hand, you will come to appreciate some of the things you took for granted. When we were hiking, one thing I missed the most was sleeping late and drinking coffee in bed in the morning. I especially longed for this on cold and wet mornings. I also missed the luxury of having an indoor bathroom when I would have to get up to pee in the middle of a cold night. You’ll find yourself missing some simple little thing too, and you’ll appreciate it that much more when you are back at home.

8. You’ll be part of a new community.

There are now two types of people in my worldview: those who have taken (or plan to take) a long period of time away from the rat race to pursue an adventure, and those who never have or will. The people I work with day in and day out cannot relate to this experience, and some cannot fathom living a life that is not paycheck to paycheck. This can make it hard to relate to people in the real world.

On the other hand, when I meet a fellow thru-hiker or adventurer, we immediately identify with one another, and we bond over our common experience. There are thru-hikers and vagabonds everywhere, and you will find yourself welcomed into those communities. You’ll have found your people.

9. You will come home more confident.

Remember when I said your limitations are mental, not physical? Once you realize this, you’ll start to understand that you are capable of more than you ever dreamed. Once you finish a lofty goal that the vast majority of people give up on, you’ll know what you’re made of. You’ll return to the real world a more confident and self assured individual.

10. Your values will change.

As you return home, you’ll find your priorities have shifted without you noticing. You might reexamine your relationship with stuff. You’ll likely have a different attitude about work. You will understand that a simple life can bring lasting happiness that consumer goods never could. You’ll realize that meaningful relationships are more rewarding than money. And you’ll know that hard work, when it comes from your own motivations, is more rewarding than any job. You probably know these things already, but you’ll understand them on a deeper level because you’ll have lived it.