How to Plan Your 1st Thru-Hike

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Pinhoti Trail Gear Video - https://youtu.be/EsCCh6nGwlM

How to Train for a Thru-Hike - https://youtu.be/ekP92ksyIP0

AT Gear List - https://darwinonthetrail.com/2016/05/03/darwins-2016-at-gear-list/

AZT Section Gear List - https://darwinonthetrail.com/2017/09/22/darwins-2017-azt-section-hike/

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Tags: Appalachian Trail,AT,AT Thru Hike,Thru-Hike,UL Backpacking,UL Hiking,PCT,Pacific Crest Trail,PCT Thru Hike,Hiker Trash,UL Gear,UL Backpacking Gear,Pinhoti Trail,Arizona Trail,CDT,AZT,Zpacks,Backpacking,Hiking,Camping,Adventure,Long Distance Hiking,Pinhoti Trail Thru Hike

Video Transcription

hey guys it's Darwin here with some tips and steps on how to plan for your first through hike

[Music]

all right so as most of you know I am about to start through hiking the pinhole trail on February 4th and then I'll be starting my through hike of the PCT on April the 3rd so obviously I am in the stages of planning those through hikes

now I remember back before snuggles and I did the 80 in 2015 there was a lot of planning to do because we were new at it we didn't really know what to expect we didn't know what towns to resupply in we needed to do a lot of research for our first through hike I get questions all the time on where do I start how do I start putting everything into motion and what are the steps I need to take if I'm thinking about taking four to six months wandering off into the woods and doing my first long-distance hike so I figured I would kind of put together a list of some tips and tricks and just some steps to get you down the right path for your first trail

alright so number one is pretty simple pick a trail there are tons of long distance trails in the US right now and I'm not just talking about the three big ones the Appalachian Trail the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail but there are a ton of smaller trails and even larger trails maybe you want to do a thru-hike of four to six months or maybe you just want to do a month or maybe you just want to do a three week through hike chances are there is some long distance trail out there somewhere that you can do your first through hike on so some recommendations would be get on Google and just type in national scenic trails there is a whole list of all the national scenic trails that are registered and there's a big list of some that aren't necessarily registered yet one of my favorite sources is on Wikipedia you can type in national scenic trails and there is a massive list that will tell you all the trails where they're located their start point their end point and their mileage so maybe you want to do something that's really close and that's just in your backyard or maybe you want to go to the complete other side of the country and hike in some environments that you've never experienced

chances are you're gonna find a trail that's perfect for you now if this is your first long-distance trail or through hike I would consider starting about a year in advance so kind of pick you know what time in your life that you want to go do this through hike give yourself about a year of planning that way you can save up money you can get all your gear dial down and you can learn as much as you possibly need to know about the trail before you get out there so now that you've picked out a trail that you want to do and you have about a year to plan for it make a commitment make a commitment to yourself that you're going to do this long-distance trail make a commitment to yourself that you're gonna take on this challenge and start getting engulfed in all the knowledge that you can possibly get about the trail and then number two is do your research start watching all the documentaries that you can start reading all the books that you can get your hands on watch YouTube videos of other people's hikes listen to recommendations find some internet forms to read through about terrain and resupply points and and water caches really dig into every piece of knowledge that you can gain from that trail and then figure out how much it's gonna cost you to hike that trail which brings us to number three which is make a budget and save figure out what type of hike that you want to have do you want to have a very minimalistic hike where you don't do a lot of resupplying in towns and you pretty much send yourself mail drops all the time do you want to have a hike where you're resupplying every single town that you come to you stop at restaurants you get a beer every once in a while in a local bar figure out what type of hiker you are and what type of hike that you want to have now I would say that a typical through hike of something like the Appalachian Trail is gonna cost you about a thousand dollars a month now that's not being super minimalistic because you can definitely do it for a lot cheaper but a thousand dollars is a really good starting point a thousand dollars is gonna get you a whole month of resupplying on the trail maybe sending yourself a few drop boxes staying in a hostel every once in a while maybe taking a zero every 10 or 15 days and doing a couple small extras here and there just to keep things lively and exciting or maybe you want some of the finer things on the trail and every time you come into a town you want to stay at a bed-and-breakfast so a good example of what I'm talking about it snuggles and I spent in our entire hike we spent ten thousand dollars and that's for two people so you can kind of divide that up as being five thousand dollars a person but a guy that we hiked with for over thirteen hundred miles spent eight thousand dollars on his entire hike so you can definitely do it cheaper you can definitely do it for a lot more money but I would say the average is about a thousand dollars a month now whatever you decide that your budget is I would recommend also saving an extra thousand to two thousand dollars just in case you blow through your budget or something happens whenever you're out on the trail it's also good to have a small nest egg for whenever you get off the trail and you come back to society to where you're not a completely broke hiker so figure out your budget and start saving number four is get your gear so you have a year to figure out what gear is gonna work best for you start doing research on what types of gear that you might need for the certain hike that you're doing you know if you're hiking the Appalachian Trail you're gonna need a little bit different gear than if you're hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and you're gonna need different gear on the Pacific Crest Trail versus hiking something like the Great Divide Trail so figure out what type of gear that other hikers are using on the hike that you're gonna be doing and start looking into that remember just because one hiker says that that gear works for them doesn't mean that it's gonna work for you get out as much as possible on the trail and do your shakedown hikes it is so important there are so many hikers that just get gear off of recommendations and they think it's gonna work for them they get out on the trail and in those first few days they figure out it's not working for them at all then they have to get to someplace like Neil's gap on the Appalachian Trail

and start switching out their gear if you don't do it before you get out on the trail you're gonna spend more money when you're out there which is gonna lower your budget for your hike number five is hike man that sounds simple but again you would not believe how many people I've talked to on the trail that said that they had never really went hiking they had done day hikes but they had never really been out on the trail for a night there are some hikers that somehow can get out on a long-distance trail and have never been on the trail before and get from point A to point B and I find that absolutely amazing personally I want to get as much experience as I possibly can hiking and getting into hiking shape making sure I can do that before I get out there even if you don't have any trails near you load your pack up with all your gear and maybe walk to work one day I've done that before maybe go to your local park and just walk laps around the park the best way to train for a hike is to hike which is why I'm gonna go out and do a small through hike of the pinhole trail before my PCT through hike because that's the best way to train getting out on the trail getting your hiker legs and getting used to carrying your gear number six is throw your plans out the window there are a lot of hikers that in that year are gonna make all these plans to when they're gonna resupply and how many calories that they need a day and what 0 days that you're gonna take things never go as planned on the trail so don't put your brain through more stress of making these plans and trying to live up to these expectations that is probably not gonna happen anyways just get out there you'll figure it out on the trail go with the flow and enjoy your hike number seven is put your life on hold so now that you have spent a year figuring out what type of trail that you want to hike you've saved all this money and you know what your budget is you have all your gear dialed down you've been doing all these hikes and getting yourself in shape mentally and physically it's time to put your life on hold start figuring out how you go about going to your boss and asking them for six months off work or if you're just gonna have to quit your job and figure it out when you get back figure out what you're gonna do with your house your apartment are you gonna have to get out of your lease are you gonna get someone to rent your house for six months you need to figure that out to get ready your car insurance for six months you're not going to be driving your car so get a hold of your insurance company and figure out if you can put a hold or a freeze on your car insurance from four to six months get all of your stuff in line and all planned out for whenever you step off onto the trail because you don't want to have to be dealing with any of that while you're out there on your hike so get your plan figure it out and put your life on hold alright guys number eight is the most exciting one and that is hit the trail you've spent an entire year completely planning for your hike you have all your gear dialed down and you know it's gonna work for you you have your budget set into place and a little bit extra for nest egg you've told your job see ya I'm leaving for six months you have your house run it out to some friends or some family members you've put your insurance on freeze because you're not gonna be driving your car it's time to hit the trail get out there get to work tackling miles and enjoying your journeys some people are only ever gonna do this one hike and then that's it so get on the trail and enjoy every single day of it meet as many people as you possibly can make connections stop off and see an overlook take a picture capture that enjoy the trail because whenever you get off the trail I can tell you firsthand that you're always gonna think back at it being one of the greatest times your life embrace the suck don't quit on a bad day take nothing for granted and hike on alright guys so hopefully those tips will help you start planning your hike for the next hiking season if you've decided to start planning a hike congratulations on taking that first step it's an amazing journey not only being on the trail and doing that hike but the whole the whole process planning for your hike is just it's awesome it's so exciting to everyday think about this amazing journey that you're gonna take and taking those steps to get you out on the trail what are some things that I left out and how to plan for your first thru-hike some of you seasoned hikers out there leave something in the comment box below let the community know on a tip or a trick that you have for planning for your first through hike if you haven't had a chance yet go over and check me out on Instagram I've been posting a lot of new photos lately of some of the things that snuggles and I have going on throughout the week plus some pictures from some past Heights if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and as always guys thanks for watching [Music]

[Applause]

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