M. E. (Postcard) Hughes - The Thru-Hikers Secret: Wisdom from a Two-Time, Joyful Appalachian Trail Thru-Hiker

The Thru-Hikers Secret

Wisdom from a Two-Time, Joyful Appalachian Trail Thru-Hiker

M.E. PostcardHughes

Print ISBN: 978-1-48357-763-0

eBook ISBN: 978-1-48357-764-7

2016 M.E. PostcardHughes. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

A special thank you to my fellow outdoor enthusiast and grammar guru, Dan Duffy.

He guided me through the befuddling labyrinth of semicolons, hyphens and my Yoda-esque tendencies - all which can be as treacherous as roots, rocks, and ruts.

The Big Picture.

The first step one takes in a thru-hike is the decision to go.

An Appalachian Trail thru-hike is one of the greatest gifts to yourself. It is a true-life, walking adventure in a digital, stay- put world. The journey can provide new perspectives, renewal for life and even reorder ones priorities. A thru-hike is to live large, to live simply and step beyond the timid existence of suburbia. Backpacking for months from Georgia to Maine, however, can be far from a smooth journey.

To understand all that a thru-hike entails before it is hiked is practically impossible, and yet many hikers set out on this grand adventure without a lick of experience. Imagine trying to climb Mt. Everest without ever climbing any kind of mountain? But one of the greatest aspects of the AT is that anyone can attempt it. Packs and pumps and all kinds of trail doodads are hoisted on broad shoulders, chins are raised with courage, hikers point themselves toward the horizon and take a step and then, well everyone gets a simple lesson in gravity.

Of the couple of thousand who begin their journey on the AT each season, only a few hundred will find the rhythm of trail life and complete the 2000 miles of mountain forests. To put it simply: not making it is normal. The greater their transition from cityness to the hiking wilderness, the better the odds of succeeding favor them.

To no fault of their own, many will face physical and emotional adversaries they couldnt possibly have foreseen. A surprising amount of insecurities that have lay dormant - hidden deep inside them by suburban distraction - will bubble up; the isolation of the woods is a powerful trigger. Working 9 to 5 does little to prepare individuals for the enormity of a thru-hike; fortunately it doesnt limit the imagination to what may lie over the horizon.

In backpacking, going out for a couple nights, a couple weeks or a couple months are remarkably similar. The same gear is required regardless of the duration of the hike. Where they differ is in how much food youll carry and what will find you. Challenges or adversity in a multi-day backpacking trip may indeed make their presence known, but in long-distance backpacking or thru-hiking, everything that can happen absolutely, positively will. The tangible events rain, cold, heat, elevation gains, insects, sunshine, cool breezes, fresh air and mileage will be joined in lock step with the intangible ones - joy, elation, melancholy and despair. It is these intangible, emotional dynamics that tend to unravel many hikers resolve of becoming a Thru-Hiker.

Its often said that an AT thru-hike is 90% mental. Id like you to rethink that word mental and replace it with emotional strength. Your emotional strength and the decisions made before and during the journey will be crucial. Safe guarding, even enhancing your emotional strength will be multi-dimensional and a top priority.

When one takes a quick glance at all that hikers face and have to adapt to, first and foremost are quite a few mountains. It is a mountain footpath after all. Where theres a footpath theres a foot and where theres a foot theres a possible blister. Traveling by foot means walking in to wildlife encounters black bears and bull moose will flush out a cold sweat and the quick scurries of chipmunks will quicken our pulse. Therell be cold days, hot days, wet days and buggy days. Darkness will bring strange sounds and walking alone will bring up feelings of true isolation. Therell be small panic moments that youre lost, that a White blaze hasnt been seen for a while just as one comes in viewPhew.

While there will be feelings of lonliness on the trail, one is never alone for long on the AT. Creepy crawlers and a world of dirt will be everywhere. Youll get hungry even though youll eat all youll see. For months youll be car-less, toilet-less and TV-less. Tripping, falling and more than your fair share of body odor will invade your clothing refusing to leave. Of all the things that will greet a thru-hiker, there is one aspect that offers the biggest challenge: managing the shear enormity.

Doing some rough math of publically-accessible numbers of thru-hike starts and completions by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the governing body of the AT, one discovers that of all who have set out to become a Thru-Hiker over the last decade, only 27% actually made it. A decade earlier saw an even lower completion percentage of 10%. The lightweight gear revolution over the past decade has been a contributor to the improved completion percentage. But 27% percent is still a sobering fact for many.

Having a nice, lightweight tent or hammock, a comfortable backpack and featherweight sleeping bag are all helpful for an end-to-end passage. But the most important thing to carry that increases the odds of succeeding is emotional strength.

Emotional Strength.

Many areas will determine achieving and maintaining your emotional strength:

• The food you eat
• The weight your body must carry
• How you process adversity
• How you process the distance and time
• Finding a daily choreography that suits you
• Your clothing protection
• Transitioning from cityness to wildness
• When to know your hike may be in jeopardy
• The weight and livability of your gear

These are the secrets that this book is all about - the secrets that will increase your odds of earning that coveted moniker Thru-Hiker. Whether achieving that 2000-Miler status by a thru-hike attempt or section hiking if the time commitment of a thru-hike is not in the cards, all will still be relevant.

Having a previous career in consumer communications, working in an advertising agency for 25 years allowed me to hone the art of simplifying the complicated. Throughout The Thru-Hikers Secret , these universal truths and strategies will provide you with a pathway to keep that smile broad and ensure the journey is joyful. I cant walk your miles for you, but my secrets on how to process all that you will face will be with you every hour, day, week and month.

Earlier this year, a hiker who had attended my thru-hiking class held at REI saw me in the store and yelled, Postcard! Having not seen me for a year since the class, he told me he succeeded and shook my hand eleven times in three minutes. Countless others have sent me postcards from Millinocket, the exit town after reaching Mt. Katahdin, saying they carried these principals with every step they took. Truth be told, the reason I came to join REI was to help others succeed at their thru-hikes. Helping others is contagious and a selfish blessing; although the recipient of a kind gesture receives a nice boost of serotonin, so does the giver.

The secrets are proven, not all are my creation, but more the distillation of taking the complicated realities and simplifying them to understandable principals. The Thru-Hikers Secret is all about you having more smiles in your miles.