10 Mistakes Thru-Hikers Newbies Make

You’re sure to make some mistakes while hiking the Appalachian Trail, but you really don’t need to learn everything the hard way. The AT was my first long hike and looking back, I think these are 10 mistakes you can easily avoid.

Hey guys, I’m Liz aka Handstand and I’m back with another Trek collaboration video to share with you 10 mistakes AT hikers make.

So I had the Appalachian Trail specifically in mind when I put them together, but some of them could apply to any hiking or backpacking in general. So whether you’re dreaming of your next hike or just heading out for the weekend, here are some things to keep in mind before hitting the trail.

1) Overplanning

I feel like, especially if it’s your first hike, it’s very easy to get carried away feeling like you need to be prepared. So you’re planning the towns you want to stop in and then the miles you’ll walk each day and where you’ll camp each night, but honestly you’ll end up spending a lot of time doing that and it’ll probably go out the window.

Unless you have experience, it’s really impossible to know exactly how many miles you’ll want to cover each day. You have to listen to your body and feel it. You will also meet other people along the way and plans will change. So don’t waste time planning every detail.

I would say just plan the first town or two you want to stop at, have an idea of ​​the miles, but have some flexibility to allow things to happen and allow your body to get used to your walk.

2) Starting too early in the season

I feel like every year the bubble (most hikers starting, you know, in the same week or something) has moved earlier and earlier, and just normalized, like a February start date, which I feel is very unnecessary.

I started the first week of April when I did the Appalachian Trail in 2018. I feel like it was a good time to start. Of course, it will depend on your experience, but I think the earlier you start, people think they’re giving themselves more time, but they’re not necessarily thinking about all the weather they’ll encounter at the beginning.

So you need a lot more warm clothing and gear if you’re starting in February and you’ll be delayed by snow storms and whatnot. So maybe you started before the bubble, but I feel like you’ll go slower at first and then what was the point of that? For example, if you start a little later, you might have a smoother start and jump.

Cold and rainy.

3) Romanticize the trail

Mistake number three: romanticizing the trail, hike, or adventure. I think it’s very easy to watch videos on YouTube and see the highlights of people’s videos and just think that this is going to be the most amazing adventure of my entire life (sunshine and rainbows) and that’s not really the case.

I mean, it’s an amazing adventure, of course, but there’s a lot of monotony involved in walking back-to-back days, and there’s a lot of tough times to get through due to weather, rain, whatever. So have the right expectations that not all days are good days.

These types of views are rare when you march through the Green Tunnel.

4) Commit to a tragedy

Mistake number four: committing to a tram. This may be controversial, but I just hiked the PCT this year and one of my favorite things about my hike was that it kind of bounced around.

I did part of it alone, I walked part of it with this person, I walked part of it with this group, and that made the experience so incredible. I had a lot of variety on my walk and learned a lot from different people and I wish that to everyone.

Maybe that’s not for everyone, but I think people tend to find someone they vibe with and just stick with them until the end and feel loyal about it, and that’s great. If it’s working, it’s amazing, and that friendship is something you’ll probably take with you for the rest of your life.

But sometimes things happen. Someone gets hurt. Someone wants to detour. Someone wants to move faster. And it can detract from the experience: being insistent on staying as a team.

You’re spending all this time, energy and money on this experience and you have to walk your own walk and do what you want to do. So I think by doing it with an open mind, you will meet people, you will make friends, but it may not work out for the entire trip.

5) Underestimate mental difficulty

Mistake number five: underestimating mental difficulty. I think going on a hike we all know it’s going to be a physical challenge – up and down mountains for 10, 15, 20, 30 miles a day every day – so hopefully we do a lot to prepare physically.

But what’s hardest to prepare for, and why most people don’t do anything about it or think about it, is the mental difficulty you go through.

I would say that the mental challenges are more difficult than the physical challenges, especially on the Appalachian Trail. The rain catches up with you day after day. The monotony of doing the same thing every day, being in the trees all the time; No matter how much you love walking, after months of doing it, it becomes monotonous.

There will be days when you will wake up and say: I don’t feel like doing this today. So being able to get past that and move on is the hard part for most people, which I think is probably reflected in the statistics of how many people finish the trail.

So prepare yourself mentally before the journey, as again it won’t all be sunshine and rainbows and it will be difficult at times.

Do your best to laugh at the misery and you’ll be fine.

6) Listen to those who instill fear

Mistake number six: listening to those who instill fear. There is a lot of fear among Facebook groups or when you are following the trail, even FarOut comments.

It’s important to be able to decipher what’s actually worth considering as a real fear or something to worry about or be prepared for, versus when people are just being really dramatic.

Because if you listen to everything that is scary, you will be stressed all the time and it will not be fun and it will affect the way you walk. Be confident in what your experience is and what you know, and try to figure out why it’s worth worrying about.

7) Setting up too many replenishment boxes

Mistake number seven: setting up replenishment boxes. This one could also be controversial.

I’ve done several resupply boxes on the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail, and most of the time I don’t feel like it was really necessary.

There may be some places where restocking is really limited, especially if you have dietary restrictions or anything that may be necessary for some people. Some people set up resupply boxes for the entire ride, but if you don’t have any restrictions, if you’re somewhat flexible, you can make it all work.

I wouldn’t bother with resupply boxes. I feel like it’s a lot of time and energy to put them together. It costs a lot to send them. Now you depend on the post office to get your box when the post office is open, which just doesn’t work half the time of your walk because you arrive in town on a Sunday or whatever.

So I would just say don’t go crazy in that department. Use them only if you feel you really need them for some reason.

8) Start with too many things

Mistake number eight: This is my favorite: Don’t start carrying everything you think you’ll need for six months because it’s completely unnecessary and adds weight.

For example, you don’t need to start the first day with bug spray, sunscreen, or 98 Band-Aids. You want to start by carrying the bare minimum of what you think you might need for that stretch.

On your first leg, you could be doing three days, four days, or six days, whatever. So do you need 97 band-aids or the number I said? No. Maybe a Band-Aid if something happened to get you into town, and then when you get to town you can buy more Band-Aids if you need them.

Insect repellent: I don’t think I needed it until Connecticut, on the Appalachian Trail. So you may need it at some point, but the idea is: what can you survive without during a five-day stretch from city to city?

If you get to Connecticut and it starts getting buggy and you don’t have bug spray, can you survive three days without bug spray until you get to town and then buy it there? Probably.

So I think it’s a good mindset to approach it. Don’t think of it as carrying everything you need for six months. Think of it as carrying what you will need for five days in a row.

9) Not checking for ticks

Mistake number nine: not checking for ticks.

I was one of the unlucky ones to contract Lyme disease on the Appalachian Trail, which is why I put this there, because I wasn’t really checking religiously for ticks.

I mean, maybe a quick look. I just figured you’d notice it, I guess, if one was biting you or on you. During the six months I probably only took off a few clothes or something, but I definitely didn’t check every night, so I never found a tick.

I never had a target. Not everyone gets the bull’s-eye rash. I started noticing how tired and sore I was, and then at that point I suddenly had crazy fever symptoms: cold sweats and all that.

So I went to an urgent care center and got tested, and yeah, I think we got lucky (or I was lucky) and caught it early so I was able to treat it and I don’t think I’ve had any long lasting chronic symptoms since.

But I think the Northeast is especially central for ticks, so it’s silly not to make that part of your daily routine: checking for ticks.

10) Believe that everything will be easier

And finally, number 10: believe that everything will be easier.

I think it sounds very pessimistic and people probably won’t like this one, but I think on the Appalachian Trail I was under the impression that if you get your trail bits, then it will magically feel easier. Or at first everyone kept saying, «Oh, once you get to Virginia, everything will go down,» and that’s not really the case.

First of all, let’s be clear: Virginia is not flat.

Secondly, what happens is that as you progress on your stretches of trail, and perhaps as the terrain gets easier at some point or in certain sections, what happens is that you naturally end up increasing your miles.

So even though you’re getting physically stronger and maybe physically it’s getting easier, you’re making it harder by doing more miles anyway. So, in my opinion, I never felt like it was getting easier. It always felt pretty difficult.

And I think having the right expectations will help you overcome that.

So those are my 10 mistakes AT hikers make. Do you agree? I wonder.

It’s been a while since I’ve done the Appalachian Trail, so if you have more to add, leave it in the comments below. I hope you have a great day and if you found this helpful, I’ll see you in the next one.

The above is a transcript. Minor edits have been made for clarity and readability, while preserving the original message and intent. This video is part of a new series about Youtube of the trip. Be sure to check the full video and subscribe to our YouTube channel.