If you've never gone long distance hiking before, you might wonder what it's really like. Most folks have been out on a day hike at some point. Few are brave or dumb enough to go overnight. Especially when overnight is more like overmonth.
Your perspective changes a great deal when you're hiking long distance. Short distances (say, five miles) are barely noticeable. After a month or two on the trail, I walk that far on autopilot, easily. I keep an eye out for pretty, interesting, or dangerous things, but otherwise my head is somewhere else. A mile is barely worth mentioning. You walk that far to get water or use a privy******. When you're figuring distance, "only" forty miles is a normal thing to say.
For me I think this happens because if I focused on every inch, I'd lose my mind. Actually feeling and thinking about the effort of all that work would make it so hard that I wouldn't want to do it. Instead, I am soothed by the flow of endorphins. I let the scenery glide past me. When the terrain is easy, I stride out and enjoy the feel of my body working the way it's supposed to. When the terrain is hard, I take small, regular steps, breathe deeply, and think about something else.
To summarize: the hiking is hard, especially when you have a full pack. I ignore it.
You might wonder what it's like to sleep outside. Is it scary? Sometimes. Infrequently, there are bears. Those can be scary. But mostly it's the sound of the wind in the leaves, trees creaking, and owls. There might be rain, and if you're lucky your tent is actually waterproof. Or the roof of the shelter you're staying in.* Or the tarp over your hammock. If you're not lucky, you're going to get damp. You can sleep through it, if you've been hiking all day. But sometimes just lying there in your sleeping bag, listening to rain on the roof, is really nice.
If you're in a shelter or established camping area, you're probably near other people. Maybe *really* near, like four inches away. There is a good chance the person to either side of you is a total stranger. I can't explain it, but I generally find it very comforting to sleep next to people this way. ** It provides a kind of impersonal intimacy. But in a nice way, not in a creepy hooker way. They're there if something happens (bears, mice, dangerous people) but they probably are not going to bother you if you don't want to be bothered. Because they want to be asleep, because they're tired too.
Sometimes these strangers provide conversation around a fire or a picnic table. Sometimes these strangers turn into lifelong friends.
A common question about trail life is "What do you eat?" And the answer is "Whatever I can carry." My tastes change as I get tired of whatever I'm carrying. The most important factors are shelf life and weight. The weight factor dropped away for me after I got stronger (and contrarily less interested in hiking long miles each day.) So the most important thing for me is food not spoiling. My food bag*** is perhaps not typical****, but I'll tell you some things that are likely to be in it:
Fresh cherries, raisins, prunes, dried mango, dried pineapple, apples, carrots, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, peanut butter, nutella, crusty french bread, bagels (blueberry, egg, chocolate chip, plain, or everything), crackers, oreos, peanut butter crackers, granola bars, power bars, gummi bears, olive oil, spicy thai chili flavor tuna (I got sick of regular tuna), beef jerky (teriyaki or regular), almonds (salted or wasabi soy flavor), gorp, pretzels, doritos, ramen, Knorr sides with extra veggies, fruit treats, Combos, Nutrigrain bars, Rice Krispy treats, instant mashed potatoes, bacon bits, Spam, pepperoni, drink mixes, and hard candy. Less likely occupants include hummus, other foil pack meats like shrimp or chicken, cashews, oranges, small bottles of booze, boxed wine, or whatever catches my eye at the market.
I fill up on fresh veggies and meat in town, if possible. Some "towns" are just a gas station or a Dollar General. Usually you can at least get a Coke. Which I crave on the trail, BTW. At home I drink diet, caffeine free drinks. On the trail I want a Coke. I hunger for them. I dream about them. I don't know why.
Long distance hiking involves a lot of hunger. It's just very difficult to eat enough to supply for your energy needs. I eat pretty much all day every day, because I keep snacks in a fanny pack where I can get at them. Other hikers instead stop regularly to eat and rest. As a slow hiker, I would never get anywhere if I did that, so I eat on the move. Not that I mind. I like it the way I do it.
Other topics that I might address later include: keeping clean, pooping, clothes, staying in touch with civilization and other hikers, weight loss, chafing, blisters, choosing gear, hostels, lingo, trail journals, being a woman on the trail, trail angels, trail institutions, hiker stank, snakes, sex on the trail, loneliness, dogs, hills, slippery rocks, hitchhiking, staying warm, water treatment, and essential gear.
*On the Appalachian Trail, which is where I mostly hike, there are man made shelters every so often. If they're not full you can stay in them. They are typically not fancy. Mostly, they are large shed-like buildings, maybe 8x12. They have a wooden floor, walls on three sides, and a slanted roof. If you walk up and there's an empty spot, you can sleep there. It's that simple.
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| Goddard Shelter, with some people sleeping in it***** |
**Well, maybe I can explain it after all.
***Food is carried in a bag or bags inside your backpack, except in serious bear country where you must carry it in a bear proof canister. The bags are hung at night to keep animals out of your food. Because it is extremely aggravating to wake up two days from civilization and find out that all your food has been eaten by someone else.
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| My foodbag next to my food, one night at dinner. I later hung it in a tree a hundred feet from my tent. |
****I eat a lot fewer Snickers bars than the average long distance hiker.
*****All shelters have names
******A privy is an outhouse or related structure
