I really enjoyed reading your first part of your thru hike. I have done thru hikes in my past. I felt your trepidation when your wife dropped you off and you knew you needed to get to the end. I admire you for being out there with no other entertainment, but the forest and the trail. It would give me lots of time to think. Also, I have been on through hikes where we have worried about bears and had to carry bear canisters, which was a pain in the neck. I’ll be interested to hear if you had any issues with bears in your future installments.
Finally, I enjoyed reading your prose about the forest and the trail. I know in my own writing that I need to get more creative with this so you are inspiring me. Thank you for that.
Thanks so much Jenn! Backpacking, photography, and writing are all a work in progress for me, but I find it incredibly rewarding!
Black Bears are fairly common around here. One of the rangers at Table Rock was showing off a trail camera photo of a 450 lb one snooping around at night. Bear canisters aren't required, so I carried my Ursack on this trip. I didn't encounter a bear (spoiler) and all of my campsites except this first one had bear cables for hanging food.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I've never done an overnight hike, much less a thru-hike, but it's on my list. Extended tent camping is the only thing I've done that comes close. I look forward to reading about the rest of your adventure.
You should definitely give it a try! Start somewhere easy, assess what gear works and what you need, and slowly expand your abilities! Let me know if I can help!
Great start to your adventure - I look forward to reading the rest of the trip Erik. I am interested in how your decision not to bring any "entertainment" goes. I always take a book on extended walks for the down time.
I usually do, too. Here, I was hiking almost non stop from sunrise until pitching camp just before bedtime. There wasn't a lot of down time. I did, however, bring a small notepad and pen. Just before going to sleep I spent a little time writing notes of the day and rough drafts of these stories.
That river plunge looked so refreshing. It's hard to imagine it being icy cold because it looks like it should be like a bath. Gorgeous photos of the flora and fauna in there. When you run into others on the same trails does it make you feel less alone or do you just keep plugging on by yourself?
It felt amazing to jump into the river! If it was earlier I would've spent more time swimming, but this was just a quick dip.
That's actually an interesting question about meeting other hikers. I spoke with these two guys a bit. I met the guy with the dog several times the next day, and I met a few others too. But, then there were several I passed without saying a word. I guess it kind of depends on the circumstances. I was wanting this trip to be a solo hike, so I didn't join up with any of them. Thru hiking is its own sub-culture, though. On true long hikes like the Appalachian Trail or Pacific Crest Trail it is pretty common for hikers to develop "Tramilies" (trail families) of other hikers they meet along the way. I think that would be pretty fun to experience.
I don't know why, but talking about hikers meeting up and forming groups reminded me of the Cheryl Strayed movie, Wild. It seemed like such a lonely existence out there yet she still managed to connect with important people in her journey.
I really enjoyed reading about the first part of your trip Erik and the images are lovely. I have never done a long distance path but have often thought about it. I am interested to know how important the photography element is on your trip. Is your primary reason for walking the trail the experience or the image making? I suspect its probably a bit of both but I just wondered if the photography dictated your choice of trail?
Normally, photography is the main purpose of the trip and I choose the destination based on its photographic potential. I have often gone to open mountaintop balds or waterfalls and spent a lot of time taking many photos at these places. This trip was different. I had been focusing on accomplishing longer distance hikes, so the trip itself was the primary purpose and I knew that going into it. Obviously, I brought my camera and I did take some photos (some MUCH better waterfalls are upcoming), but not nearly as many as I normally would because I just didn't have the time to stay in one area.
Thank you Erik, it's interesting to see how people approach trips like this. I look forward to reading about the rest of the journey (and seeing your waterfall shots!) 🙂
My hope is to one day be able to do much longer or remote trips. I'm really just a novice at everything, but I'm trying to challenge myself to do more. If you're interested, Dave Morrow (davemorrowphotography.com) has been a big inspiration and source of info for me.
Really enjoyed your account of this Erik. It has been a while since I've done a thru hike but I can still vividly remember the feelings you describe, and I still carry the lessons learned along the trail with me every day. Looking forward to the next instalment...
For quite a while now, I've been wondering, "darn, when the heck is Erik going to write about his Foothills thru!?" Aaaaaand as it turns out, you HAVE been writing...I just WASN'T SUBSCRIBED! 🤣 I have swiftly remedied this problem.
I love the detail in your writing! And raised an impressed eyebrow at your choice to leave all entertainment behind - no music or podcasts at all! I'm excited to follow along, and I hope this turned out to be the meditative experience you were seeking.
There were stretches that were calm and serene and meditative. But it was tough! I bounced back and forth between being lost in thought or just blown away by the landscape. Honestly, though, there was so little down time that entertainment never crossed my mind after the first day.
For sure! Not sure if this was your experience but my brain liked to fill the void with endless jingles I heard on TV commercials, or little snippets of songs on loop...not great!! 😭
I really enjoyed reading your first part of your thru hike. I have done thru hikes in my past. I felt your trepidation when your wife dropped you off and you knew you needed to get to the end. I admire you for being out there with no other entertainment, but the forest and the trail. It would give me lots of time to think. Also, I have been on through hikes where we have worried about bears and had to carry bear canisters, which was a pain in the neck. I’ll be interested to hear if you had any issues with bears in your future installments.
Finally, I enjoyed reading your prose about the forest and the trail. I know in my own writing that I need to get more creative with this so you are inspiring me. Thank you for that.
Thanks so much Jenn! Backpacking, photography, and writing are all a work in progress for me, but I find it incredibly rewarding!
Black Bears are fairly common around here. One of the rangers at Table Rock was showing off a trail camera photo of a 450 lb one snooping around at night. Bear canisters aren't required, so I carried my Ursack on this trip. I didn't encounter a bear (spoiler) and all of my campsites except this first one had bear cables for hanging food.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I've never done an overnight hike, much less a thru-hike, but it's on my list. Extended tent camping is the only thing I've done that comes close. I look forward to reading about the rest of your adventure.
You should definitely give it a try! Start somewhere easy, assess what gear works and what you need, and slowly expand your abilities! Let me know if I can help!
Great photos! I'll have to read the text later.
Great start to your adventure - I look forward to reading the rest of the trip Erik. I am interested in how your decision not to bring any "entertainment" goes. I always take a book on extended walks for the down time.
I usually do, too. Here, I was hiking almost non stop from sunrise until pitching camp just before bedtime. There wasn't a lot of down time. I did, however, bring a small notepad and pen. Just before going to sleep I spent a little time writing notes of the day and rough drafts of these stories.
That river plunge looked so refreshing. It's hard to imagine it being icy cold because it looks like it should be like a bath. Gorgeous photos of the flora and fauna in there. When you run into others on the same trails does it make you feel less alone or do you just keep plugging on by yourself?
I'm anticipating days 2-5 now!
It felt amazing to jump into the river! If it was earlier I would've spent more time swimming, but this was just a quick dip.
That's actually an interesting question about meeting other hikers. I spoke with these two guys a bit. I met the guy with the dog several times the next day, and I met a few others too. But, then there were several I passed without saying a word. I guess it kind of depends on the circumstances. I was wanting this trip to be a solo hike, so I didn't join up with any of them. Thru hiking is its own sub-culture, though. On true long hikes like the Appalachian Trail or Pacific Crest Trail it is pretty common for hikers to develop "Tramilies" (trail families) of other hikers they meet along the way. I think that would be pretty fun to experience.
I don't know why, but talking about hikers meeting up and forming groups reminded me of the Cheryl Strayed movie, Wild. It seemed like such a lonely existence out there yet she still managed to connect with important people in her journey.
Yes, exactly! Trail magic!
I really enjoyed reading about the first part of your trip Erik and the images are lovely. I have never done a long distance path but have often thought about it. I am interested to know how important the photography element is on your trip. Is your primary reason for walking the trail the experience or the image making? I suspect its probably a bit of both but I just wondered if the photography dictated your choice of trail?
Normally, photography is the main purpose of the trip and I choose the destination based on its photographic potential. I have often gone to open mountaintop balds or waterfalls and spent a lot of time taking many photos at these places. This trip was different. I had been focusing on accomplishing longer distance hikes, so the trip itself was the primary purpose and I knew that going into it. Obviously, I brought my camera and I did take some photos (some MUCH better waterfalls are upcoming), but not nearly as many as I normally would because I just didn't have the time to stay in one area.
Thank you Erik, it's interesting to see how people approach trips like this. I look forward to reading about the rest of the journey (and seeing your waterfall shots!) 🙂
My hope is to one day be able to do much longer or remote trips. I'm really just a novice at everything, but I'm trying to challenge myself to do more. If you're interested, Dave Morrow (davemorrowphotography.com) has been a big inspiration and source of info for me.
I think it's brilliant that you are getting out there and having adventures. Thank you for the link, I will take a look. 🙂
Really enjoyed your account of this Erik. It has been a while since I've done a thru hike but I can still vividly remember the feelings you describe, and I still carry the lessons learned along the trail with me every day. Looking forward to the next instalment...
Haha! I learned some really hard lessons on this trip! But, I'm already looking forward to doing more like it.
For quite a while now, I've been wondering, "darn, when the heck is Erik going to write about his Foothills thru!?" Aaaaaand as it turns out, you HAVE been writing...I just WASN'T SUBSCRIBED! 🤣 I have swiftly remedied this problem.
I love the detail in your writing! And raised an impressed eyebrow at your choice to leave all entertainment behind - no music or podcasts at all! I'm excited to follow along, and I hope this turned out to be the meditative experience you were seeking.
Ahahaha! Well, I'm stoked to have you along! 😁
There were stretches that were calm and serene and meditative. But it was tough! I bounced back and forth between being lost in thought or just blown away by the landscape. Honestly, though, there was so little down time that entertainment never crossed my mind after the first day.
For sure! Not sure if this was your experience but my brain liked to fill the void with endless jingles I heard on TV commercials, or little snippets of songs on loop...not great!! 😭