The Backpacking Tithe Revisited

Thanks for this article Mark!

I’m fortunate enough to live a simple life (low overhead, flexible work, no kids, etc) which gives me quite a bit of time to get in the woods. Each year for the past 6 years, my wife and I have taken a 2-week backpack trip in addition to 1-2 week-long trips and a number of 1-3 night trips. Last fall we did a 30-day trip (ending in your backyard) – the longest trip either of us had done. I should say that these trips tend to be in remote wilderness and we try to stay away from trafficked areas. These are routes that we’ve but together and don’t follow established thru-hiking routes. Thru-hiking likely offers a different experience than we’ve had.

These trips have encouraged us to think about how the length of time out plays a role in what we get from our trips and how they affect us. Obviously, the answers to these questions are very personal and relative to your other experiences. Before I started doing 2-week trips, a week-long trip felt long and committing. Now I can do a week trip with very little planning and it goes by like nothing – it feels like a 3 day trip used to. After last year’s month-long trip, I’m curious how this fall’s 2-week trip will feel! Hopefully someday we’ll do an even longer trip to see what there is to learn.

I’m of the mind that any night spent out in the woods is a good one. When I’m short on time and only have a weekend, I’m just as driven to do a one night trip. But I enjoy the camping aspect and a night spent out in the woods as much as the hiking. I know for some, the camping is just a means to make their hike longer and a night out in the woods is just something that’s tolerated.

To me, a “long” trip is one in which the worries, anxieties, stresses, and routine of everyday life fall away and you’re just left with the present life on the trail. For me, this takes around a week, sometimes more. When I get to this point, I feel absorbed by the routine and life on the trail. Life on the trail may not be easy, but it tends to be simple. We have a well-defined purpose and most tasks we do serve that purpose. Especially on our month trip last year, life on the trail began to feel like “normal” life rather than something we’re doing temporarily.

I’m with Jon.  Eight to ten days (what will fit in our two bear canisters) is about our limit.  When we take off on one of our long car-camping expeditions, that also about how long we go between hot showers.

But we’re old (almost 70) and I’m sure that younger people have more fun with this.

Well said Mark.

I think the term “thru-hike” is fairly useless as a categorical description of a hiking experience. After all, the starts and ends of long-distance trails are fairly arbitrary. They are mostly defined by human politics and history. Geography and ecology are secondary considerations at best.

That said, a long-distance hike is a categorically different experience from shorter hikes. For me, that difference comes at the point where I become wholly immersed in my present surroundings and present experience. It’s when I stop thinking about returning home because I am home.

This is an experience every hiker (and every human being) should have at least once. Maybe there are other ways to get to this state of mind, but walking long distances is the only one I know of.

I wish I had the stamina and physical condition needed to do longer than 2-3 weeks. I always regret coming back. Unless the trip was nothing but type 3 fun, constant rain, etc.

I’ll have to respectfully disagree with Dan about the desirability of thru-hiking the CT. There definitely are a few sections with lots of bike traffic, especially on weekends (Buffalo Creek, Kenosha Pass, Monarch Pass). But the bikers are   courteous and their organizations are major contributors to trail maintenance. I am happy to share the trail with them, even if it gets a bit annoying to have to step off the trail frequently.

There have been a couple of times when a place I planned to camp was already occupied, but nothing like the JMT, where if you don’t have a spot by 4pm you are pretty much out of luck.

The CT is well-maintained, it’s scenery is spectacular (especially the west Collegiate route), it has fun trail towns, there are plenty of places to bail in the first 200 miles if things aren’t working out. It is an excellent choice for a first long-distance hike.

Something I don’t think has been mentioned yet is the difference between a long-duration hike (solo or with a group) and a thru-hike on a known trail. The thru-hike has a social and maybe even a “historical” component that can be part of the charm – many have hiked it before you, several will hike it with you, and many will hike it after you.

You can keep to yourself or make friends as much or as little as you like, but the feeling of traveling a great distance by foot with other people can be special, even if you don’t want to hike with them day after day.