Mental Preparation

You're excited! You should be! The adventure ahead of you is going to be one of the most transformative experiences of your life. Part of that transformation, however, is going to come at the expense of long, monotonous hours of walking and discomfort the likes of which you've likely never encountered. Every person attempting a thru-hike is motivated, but that initial surge only lasts for so long and your success will come to rest on the discipline you can maintain for months on end.

The trail is a great equalizer. It only does one thing--it offers a footpath from Springer to Katahdin. It doesn't care how much money you spent on gear, how athletic you are, or about your Master's degree. You vs. the trail, plain and simple. The vast majority of the effort will come in mental strength, an intangible quality that some people just seem to have more than others. There's no other way to put it.

At some point in your hike, you're going to come to understand that hiking everyday sort of becomes a job. Days when you simply don't want to hike won't be uncommon, but for a variety of reasons, a successful thru-hike will depend on your ability to get up and walk all day anyway. Not everyone naturally shares the same level of enthusiasm about that prospect. Buckle in and be ready to hike, even when you aren't feeling it.

More hikers quit outright than are taken off the trail by injury, money, or extenuating circumstances. The Appalachian Trail is a famously difficult endeavor because for a very large portion of the many months you spend hiking it, you're going to be quite uncomfortable in some form or another. You'll be experiencing the Appalachian mountain range through multiple seasons, so get ready to face all of the wrath that nature can throw at you. Sometimes is cold and rainy, other times you'll be dripping in sweat while swatting hordes of mosquitoes, almost all of the time some portion of your body will be in pain, you'll always be hungry and tired, and it's highly likely you'll fall and hurt yourself a few times. In these situations, you'll have to decide how you respond, and often successful hikers find comfort in “embracing the suck”, which is to simply be ok with the suffering. Be mindful and present, calm and collected, and accept that this is just part of what you wanted. Every other hiker who has ever finished has gone through these things already, so you can, too!