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ACTIVITIES
Walking the Appalachian Trail
Who Are The Thru-Hikers?
by Larry Luxenberg
People used to call an A.T. thru-hike the adventure of a lifetime. Now, it's more like a jumping-off point into the world of adventure. In 1989, Noel"the Singing Horseman" DeCavalcante completed an A.T. thru-hike. In 1990, he paddled the Mississippi River for three and a half months. That same year, one of Noel's 1989 hiking companions, Carol "Lagunatic" Moore, happened upon dim "the Geek" Adams, who was hiking the A.T. with his cat, Ziggy. The Geek was near the end of what he called "the ultimate triathalon vacation." He and Ziggy had paddled the Ohio and the Mississippi the previous fall. After hiking the A.T., they would complete their adventure by bicycling from Maine to their starting point in Pennsylvania. Eventually, the Geek and the Singing Horseman got in touch with each other and traded tips for the rest of their adventures.
Who are these 2,000-milers and why do they hike the A.T.? Moreover, What do they, and the thousands of other hikers, maintainers, and "trail angels" who make up the A.T. community, feel such a strong attachment to the trail?
Common to the 2,000-milers is a spirit of adventure. They are energetic wanderers, open to their dreams. Each requires a powerful impetus to keep going six months, up and down steep mountains, through all kinds of weather. Everyone who backpacks the A.T. experiences discomfort. Only those who can shrug off the miseries and savor the joys of the trail will last.
"The thru-hikers I've met seemed alive," said three-time 2,000-miler Albie Pokrob. "They had a spark in their eye, a wild look, full of life."
As of 1993, nearly three thousand people had reported to ATC that they hiked the entire trail, either in one trip or over many years. Nearly three-quarters have completed their trip since 1980, and 98 percent have done the trip since 1970. Myron H. Avery, one of the principal architects of the trail, was the first to complete it, in 1936, hiking sections over nine years. In 1948, Earl V. Shaffer became the first person to hike the entire trail in one trip—a true thru-hiker.
Thru-hikers are a remarkably diverse group. The youngest to hike the entire trail was Michael Cogswell, who was six in 1980 when he hiked with his parents, Jeffrey and Reina. Jeffrey had previously bicycled across the United States and canoed the Pacific. In an article Jeffrey wrote after they completed the A.T. (in eight and a half months), he quoted Michael as saying, "I learned that anytime I can't do something, all I have to do is try harder."
Ernie Morris completed the trail in 1975 at age eighty-six. He did it in several long stretches over four years, always carrying a heavy backpack. Thru-hikers have come from as far away as England, Australia, Hawaii, and Alaska. The trail has been home to twins, brothers and sisters, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, married couples, groups of college students, speed-hikers, free spirits, and more serious sorts. In recent years, about 20 percent of the thru-hikers have been women. The handicapped have been well represented, including a blind man (two others did half the trail), a three-time hiker with multiple sclerosis, a deaf person, and at least one with a hip replacement. Occupations range from none to retired admiral to Supreme Court justice. Many thru-hikers hold advanced academic degrees, including Ph.D.s, and many dissertations have been written about the trail and related subjects. Doctors, surgeons, and nurses are not unknown, nor are teachers, Alaskan fish canners, engineers, clergymen, or those pursuing "alternative lifestyles." A large number are retired military men. Eagle Scouts are common. Some are artists, singers, rangers, and outdoor educators.
What you generally will not find are genuine mountain men. Many thru-hikers can't even identify poison ivy. Few of today's hikers have grown up on farms or even in rural areas. Roger Brickner, who has met more 2,000milers than all but a handful of people, says thru-hikers hail mostly from the suburbs.
Not surprisingly, long-distance hikers tend to be introverts. Dr. O. W. "Red Owl" Lacy, a psychologist, has studied the personalities of 2,000 milers and trail activists for more than a decade, compiling profiles of more than eight hundred hikers, including five hundred thru-hikers. He found that introverts are twice as common among 2,000-milers as among the general population. In the population at large, two-thirds to three-quarters are extroverts. Among hikers, two-thirds are introverts. "That's an overwhelming discrepancy. It's a clear-cut and well-established profile," said Dr. Lacy (who completed the trail in 1980 after a decade of walking bits and pieces).
Particular types of introverts that are rare in general are common among 2,000-milers. At the other end , of the spectrum, few thru-hikers are extreme extroverts. It makes sense, because even hikers who complete the whole trail with a partner usually walk alone a large part of the day.
Although "everyone needs to extrovert a little every day," too much socializing drains introverts and energizes extroverts. "The introvert gets his or her energy from the inner world of ideas and feelings and images," says Ds Lacy. "Extroverts get their energy from the outer world of activity, of people and things. The large majority of the population prefers to see the world in terms of facts, what's tangible. But among hikers, two-thirds prefer to see the world in terms of possibilities.
Perhaps the archetypal personality of a long-distance hiker was that of Henry David Thoreau. He was an independent loner, a lover of nature, a dreamer. Although he didn't take many long hikes, he was comfortable for long periods with his own company. Throughout his life, he had trouble reconciling himself to the dictates of society.
Since few extreme extroverts are on the trail, they stand out. One day in April 1980, Rick Hancock, Jeff "the Chief" Laverdiere, and A1 "A.T. A1" Sochard decided to hike under a full moon north from Hot Springs, North Carolina. "We did it," Rick said, "and we wanted everyone to know we did it." What they did was hike twenty miles to Little Laurel Shelter, arriving well after midnight singing a loud chorus of "When the Saints Come Marching In." They roused a packed shelter and a half dozen hikers tenting nearby. "Just about everybody was mad at us," Rick said. "Looking back on it, we shouldn't have done it."
Despite the extreme physical effort needed to complete the trail, most thru-hikers do not possess special athletic prowess. In fact, strong athletes are more likely to aggressively challenge the trail and exit with injuries than are the frail and the cautious. Most 2,000-milers say attitude and determination are far more important than strength and conditioning. Women less than ninety pounds have hiked the trail with full backpacks. An early thru-hiker, Grandma Gatewood, said "Head is more important than heel."
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