Appalachian Trail Record and Other Adventures

Wegl13

So this is random, but there has been a new record set (by a mere 3 hours!) on a supported through hike of the AT by ultra marathon runner Scott Jurek! He did it with a knee and quad injury that he sustained early on in his trek north. For the record, he had to run about 50 miles a day, every day, for 46 days straight. Which is crazy but also super epic!
It got me thinking again about wanting to through hike, but I would be terrified to take off six months from my job to do that. Now it's one of those things that I keep thinking "one day" but will probably happen either in a really long time, or never, because I will never feel like I'm "in the right place" for such a step.
So here's the question: is there anything that you've "always wanted to do" but never have, because of life responsibilities? Or have you ever just done one of those things and how did it turn out for you?

emmaaa

That's awesome!

I heard on the radio this morning about a man who is running across the country (30  miles a day) to raise money for a charity that helps fight poverty. He is calling it the Gump Project or something like that.

I am the world's best at saying, I'll do that later. Getting a tattoo, maybe when I'm married has now become, after I have kids. Going skydiving, oh wow how exciting, to no way am I jumping out a perfectly functional plane. Yes, those are small examples but I just put things off.

Wegl13

When I was in Alaska there was this older guy that was walking across every state- his wife is driving the RV for him! And bonus he was an Auburn guy which was totally fun to learn. When I see older retired people doing things like that it does give me hope. And makes me want to take a little better care of myself.

lyndausvi

I quit my job of 8 years to move to the islands.  I did it all by myself.  No friends, no job, no place to live.  I just landed on the island with my bags and a hotel reservation.   Best thing I ever did. Ended up with my dream job, eventually bought a waterfront condo, then met my husband. I was there for 15 years. 

A lot of my friends from the islands take 3-6 months off a year to just travel.   I normally only took about 6-8 weeks off every year.   Well, in my case it was a forced because the boat was out of the water.  Even when I owned the condo.  I saved my money for off season, paid the bills and did some traveling. 

Even here in CO, I know a lot of people (some with kids) who take a few months off to travel.   We basically have 2 peaks season here.   Winter/Ski and summer.       Lots of people have different winter and summer jobs and then travel during the mud seasons (April-June, than Oct-start of Dec).   A few take off all of the winter and go south.

kvruns

I really want to run a 50 miler.  I've started training twice but always cut it back due to injury or just general "this is too much".  I've run 2 50ks (31~ miles) but it's not the same. Maybe I'll do it someday still but I doubt it

[Deleted User]

I, too, have had "solo through-hike the Appalachian Trail" on my list for a while. 

Wegl13 Like you, I don’t know when I will ever be in the position to take 6 months off of my job to hike it. I will be graduating from grad school this year and FI is set to deploy right around my graduation time. I have talked about doing it right after I graduate while FI is deployed so that we could put our stuff in to storage for 6 months or so and not worry about paying rent or utility bills for that time period.

I just don’t know how I would explain that to future potential employers….”oh yeah, I got my master’s degree then went of the grid to hike for 6 months….”

lyndausvi

jenandtonic81515 said:

I, too, have had "solo through-hike the Appalachian Trail" on my list for a while. 

Wegl13 Like you, I don’t know when I will ever be in the position to take 6 months off of my job to hike it. I will be graduating from grad school this year and FI is set to deploy right around my graduation time. I have talked about doing it right after I graduate while FI is deployed so that we could put our stuff in to storage for 6 months or so and not worry about paying rent or utility bills for that time period.

I just don’t know how I would explain that to future potential employers….”oh yeah, I got my master’s degree then went of the grid to hike for 6 months….”

not sure what your degree is in or your career path (not always the same), but I don't think taking off 6 months to hike the trail is as much of a problem as you think it would be.

thisismynickname2

Go Scott!!

I do know a woman who hiked the Appalachian trail. Seeing her photos on Facebook, looks like it was awesome. 

I always say I'm going to travel the world. I almost moved overseas in my mid-20s, but the thing is, I live near my parents and they, besides my sister nearby, are my only family. We're it. Now that I'm married, we also live by my in-laws and a slew of other relatives. I don't really want to go too far from family, honestly. 

Now, I have a whopping 5 weeks vacay that I'd love to burn on a world-tour type of thing. But alas, DH has the standard 2 for just a few more years. If we have a child, maybe "one day" on a summer break from school we could do a significant trip. 

[Deleted User]

lyndausvi I am getting my master's in higher education/student affairs to work on a college campus. 

I guess I am just worried about it looking irresponsible or like I am stalling and not ready to begin my career. 

lyndausvi

jenandtonic81515 said:

lyndausvi I am getting my master's in higher education/student affairs to work on a college campus. 

I guess I am just worried about it looking irresponsible or like I am stalling and not ready to begin my career. 

I wish the US had the same attitude as a lot of Europe and Australia.   A lot of people do gap years with no issue.   I have a HS friend from Australia who graduated university, got married and the 2 of them traveled around the country for a year.  

 6 months hiking the trail right out of school shouldn't make you look irresponsible.   It takes a lot of planning and budgeting.  It's not like you are sitting on your ass watching TV while collecting unemployment because you do not want to start a career.

I have 2 friends who hiked the Appalachian trail.  It doesn't seem to have affected them.  They both have good careers.

[Deleted User]

lyndausvi said:

jenandtonic81515 said:

lyndausvi I am getting my master's in higher education/student affairs to work on a college campus. 

I guess I am just worried about it looking irresponsible or like I am stalling and not ready to begin my career. 

I wish the US had the same attitude as a lot of Europe and Australia.   A lot of people do gap years with no issue.   I have a HS friend from Australia who graduated university, got married and the 2 of them traveled around the country for a year.  

 6 months hiking the trail right out of school shouldn't make you look irresponsible.   It takes a lot of planning and budgeting.  It's not like you are sitting on your ass watching TV while collecting unemployment because you do not want to start a career.

I have 2 friends who hiked the Appalachian trail.  It doesn't seem to have affected them.  They both have good careers.

You're probably right and I'm am most likely over-thinking it. I like the idea of "selling" it to potential employers - describing the planning that took place in order to prepare for it. Thanks for the perspective!

WinstonsGirl

My school board offers the chance to work at less pay and the take a full year off at that same pay rate (ex, work for 5 years at 80% and get year 6 off at 80% pay - they save for your year off basically).  I'd love to take several month travel bouts during that time (which DH could swing some of too), but I'd rather retire earlier and don't want to give up a year of pensionable service.  I'm also not sure I'd want to leave my students for a year, though I know they'd be fine.  Decisions, decisions.  

princessleia22

My mom and I have been talking about doing a European tour trip for probably 20 years.  The type where we take 3-4 weeks off work, just the two of us, with no real hard plans and just see everything. We kept saying we would go after high school, or after college, or whatever, but life and finances kept getting in the way.  We are finally making real plans to go next spring. My mom is retiring this year, taking that much time off work for me is tough but not impossible, finances are finally in a spot to allow a trip like this.  And now we both know people scattered across Europe (Italy, France, Germany, England) that we can stay with, so that will drop a lot of expense, too (and likely help calm our husbands about us travelling alone). It's exciting to see this trip finally becoming a reality after talking about it for so long.

southernbelle0915

Love this thread!

The AT has been on my list for a really long time. I'd love to do the whole thing, but I've basically accepted that it's not realistic for me to check out of life for several months, so I will very likely just do a piece or two of it. 

I've always fantasized about running a marathon, but I hate running, so that's not realistically going to happen either.

Other adventures that I could actually do without taking massive amounts of time off work (and which I plan to do) are rim to rim on the Grand Canyon, hiking Half Dome in Yosemite, the Inca Trail, and climbing a few more 14ers in CO. 

redheadbride15

I've dreamed of doing a thru-hike for a long, long time. The Appalachian Trail runs through my hometown in New Hampshire, so I feel a deep connection to it. I've hiked sections (but probably no more than 100 miles if you add them all up). I'm an active part of the New England hiking community and do some "trail angel" work (basically provide food/shelter/advice to the hikers as they come through town). Everyone up here was watching Scott's journey very closely.

I had a conversation with a thru-hiker on the summit of a mountain just yesterday - I told him I would love to do it, but I couldn't take that much time off. And his response was "I always thought that too. But you never know when life will present you with an opportunity." It turns out he was a broker on Wall Street and woke up one day, realized he was totally miserable, quit his job, and took the next flight down to Georgia to start hiking. These sorts of stories get me thinking. H and I talk fairly frequently about quitting our jobs and doing something like this. But I'm way too much of chicken to actually DO IT.

jenandtonic81515 I highly recommend taking a gap now if you want to do it. I'm annoying with myself that I never did, because I was also worried about how it would look. But now that I actually DO have an established job/career there are consequences if I take time off (If I ever go for >3 months without practicing in my field then I relinquish my license and have to jump through a bunch of hoops to re-apply).

thisismynickname2

So hold on a second. I know Europe has the gap year but one thing always bothered me about that. 

You're 18, presumably, and fresh out of the equivalent of high school. 

You're traveling with what money??? 

Seriously. I had my summers at the pool and at the local Dairy Queen, but that money would never finance a year of travel, even just road-tripping in an old beater around the US. I know you can get far on a train in Europe but it's not exactly cheap either. 

If my parents had the money to send me on a gap year, they still wouldn't, as that money would have been used for college expenses. Even if we had taxpayer-funded college tuition readily available like in Europe, apartment/dorm living and, you know, feeding oneself ain't cheap. 

Edit- word fail

nicemarmot

I read that today, such a feat!

I just completed a 100km walk, called the Race to the Stones. That's 62 miles: http://www.racetothestones.com/

It took 27 hours and it was brutal, I trained a lot, and yet I was hallucinating by km 75 and my legs totally seized up by km 80. Struggling today, as only finished yesterday morning. Glad I took the day off work!

Thinking about doing a 100 mile one next year and also the Inca trail in Peru. 

WinstonsGirl

thisismynickname said:

So hold on a second. I know Europe has the gap year but one thing always bothered me about that. 

You're 18, presumably, and fresh out of the equivalent of high school. 

You're traveling with what money??? 

Seriously. I had my summers at the pool and at the local Dairy Queen, but that money would never finance a year of travel, even just road-tripping in an old beater around the US. I know you can get far on a train in Europe but it's not exactly cheap either. 

If my parents had the money to send me on a gap year, they still wouldn't, as that money would have been used for college expenses. Even if we had taxpayer-funded college tuition readily available like in Europe, apartment/dorm living and, you know, feeding oneself ain't cheap. 

Edit- word fail

Don't forget that Europe is much cheaper to travel to when you already live there.  Trains are cheap and connect everywhere.  When I backpacked Europe, I was living in England for Uni.  A rail pass for European residents only (and which I qualified for since I was living in the UK) for unlimited 30 day travel to 11 different countries was about $600 CDN.  A rail pass good for 7 days of travel within a 30 day period to those same countries was about $2200CDN, which is what was sold to everyone else in the world.  They were trying to encourage Europeans to travel in Europe, hence, much cheaper.  

Lots of kids also work along the way under the table, picking fruit, etc. when they backpack.  And 40 person room hostels can be pretty cheap.  I did 30 days in Europe for about $1500 total, including that rail pass, and I spent quite freely

southernbelle0915

Yea, ditto Europe being cheap if you're already there. I was in Madrid for several months in college and traveled like a poor college student.

Between RyanAir and rail, getting from country to country is pretty cheap. Picking hostels where you share rooms and bathrooms saves a ton. We always picked ones with breakfast included, so we'd eat breakfast then take a piece of fruit and make a sandwich (a lot of Euro breakfasts include rolls, meat and cheese) for later. Then we'd buy street food for dinner. Super cheap.

In college, I worked a part time retail job for a year to save up for spending money for travel. It was enough to get me through weekend trips away from Madrid and a 2 week marathon trip with one of my girlfriends at the end of our stay.