Thru-hiking is the process of hiking a long-distance trail from end to end. The term is most commonly associated with the Appalachian Trail, but is also used for other lengthy trails and long distance hikes, including the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail. Thru-hiking is also called "end-to-end hiking" or "end-to-ending" on some trails, like Vermont's Long Trail. Section hiking, on the other hand, refers to hiking a complete trail by hiking all of its individual sections, not in continuity or, necessarily, in sequence.
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Thru-hiking's origins date back many years, when long-distance foot travel as a means of transportation began to merge with hiking for its own enjoyment and as a means of seeing the world.
One famous thru-hike involves the story of Lillian Alling, a young 27-year old Russian immigrant living in New York City, who became homesick and decided to return to her family in Russia. Lacking funds, but armed with a strong will, she chose to walk the 12,000 miles to Russia, traversing Canada and into Alaska.[1] She was last seen preparing to cross by boat at the Bering Strait to Siberia.[1]
After the completion of the Appalachian Trail, a thru-hiker named George W. Outerbridge completed the first section hike of the newly completed AT in 1939; trail promoter Myron Avery had previously section-hiked during the process of trail blazing.
In 1948, Earl Shaffer became the first to have publicly thru-hiked the AT.[2] A 1994 report claiming that a group of Boy Scouts had done so twelve years earlier has never been adequately documented and is considered highly suspect in most hiking circles (see Appalachian Trail).
A number of thru-hikers have achieved a measure of celebrity in backpacking culture. Perhaps the most famous was Emma "Grandma" Gatewood, who first thru-hiked the trail in 1955 at age 67, with what even at that time was considered extremely inadequate gear, including sneakers rather than boots and a blanket rather than a sleeping bag;[3] she later completed a second thru-hike and a full section hike and is recognized today as a pioneer of ultralight backpacking.
Thru-hiking a trail is a long and difficult journey: An AT thru-hike, for example, takes on average 5 to 7 months, covering over 2,100 miles. Thru-hikers typically organize supplies for the journey far in advance, and have friends and family mail packages to predetermined stops along the way, to be picked up as poste restante. These caches-via-mail are usually referred to as "mail drops."
Many people without time or interest in thru-hiking instead choose to section hike a trail, completing it piece by piece, often over many years.
With the rise of backpacking in the United States, thru-hiking has become a minor industry. Thousands of hikers attempt to thru-hike the AT every year, although by some estimates fewer than 20% complete the entire trail. Roughly 150 end-to-end the (much shorter) Long Trail, and about 180 thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail, each year. Some dedicated thru-hikers complete a trail more than once; about 30 have reported hiking the AT at least three times. Lee Barry became the oldest to thru-hike the AT when he completed a thru-hike (his second) in 2004 at age 81.[4]
In recent years, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy has reported completion rates around 25%, after several years under 20%.[5] They attribute this to slightly lower numbers of hikers, as well as better gear, and thanks to the internet, information about gear, causing fewer hikers to start with 60 to 80 pound packs and drop out a few miles in.[5]