How Much Experience Do You Need to Hike the Appalachian Trail?

You don’t need to have logged thousands of hours in the woods to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. Many hikers setting out from Springer Mountain (or Katahdin) every year have relatively little backpacking experience and still finish their hikes. The Trek’s annual AT Thru-Hiker Survey shows us that.

So how much experience do you need to hike the Appalachian Trail? Let’s see what the numbers say.

As we dive in, it’s important to note that our survey has a small sample size and is likely skewed toward successful thru-hikers. The whopping 74 percent completion rate for 2023 is not indicative of the thru-hiking population as a whole. For the same year, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy reports a 28 percent completion rate for NOBO hikers and a 31 percent completion rate for SOBO hikers.  

How Much Experience Do You Need To Hike the Appalachian Trail?

Experience is helpful when setting off on the AT but is not a requirement for success. In a typical year, almost two-thirds of our survey respondents have less than 7 days of prior backpacking experience when they start the AT, and somewhere around 10 percent have never backpacked at all before starting.

For example, in our 2023 hiker survey, 58 percent of respondents had backpacked less than 7 days total. That includes 27 percent of respondents who had backpacked between 1 and 3 days and 8 percent who had never backpacked before. 

The data is similar in 2022 and 2021.

In 2022 63 percent had less than 7 days of total backpacking experience, including 26 percent reporting between 1 and 3 days of previous experience and 12 percent with no experience at all.

2021 also saw 63 percent percent of hikers having less than 7 days of experience, including 31 percent having between 1 and 3 days of experience and 11 percent having no backpacking experience. 

Why Do Thru-Hikers Get off Trail?

Regardless of experience level, the major factors that take hikers off the trail each year remain the same. Injury is always the leading cause of hikers getting off trail in our datasets. Illness, dissatisfaction with the hike, and problems back home are also commonly cited.

Here are the reasons hikers gave for getting off-trail early in the past three years:

2023

• Injury: 18 percent
• Family issues: 13 percent
• Emotional dissatisfaction with trail: 11 percent
• Illness: 7 percent
• Severe flooding: 6 percent

In a category (hopefully) unique to 2023, 6 percent got off due to severe flooding.

2022

• Injury: 33 percent
• Family issues: 9 percent
• Illness: 6 percent
• Dissatisfaction: 2 percent

A significant number of the 24 percent who selected “other” mentioned running out of time. 

2021

• Injury: 47 percent
• Dissatisfaction:
• Illness: 10 percent
• Family issues: 10 percent

It’s good to note that in 2021, COVID-19 was still spreading at pandemic levels throughout the United States. 

Each year between 1 percent and 4 percent of those who did not finish got off trail due to financial reasons. 

A photo shared by Baxter State Park to Facebook on June 23, 2023 shows two hikers walking through the flooding that affected much of New England during the thru-hiking season.

Tricks for Staying on Trail

There are going to be setbacks on the trail. Gear failures, bad weather, injuries, and other circumstances can make it hard to keep going. Preparing for these challenges makes them easier to weather and helps to keep you on trail. 

Physical Training

Getting out on the trail for day hikes, weekend backpacking trips, and longer treks is the best training for thru-hiking. If you’re starting with zero experience, start small and work your way up to carrying your fully loaded pack. Doing this gets your body used to the strain of hiking.

Training hikes are often called shakedown hikes. Shakedown hikes are multi-day backpacking trips to test out gear and skills in preparation for a longer trip. Trek contributor Brian Lewis breaks down Why Shakedown Hikes Are So Important for New Backpackers and goes through some of the things you’ll want to do on one. 

A popular shakedown hike for AT hikers is the Foothills Trail in North and South Carolina. At 77 miles long, the Foothills Trail is doable in one week for most hikers and is temperate enough to be completed in late February or early March. The terrain is similar enough to the AT to prepare you for what is to come but is generally easier than the Georgia section of the AT.

Running from Oconee State Park to Table Rock State Park, the Foothills Trail is a popular shakedown hike before doing the Appalachian Trail. | Photo: Sprout (2016)

One of the biggest challenges you’re likely to face is the prospect of walking through multiple days of inclement weather with no respite. They say “No Rain, No Maine” for a reason. Parts of the Appalachian Trail receive up to 80 inches of average rainfall a year. Going out and doing your training hikes in the rain (and the snow, wind, blistering sun, and whatever else your part of the world throws at you) is a great way to see how you and your gear respond to foul weather. 

Do not go out in bad weather without the appropriate equipment or when it is dangerous to your health. Even thru-hikers will bail to town when really bad weather rolls in.

Mental Training 

As much as a thru-hike is a physical undertaking, it’s a mental one. Even if you’re hiking with a tramily, there is going to be a lot of time spent alone in your head. Thru-hiking can be beneficial for mental health, but the extended time alone is something to prepare for. 

Part of mental training is getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. There will be days when you don’t want to hike, when it’s raining and your pack is heavy from resupply, and you have to keep going anyway.

Having small rewards for yourself can help to make those bad days better. The promise of a hot meal (or cold treat in the summer) in the next town, an extra Snickers at dinner, or a hotel room to yourself are all great motivators. 

Pizza may not solve every problem, but it does make it easier to think clearly.

It borders on cliché, but “don’t quit on a bad day” is advice every thru-hiker should take to heart. Conditions, terrain, and the people you’re hiking around will change, so unless you are seriously injured, ill, or an emergency has come up in your life off-trail, give it one more day. 

Conclusion

There is no one right answer for how much experience you need to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. Some hikers with thousands of miles under their hip belts won’t finish, while some who learn to set up their tent on night one (not recommended, please understand your gear) will successfully thu-hike the Appalachian Trail.

Some factors that take people off the trail are outside your control, but others, like mental resilience and good mobility, are things you can cultivate. Regardless of your experience level as a backpacker, preparation and training will help increase your odds of getting what you’re looking for out of your hike.

Featured image: Graphic design by Chris Helm.