Sassafras’ 10 Harsh Truths About the Appalachian Trail

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Good morning everybody. I am here in sunny Colorado Springs today. Did a quick overnight camping trip out here and it is just so beautiful! Bright blue skies and the mountains in the background… We did get a pretty crazy hailstorm yesterday that we had to take cover from for a couple of hours, but you know that’s what you get when you camp in the mountains!

And this morning, I thought it might be fun to sit down with you guys, because I was thinking about the ways that people tend to talk about the Appalachian Trail, and I see people really focusing on the glamorous parts of the trail.

They talk about beautiful places that you see and the people that you meet, the towns, the food, the trail angels, and that’s all true. It’s a really wonderful trail, but I thought it might be useful to talk about some of the more harsh realities of the thru-hike. You know, not everything is perfect on the trail and I think that it’s, you know, useful for folks to have a real picture of what it might be like to live on the Appalachian Trail for, you know, six months, five months.

So today let’s sit down, let’s talk about 10 harsh realities of hiking the Appalachian Trail.

1. The AT is crowded

All right, first things first. If you’re planning to hike the AT as a way to get away from society, get away from people, and spend a lot of alone time in nature, you’re probably hiking the wrong trail.

The ATC estimates that three million people a year hike on the Appalachian Trail.* It is not a quiet trail by any means. If you’re going northbound anytime from February to April, you’re going to run into a lot of hikers.

You’re always going to be at the shelters and they’re going to be packed. I mean, it is pretty unlikely unless you’re actively going out of your way to avoid people that you are actually going to be spending a lot of time alone. So if you’re more of an introvert or you’re expecting a more nature-focused hike, I probably wouldn’t recommend a NOBO hike to you.

If you want to hike the AT but you don’t want to see so many people, I’d probably recommend a flip-flop or a southbound hike, or you’re just going to have to start early and hike faster than everybody else to keep ahead of the bubble. So the AT is beautiful, but it is by no means not a busy trail.

2. There are plenty of “know-it-alls”

Harsh reality number two: people have a lot of opinions about the “right” way to thru-hike.

You’re going to see people arguing about white blazing versus blue blazing, about how slack packing ruins the sanctity of the hike, you’ll see people arguing about how trail angels are ruining the experience, about how, you know, hiking South for a section when you’re hiking North-bound ruins your NOBO footprint. You’re going to see people arguing about how if you’re not ultralight, you’re not doing it right. You’re going to see people talking about the food that you should eat.

Everybody has a lot of opinions, and honestly none of them matter.

If you waste your time online or in-person harassing people about the “right” way to thru-hike, you’re not bettering the experience for anybody. You’re not doing any good for the thru-hiking community. The truth is that these opinions about the right way to thru-hike don’t matter.

All that matters is that, if you’re hiking, that you leave no trace, and you follow the laws ,and you don’t make the experience any worse for other people. If that’s what you’re doing, then you’re thru-hiking right as far as I’m concerned. All of the other nonsense about what you should carry and where you should stay and the equipment and resources that you should use, none of that stuff matters.

If you spend your time online telling people about the right way to do it, I don’t know. Find a new hobby.

3. Some people suck

Speaking of, harsh reality number three is that people talk about how amazing the AT community is, and really most of the community is truly amazing, but there is a small subsection of people that really suck in the community. You’re going to find a lot of them in the Facebook groups, and you’re going to find a lot of them on Reddit on r/ultralight_jerk.

So if you’re a dick and you’re in the Appalachian Trail community, I don’t know, maybe try not being a dick.

4. Thru-hiking is expensive

There used to be this rule of thumb that said “save for a dollar a mile, two dollars a mile.”

That is definitely no longer the truth. That was not my experience when I was thru-hiking the AT. I definitely spent closer to $4 or $5 a mile.

And granted, I did spend a lot of time in hostels and in towns, but actually The Trek surveyed 2024 thru-hikers last year. And what they found was that your average AT thru-hikers spent around $10,000 on their thru-hike. So it’s not a unique experience.

So if you’re looking to thru-hike the AT as a way to, you know, not spend a ton of money over the course of a few months, you think it’s actually going to be a pretty cheap experience… I would definitely argue the opposite.

I think it is pretty expensive, and it is definitely worth it to save up a bit more money than you’re actually planning on spending on your hike, because it really is just ultimately going to depend on: how much money that you spend on gear, and how often you stay in town, the money that you spend on food when you eat out or on your resupplies… If you’re burning a ton of calories, you know, if you’re a hiker that is six foot and weighs 180, you’re going to be eating a lot more than me, who is five foot one and does NOT weigh 180. So if you’re planning to hike cheap, more power to you, but chances are you’re probably going to spend more than you expected to.

5. You’re probably gonna drop $1000+ on gear

And speaking of money, harsh truth number five is that there’s a good chance you’re going to spend between $1,000 and $3,000 just on gear alone.

The Trek, when they surveyed AT thru-hikers last year, found that your average AT thru-hiker did spend between $1,000 and $3,000 just on gear. So either their gear broke and they needed to replace it, or they found that the gear that they brought just wasn’t the right fit, or they needed more gear… So I would recommend budgeting at least a couple of thousand dollars for gear when you go on your hike, because there’s a good chance that you’re going to end up spending that money.

6. People love to romanticize the Appalachian Trail 

Harsh reality number six, people love to romanticize the Appalachian Trail. The reality is that the AT is rainy, it is humid, it is buggy, it is hard, and it can be really, really hot, or it can be really, really cold. There are a lot of sections in towns that I would argue are just flat out boring or ugly to hike through.

There are parts of the trail that weave in and out through pointless up and downs, and that’s just because in that area the AT was flanked by private land and it was the only place that the trail could go through. And if you’re having a bad day, those parts of the trail are really going to piss you off. If you are hurting, or it’s rainy, or the weather is really hot and you’re really tired, you’re going to get to these parts of the trail and you’re going to be like, this sucks, why am I still here? So if you’re expecting 2,200 miles of beautiful trail and views, you definitely need to adjust your expectations.

And again, I’m not saying that the AT is all ugly or all boring. It is a beautiful trail, but you just need to be prepared for the sections that are ugly and boring.

7. If you fail to complete, it’s probably because of illness or injury

Harsh reality number seven, if you don’t finish the AT, it’s probably because you got sick or you got hurt.

According to the Trek, last year nearly a fourth of the hikers that didn’t finish their hikes got off trail for these reasons. And speaking of injury…

 

8. Injury is more common than you think

There is a really good chance that during some point in your hike that you’re probably going to get hurt. When The Trek surveyed hikers last year, they found that over half of them reported that they had an injury during some point in their thru-hike.

So if your plan is to just not get hurt, maybe rethink that plan. And I definitely recommend having health insurance.

 

9. There’s a lack of diversity on trail

Harsh truth number nine is that thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail are just not very diverse.

In 2024, 94% of surveyed thru-hikers were white. So if you hike the AT in order to meet people from all sorts of different backgrounds and all sorts of different cultures, you’re probably not going to do that. And if you’re not white, you’re probably not going to meet a lot of other non-white thru-hikers.

 

 

10. Bear-safety goes out the window

And harsh truth number 10, you’re going to hear people arguing about bear canisters versus bear hangs and which is better… But the harsh truth is that 40% of thru-hikers just sleep with their food in their tent or in the shelter. And honestly in Maine, I don’t think I saw a single bear hang.

And I’m not saying that that is right. I’m just saying that is the harsh truth.

 

In Conclusion

All right guys, that is it.

That is 10 harsh truths about the Appalachian Trail. I would love to hear your thoughts or if you have any harsh truths about the trail that people just don’t talk about enough. Again, my name is Sassafras. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up or leave a comment below. If you want to see more content from me or from The Trek, please subscribe to this channel. Thank you so much for watching.

Be sure to check out the full video, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

*Appalachian Trail Conservancy: “About Us” (Accessed June 19, 2025)