How to Know if a Thru-Hike is Right for You

Doing a thru-hike is an experience that calls to a diverse range of people - avid hikers and backpackers, nature lovers, people who want to escape the daily grind, people who want to challenge themselves, complete a big goal, or a combination of a few of those things. Thru-hiking can seem like either a natural next step to something you're already doing, or can feel like something so far from the realm of possibility that it stays stuck as a seed of an idea for years before it finally grows into something you take seriously.

At the Southern Terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail

If you’re one of those people and here, you’ve probably asked yourself some version of this:

How do I know if a thru-hike is right for me? Am I ready? Will I be successful?

Knowing if a thru-hike is right for you is highly attributed to your why and your connection to it. This is personal to you, and only you can figure that out for yourself.

To quickly dispel a couple of common reasons why people shut down the thought of a thru-hike before it really gets off the ground:

1. Will I be successful? What if I fail? There is no way to know ahead of time whether you’ll finish a thru-hike. People end their thru-hike for all kinds of reasons (financial, injuries, burnout and trail closures being the most common). Even if you try to plan for these variables, anything could happen and there is too much outside of your control. Try removing the idea of success entirely, or redefine what success in a thru-hike looks like rather than just reaching the end terminus. It’s not a helpful metric when deciding whether to do thru-hike in the first place.
   

   

   The PCT was full of these lovely little morale boosters :)

2. I have too many responsibilities to just leave my life for 6 months. I don't want to just diminish this, as the planning and logistics of a thru-hike is literally half the battle. It's not easy to put your life on hold, sublet or move out of housing, quit your job or take a leave of absence, and leave friends and family behind for months. I am also a firm believer that these barriers are not insurmountable if your why connects you to thru-hiking despite all the things to figure out.
   

3. I'm too old, or I lack the experience I think I need. Thru-hiking is also not just for young and responsibility-free people - people of all ages and walks of life thru-hike. You also don't need to be a super experienced hiker or backpacker to do a thru-hike. On the PCT I met hikers in their 70's, hikers that had done either zero backpacking or very little, and hikers that had not grown up in this world due to lack of access or mentorship. You need to suspect that you'll enjoy it, and make sure you at least have your safety basics covered, but you don't need to be an expert to have the most wild, life changing experience on trail.

Needing to address those things will come, but the purpose of today's conversation is to clearly identify out your why, and allow that to be your guiding principle when deciding if a thru-hike is right for you.

A rabbit at sunrise on the PCT just outside Warner Springs

My Why, and What the Trail Gave Me

For me, the reason was simple - it was a deep, unshakeable knowing in my gut that was the path for me.

For years I had this feeling, but allowed excuses to get the best of me and be the reason I didn't follow through. I was so worried about what would happen to my life if I decided to go for it. I was worried that the post-trail depression would be too much for me to handle when finishing the PCT, because I knew it would change my life in ways I couldn't fathom. I knew that by taking on this journey, I was signing up to make living a "normal" life much harder to tolerate, because the PCT would give me a need for adventure and a big life that would be a much harder road to travel.

And make no mistake - that is exactly what happened. The PCT showed me what is truly important in life and what is just noise designed to disconnect us from nature and each other. I will never again be able to work a 9-5 office job slaving away in a cubicle to make money for the top 0.1%.

Some of the best people I've ever met (my trail fam) at Hikertown in California

And...

It was also so, so much more. I have seen how joyous and incredible life is when you are dialling it back to its simplest needs. I have met, had conversations with and been helped by people that I never would have connected with in any other circumstance. I saw landscapes that I had only dreamed of, that have been shaped by millennia of seasons and quiet natural cycles. I met the love of my life. I got to know myself and my body in ways I never have before. The PCT was everything I thought it would be, and it was also so much more.

My partner on the descent from Old Snowy Mountain in Washington

This is quite different to the feeling I had about the Great Divide Trail. The idea of doing the GDT was born out of post-trail depression after the PCT and desperately wanting to experience that freedom again. I had an amazing time on the Great Divide Trail, but I definitely felt much less connected to it than I did the PCT. The PCT was something I knew in my soul was for me; the GDT was an attempt to escape the 'real' world after crash landing from the most magical experience of my life.

What Gets You (and Keeps You) On Trail

If you have a similar feeling in your gut that this is something you should do, then you owe it to yourself to try. Having a why like this is one of the strongest motivators to get on trail and attempt to see it through as best as you can.

Your why also doesn't need to be that deep. You might just want to spend a summer outside, hiking all day every day, sleeping under the stars, and seeing beautiful things outside your normal environment. The landscapes could be your reason, or it could be trying to achieve a big goal.

Walking behind a waterfall on the Eagle Creek trail in Oregon

Whatever your reason is, it needs to be strong enough to keep you there when times get hard. Spending all day hiking and having almost no responsibilities sounds freeing (and it is), but like anything, too much of a good thing can ultimately burn you out when it's literally all you do for months.

Journaling Exercise: Clarify Your Why

Take time with these questions:

• What is it about this thru-hike that appeals to me?

• What do I want to get out of this experience?

• If I don’t complete the entire trail, how do I think I’ll feel? Will it still be worth trying?

• What might I miss out on if I go - and is that enough of a reason not to?

• What could I gain?

• What do I need to remind myself of when times get tough on trail?

  
  

Your answers will make your primary motivation clear. Save them somewhere accessible - on your phone or in a journal - so you can return to them when the trail feels heavy and you need to remember why you started.

A page of my journalling notes when I was getting burnt out on the PCT. It helped so much, and I was so much happier the rest of the trail.

If you’re feeling the pull toward a thru-hike but aren’t sure how to turn that feeling into a plan, you don’t have to figure it out alone.

Explore my thru-hike planning resources, trail guides, and logistics support, or reach out if you want help building a thru-hiking plan that feels aligned, realistic, and grounded in your why.

The hardest step isn’t the first mile on trail. It’s deciding to listen to the trail calling to you.

The PCT Northern Terminus at the Canadian border!