Completing a thru-hike is a massive achievement. Ranging from hundreds to thousands of miles, they are an extraordinary test of your physical and mental capacity, with a dash of luck thrown in. As COVID-19 illustrates, the most well-prepared hiker can get forced off a trail. However, under normal circumstances there are always things you can do to heighten your chances of completing your thru-hike successfully. Here I’ve gather 10 tips which, in my opinion, are key to a successfully completing (and enjoying!) your epic hiking adventure.

1. personal motivation

Taken only hours apart on day 43 of the Te Araroa, these photos are a pretty accurate representation of the highs and lows you’ll experience.

I put this tip first because without a strong personal motivation, you won’t stick it out hundreds or thousands of miles. Once your hike is over, you’ll mainly remember the glory days, but looking at the beautiful photos well-fed and rested from the comfort of your living room is NOT the same as living the actual experience. On a thru-hike you gotta embrace the suck. There will be moments when everything hurts, the weather is terrible, you just want a proper pillow goddamnit and what wouldn’t you give for some fresh fruit. There will be moments when you will want to quit, when trail life is far more bothersome than picturesque, when you are miserable as f*ck.

In those moments, it is the underlying drive that compelled you to undertake this journey that will prevent you from sprinting away from your pack and getting the first hitch into burgertown. I began hiking when I was at the bottom of my life. I knew it would be hard, I wanted it to be hard. I needed to know that I could stick something out even though it would be hard as hell, and that is how I’d prove my character. By grabbing onto the extraordinary and refuse to be shaken off. When I felt like I had failed my life, I knew I could not fail to reach Bluff. Quitting was never even an option. Don’t let it be an option.

2. plan ahead

Yup, couldn’t hold on longer than ‘till tip 2 before the technical stuff hits. Now that we have established the follow-your-dreams-no-matter-what-narrative, it’s time to get serious. People often ask me what it takes to be a thru-hiker. Fitness and general outdoorsiness is part of it for sure, but one of the best things do to up your chances of success? Plan. Thoroughly. Ultra-long thru-hikes (or even regular muti-day hikes) require you to sort out a lot of logistics. What kind of gear do you need? How long do you estimate you’ll take between resupplies? How many boxes do you need to send ahead, and where to? How will you navigate? What’s the backup plan if sh*t hits the fan?

I don’t mean to be a party pooper for those of you who planned to wing it, but…nah. Bad idea. There is nothing wrong with taking the trails challenges as they come at you, but thru-hiking is not risk free, and chances are your hike will be both safer and more enjoyable if you plan ahead. Personally, I love the planning phase. Researching my trails is one of my favourite things to do, and I can avoid a lot of headaches and unnecessary stress by writing lists and pre-booking transport/hostels etc beforehand. I suffered needlessly on my first thru-hike on the West Highland Way because I’d been a lazy planner. Blogs, guidebooks and Facebook discussion groups are great arenas for gaining knowledge and getting second opinions on whichever questions you have. The benefits of hiking established trails and not random bushwacks is that there will often be a whole community of other people whose expertise you can benefit from.

Unexpected things always happen, but good planning will make you a better hiker each new trail!

3. watch your weight

I once overheard two TA hikers discuss their packweight during a resupply, let us call them Lizzie and Don. Don was doing his first long hike ever and was concerned about his pack weight. He questioned whether it was smart to carry three t-shirts++, to which Lizzie reassuringly chirped “Oh, don’t worry about that! It’s only 3 kgs!”.

For the less experienced amongst my readers: 3 kgs is an insane amount of weight to add on your pack. The difference between carrying 7 and 10 kgs up a mountain is massive. I used to think people who cut their toothbrushes in half to save a few grams were crazy, now it’s a given for me. The human spine is no lifting crane. Carrying heavy loads over time is extremely strenuous on your body, each gram you can take off will aid your health and performance.

I’ve done gear shakedowns with several people, and had my own gear viewed by fellow hikers. A fresh pair of eyes is a great way to evaluate your weight critically – items that seem like must-haves to you can be ridiculous in someone else’s eyes. For example, when I hike in summer now, I typically don’t carry rain pants anymore. If it’s raining cats and dogs you will soak through anyway, and you’re better off with a pair of fast-drying shorts. Which items to ditch is always a cost-benefit calculation, but dare to be hard on your own choices! Some people find it helpful to classify pack weight into categories. Your pack should never weigh more than 20% of your body weight, but these three ranges of base weight (meaning your pack without food, water and fuel = consumables) can point you in the right direction:

Traditional: ca 13 kgs

Light: 9 kgs or less (this is my range, I try to never carry more than 12 kg with a fully loaded pack even on >week stretches)

Ultralight: 4,5 kg or less

Ultralight gear – unless homemade – is typically more expensive (sometimes much more expensive). It’s up to you how much you think it’s reasonable to spend to shave a few ounces. However, if you decide to splurge on an item, make it one of your “big three” where it will matter most: your tent, sleeping bag and sleeping mat. In addition to your actual backpack, these will typically be your heaviest items, and your best bet to save the most weight. I spent big on my ZPacks Duplex tent, the lightest two-person tent in the world – with no regrets. You can think of it as starting a business, high investments now will yield big returns later.

4. test your gear

This is probably a tip where many of us could improve. Testing out your gear in advance is super important! You don’t wanna be stuck on a 1000+ km hike in the middle of nowhere to find that your sleeping bag is far too cold, your tent is too small, your stove and fuel type aren’t compatible, or that your boots don’t fit your feet. Obviously, the only way to test your gear properly is to hike with it for several days, ideally more than a week. I have reached a point where I am really happy with my gear, and the thought of testing out new things can feel daunting – what if it doesn’t work out? You never know until you try.

A few other notes: do not carry gear that you don’t know how to use. Allow me to use the example of Don again: he carried repair items for both shoes and fabric tears, and he didn’t know which ones were which, or how to apply them correctly. Which brings us on to another point: you can’t replace everything on trail, and you don’t have to. Poor Don, carrying extra buckles for each buckle point on his backpack in case they all broke at once… Carrying some duct tape/gorilla tape around your trekking poles will do in most cases, and you can take care of big repairs once you reach a town.

Testing gear is a pretty continuous process, and bear in mind that you will have to replace some gear items more often than others. Socks, trail runners and underwear typically don’t last forever – so you can afford to experiment more with those. New, lighter gear is released onto the market every year, keep your eyes open for good deals!

5. eat the right fuel

Let us establish the facts once and for all: food known as “trail food” is crap. It seems like all the focus these days is on shoving in as many calories as you can, but the quality of those calories doesn’t receive much attention. Typical trail food such as energy bars are loaded with calories and can be a source of protein, but they are also highly processed and stuffed with sugar. Some people can thrive off trail food for months on end, some can’t. I can’t. Seeing the difference in my performance based on the food I’m consuming has changed how I plan my hikes. My focus is now on carrying as many fresh, whole foods as I can – even if it comes at a weight penalty. But please believe me when I say that fuelling your body well pays off!

How much you should invest in trail food vs. non trail food depends on the length of your hike. On a short trek – like my sub <week treks around Norway – you can carry all fresh food if you wish. Your pack will be light if you’re sleeping in huts, and the food will keep for the few days you’ll be out. On middle-range treks, say 2-4 weeks, you can go all in on typical trail food. You’ll notice the sucky bits after a few weeks, but by the time it’s really getting to you, your hike will be over. Food becomes a bigger concern on ultra-long distance thru-hikes. Hiking for months will deplete your nutritional storages, and carrying multivitamins can’t replace a balanced diet. Pack weight is a big concern, but you need to eat well to perform over time. Don’t panic though, compromises can be made, if the weather is colder you can go fresher. Be creative!

6. prepare your body, train beforehand

You don’t want to start the most dauting physical task of your life in crap shape, coming off years of living a couch potato lifestyle. I’ve read many comments sections where unfit people worriedly ask if they’re going to be okay doing a thru-hike. True enough, you might well be. After a few weeks on the trail, you will no doubt be in the best physical shape of your life – so the trail does take care of that for you. But do yourself a favour and start out being decently fit. This will significantly reduce your chance of injury, and your hike will be far more pleasant. I am prone to exercising in phases. Some months I feel super motivated and work out several times a week, but I can also go for a looong time being super lazy. Starting a thru-hike after such a period is not ideal.

The best excercises for hiking is hiking. Start with a light pack, then work up your load to match your trail weight or more (I filled by pack with books or water bottles when I trained for the JMT). Strength training is key, focusing on legs and core. But keep it fun and enjoy the process - you don’t have to be stuck in a gym. Running, pilates, swimming, biking, riding, yoga, climbing, paddling, the list is endless.

7. Sleep

Maybe you didn’t see this one coming? Sleep is an essential factor on a hike, as with any demanding physical and mental challenge. Without good sleep, neither your body nor mind will get the recovery it needs to perform optimally – or even decently. Sleep is one of my major struggles when I hike. I’m a bad sleeper, especially in new places (and when you hike, every night is a new place…yeeey). During the Mid Section on the TA I really crashed, and after that I learned to accept that I needed to get up later in the morning to compensate for crap sleep quality. I began overeating to feel more energised, but incorporating a siesta would have been a better idea. Again, this can be a non-issue on shorter hikes, but it can really trip you up once you push past 2-3 weeks.

Tips to improve your sleep: carry a blinder mask like those you get on long-haul flights. Use earplugs, don’t worry about your alarm. In a bear risk area such as the JMT, this was not an option, and I slept terribly. Make sure your sleeping pad is thick enough. Women especially tend to get sore hips when we lie on our sides. In addition, stuffing a puffy jacket between your knees can aid your pelvic position, lessening the need to turn frequently. And if you must… sleep supplements like the hormone melatonin can improve your shut-eye. It’s not addictive like traditional sleeping pills, and could be a solution if you struggle with frequent awakenings.

8. rest

While we’re on the self-care track… Thru-hikers are notorious for their constant rushing. Gotta get to Canada before October, gotta finish in time for wedding/graduation/insert occasion of choice. Indeed. But you should incorporate regular zero days where you don’t hike. This will give your body and mind time to recover, you can renew your motivation and sample some in-town delights. Pushing yourself too far can result in overuse injuries and tiering of your trek. We all hike because we love it and doing it makes us feel great – but you can get too much of a good thing. Anyone who has ever survived on pizza while writing their university degree thesis can confirm.

9. sauntering

Shout-out to El from Oregon whom I met in the Richmond Ranges on the Te Araroa. Not only did she gift me some quinoa when my resupply box didn’t arrive in St Arnaud, she also taught me the philosophy of sauntering. I’ve grown progressively worse at practicing a good saunter while hiking, but it’s one of the best hiking practices ever. Day 16 – Wild on the TA was one long, fabulous saunter, and hence one of the days I remember best.

How to saunter: forget about today’s destination. Hike slowly, a comfortable strolling pace will do. Look up and around instead of down at your feet. Swim in any good-looking river you come across. Reach out to touch the trees or other landscape features around you. Sauntering is hiking not just with your feet, but with your whole being. Take the time to appreciate the extraordinary beauty you’re not just witnessing – but participating in. The world is yours. Savour it.

10. document your journey

Extremely good long-term memory runs in my family. I can recall the colour of friends’ sweaters from our first days of school over a decade later. But thru-hikes are filled with so many beautiful moments that you just can’t remember in enough detail to do them justice. I made Let’s Trek It a blog in addition to an information hub because I wanted people to fully understand the splendour of trekking experiences. I too spend hours re-reading blog posts just to bask in the memories. Sometimes I still find it hard to believe that this is my life. I did all those things, I was a part of all these extraordinary places, I crossed whole countries on my own two feet. Take time to document your experience. Take pictures not just of grand vistas, but of your morning oatmeal, spectacular bruises, tangled hair and individual wildflowers. A journal is not wasted weight, keeping a diary will preserve moments in the way that even near-perfect long-term memory can’t.

A thru-hike isn’t over the moment you reach the end terminus. You carry it with you forever. Make it count!