Thru Hike
What’s Thruhiking?
Thruh-iking or through-hiking, means hiking an established end-to-end hiking trail or long-distance-trail with continuous footsteps in one direction and has to be completed within one hiking season or in a twelve month period. A hiker accomplishing such a hike is called a thru-hiker
For the rules of the NST – <<click HERE>>.
What are the most famous trails?
In the United States the term is most commonly associated with the Appalachian trail (AT), the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), and the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), all three trails are known as the “holy trinity of trails” or “triple crown”.
Other examples of long distance trails include the lesser known European hiking trails (E1-E12), Te Araroa in New Zealand, the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain; the Via Francigena in France and Italy, the Lycian Way in Turkey, the Israel National Trail, the Hokkaido Nature trail in Japan or the Great Divide Trail (GDT) in Canada.
Now the newest addition to the long distance hiking trail shall be: The North to South Trail, a national long distance trail purely running on German soil.
»If you've ever run a long trail yourself, you can tell at a glance who's a thruhiker«
So, what are the rules?
There are some guidelines defining a thru-hike. In short:
Wikipedia: Thruhiking or through-hiking, is hiking a long-distance trail end-to-end within one hiking season.
What’s in a thru-hike?
EIt’s a long and sometimes challenging journey on foot. The NST with its distance of 3382 km / 2100 mi this means you live, breathe, walk the trail for at least five months on end.
Every year thousands of hikers start on the AT, PCT or CDT and others but only 20% make it to the finish line. Others quit for various reasons such as health issues, family business and some simply run out of time.
A thru-hike needs intrinsic planning, informing yourself in detail about the route and route conditions, checking your gear twice, and organise your re-supply of food and water. The preparation often needs more time than the hike itself.
While on the NST you do not need to worry about this, because plenty of information is already available on this website: the main route, alternative routes, shelters, water sources, grocery stores, campgrounds, trail angels and so on.
Soulboy on the way SoBo 2020.
Long-distance hiking? - a long way for Germany
Wanderlust is the German expression for the desire to go out for a hike, or the love of travel per say. We Germans often call ourselves a wandering nation. Germany has plenty of local and regional hiking trails all over the map to offer. However, true and honest long distance thru-hiking the country has never come out of its fledgling stages until now.
Germany has yet to develop a supporting culture catering towards thru-hikers. We need a network of trail managers, trail angels, a platform to share the experience and legal camping spots.
With the establishment of the NST something new has begun. A new generation of enthusiastic hikers, interested followers and trail supporters are willing to reach out to thru-hikers, and offer them a ride, trail magic, a place to sleep or to shower and to clean their clothes.
There is still room for improvement, but just like a journey begins with a single step, every little accomplishment leads to the next and one day we will hopefully have accomplished our goal for a true German long distance trail with plenty of trekking spots or private camp spots and the acceptance of camping in and around shelters.