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Do you dream about hitting the trail for a long—really long—hike? In Ask a Thru-Hiker, record-setting long-distance hiker Liz “Snorkel” Thomas answers your burning questions about how to do it.
Dear Snorkel,
A friend wants to join me along my thru-hike as a support crew for a few days. They don’t want to hike with me but are planning to meet me at road crossings with food and supplies. What are some best practices to have the experience be as enjoyable as possible for both of us?
Feeling Supported
Dear Supported,
For a thru-hiker, having a friend or family member’s support can feel like a vacation during your vacation. For the support crew, it can feel rewarding to share in a friend’s trail experience and know they had a part in your success and enjoyment of the trail. Ultimately, supporting a thru-hike is the sort of act of kindness that can cement a friendship and is unlikely to be forgotten.
Still, a supported hike isn’t always a walk in the park – for the crew or the hiker. The following are tips I’ve learned from having friends and family meet me on thru-hikes over the years.
First, I would recommend you both get a good map and plan out where you will meet and when. Ideally, have this conversation before you start the trail. Use Google Maps to pin and save exactly where the trail crosses a road and the location of trailhead parking lots.
If they’re going to follow along for a few days, map out a few consecutive meeting points at convenient intervals for both of you. It doesn’t make sense for a support person to meet you every two miles, but having them meet you at the end of the day (ideally with some burgers) is a perfect idea.
I’d recommend that your support person meet you exactly where the trail crosses the road. While on paper, it may not seem like a lot of extra work to have them meet you 2 miles off a side-trail, most thru-hikers will resent having to add on 4 extra miles to their trip, even if it is to see a friend with food.
Watch out for road closures or inaccessible dirt roads. More than once, I’ve come to a road crossing and later learned my support person couldn’t drive to the spot. Sometimes, support people discover what looks like a road on a Google Maps is closed or inaccessible due to road damage.
Coordinating times and places is the most difficult part of supporting a hiker, so use technology to make it easier. When you’re out in the woods, share your location on your phone. Not all road crossings have cell reception. If you use a satellite messenger, like the Garmin inReach Mini, make sure each person’s contact has been pre-loaded into the device.
A few days before the first meeting, let them know if you’re on track for the original time and place. On the morning you’re planning to meet, give updates every few hours, especially if weather, injury, snow or poor trail conditions change your plan.
The two of you should also get on the same page about what support looks like. Will they bring you food? Do you have requests or food restrictions? Who will pay for food items they bring or campsites you use together? Will they set up camp chairs and a sunshade for you? Or will they plan on handing you stuff and then move on with their business? Will they be able to entertain themselves in the area, or do they expect you to be a tour guide?
One way a support person can help you is by offering to slackpack. “Slackpacking” is thru-hiker slang for when a hiker carries just a day’s worth of supplies and is supported by another person who ferries their tent and other gear to camp at night. On European trails, there are luggage services that will slack pack equipment for a fee. A few hostels along U.S. long trails will do this, too. The result is that a thru-hiker can move faster or cover more miles without the extra weight of a backpacking pack.
One big question to work out is how your support person feels about supporting you and your trail family. Chances are that you’ll befriend many hikers during your trip. If other hikers see you being supported by a friend, they may also want to be supported. Most thru-hikers will shamelessly try to bum food and rides off of their friend’s friends. Make sure your support crew is prepared for this–and has a plan (or at least some extra food and drinks).
From a hiker’s perspective, as much as you enjoy seeing your friend, you may also be anxious to get back on the trail. Meeting with a friend can slow you down and you may get behind the rest of your trail family. You may be worried about finishing before the end of the hiking season. Remember that someone drove a long way to meet you and may have different expectations of how much time you’ll spend hanging out in camp.
Lastly, it’s important your crew understands what they’re getting into. When they meet you, chances are you will smell very bad and be covered in dirt or mud. You should plan to reduce your odor as best you can–either by switching into better smelling sleep clothes or using a Wet Wipe before hopping into their car. They may want seat covers for their car and a new air freshener. Non-hikers can’t always anticipate the caloric needs of thru-hikers, so you should be explicit about exactly how much food and drink you’d like them to bring.
Your friend is going to get to see a side of you that may surprise the folks back home. But ultimately, one of the kindest things a friend can ever do for you is be there on a thru-hike.