Hiking miles and miles every day with a pack on takes a physical toll. Our corespondents thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail this year step back to talk about motivation, injury prevention, and general ‘wellness’ out there on the long haul.
With roughly 400 miles of the PCT behind them this spring (and 2,190 miles of the Appalachian Trail logged last year), the ‘Packing It Out’ crew has developed a system to stay healthy and motivated while hiking 25+ miles each day.
Article written by Paul Twedt, a ‘Packing It Out’ founder.
When preparing for a thru-hike backpacking trip, people run, hike with a pack on, and train in many ways. But the truth is most things in life won’t prepare you for what the main event entails. Give or take a mile or two, we walk a marathon distance every day.
Not only that, we carry our lives on our backs along with whatever unknown amount of trash we find along the way. This weight plus the distance can wear you down.

We do this for roughly 150 days in a row to accomplish our goals. It puts a tremendous amount of stress on the body, both physically and mentally. This is our choice; we are thru-hikers.
Think ‘MSC’ To Manage Hiking’s Physical And Mental Aspects
An imperative aspect of thru-hiking success lies in each hiker’s ability to cope with physical and mental challenges.
During our 2015 Appalachian Trail thru-hike, the Packing It Out crew learned that we could manage the not-so-trivial challenge of aches, pains, and injuries with what we dubbed Meticulous Self Care (hereafter referred to as MSC).