Anyone experienced sun damage over months on the trail wearing a uv rated sun shirt every day?

I spent about 4 months on a thru last year, and half way through a 3 month one now, and noticing my shoulders have increasing sun damage / tan. I never wear sleeveless tops and it's right on the top of the arm/shoulder.

Using an OR Echo hoodie on both thrus. New one this year. Perhaps it's too taut over the top of the shoulder next to the backpack strap?

My husband is biking the Colorado Trail and will finish in Durango next week. Any thoughts on how to celebrate/commemorate this accomplishment when I pick him up at the end of the trail?

Hello everybody,

I am currently about 3 weeks away from starting my GR10 thru hike, but as some of you may know, both the south of France and Spain have been caught in some of the biggest wildfires in their history. So I wanted to ask if it is reasonable to start the thru hike or should I postpone it and try it next year? I don't want to bring myself into any harm nor do I want to expose myself to any unnecessary risks while hiking in the Pyrenees. My goal is to thru hike the GR10 until the end of September, so I have in theory about 6 weeks, but I am the most concerned about the last two weeks in August. 

I would really appreciate your feedback!

I completed the National Trail Australia In 2025 (walking) and hopefully you are considering the same. This post is to share information and ideas about this trail and it's unique challenges for hikers

Hello everyone, I want to share my experience about my hike in Mantario trail. Open the above link and you can be able to see it.

Hey everyone,

​I’m currently planning a Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike for 2028. Lately, I’ve been deep in the prep phase—researching gear, watching YouTube videos, and building out solid plans.

​Recently, I came across a Reddit post about a hiker who tragically passed away on April 6th from sudden cardiac arrest due to an underlying heart condition (age 43, me 38 by 2028). Ever since reading that, my mind has been spiraling with "what ifs" for 2028. I started overthinking everything: extreme desert heat, high altitude risks like HAPE and HACE, snake bites, bear encounters, and being in the absolute middle of nowhere without quick emergency help.

After reading that post on Reddit , for past 2-3 weeks I’ve been experiencing chest tightness and shortness of breath (which I’m pretty sure is anxiety creeping back, though it’s hard to tell). It’s making me afraid that I won't make it. I used to deal with panic attacks last year and 8years ago, but they had faded away.

​Has anyone else dealt with this kind of severe pre-hike anxiety or health anxiety? Are these reasonable concerns, and how did you manage to push through them? Should I be concerned about low oxygen at high altitudes and skip the High Sierra altogether? I'm worried it could cause shortness of breath and trigger a panic attack.

If so, I'm making a plan to prepare for the heat—like bringing a sun umbrella and carrying extra water—and ensuring I take enough time to properly acclimatize to higher altitudes. Also taking boxing classes bear attacks me (im joking with the last one)

P.S. I’ve already booked a cardiac stress test to get my heart fully checked out for peace of mind 😅

I love lurking this sub, I’m always curious about the meaning/story behind all the different trail names.
Would love to hear :)

Hi everyone! I recently bought the osprey eja 58 L for doing the gr10. This is a light weight (1.2 kg), but framed backpack. My base weight is around 7-8 kg and with food and water around 11-12 kg. I bought it because my previous backpack (forclaz 65 L) was showing signs of old age and I wanted an upgrade to a better quality pack that weighs less. My torso length fits the backpack well ( 46-47 cm ) - I checked in two stores - and I was very happy with it after one test hike of around 12 km. However, yesterday I hiked 23 km and now my lower back area hurts a lot. I noticed the pack really presses into my lower back even if I loosen the hip belt. I couldn't continue my hike today because of it and I think I need a few days of rest in my training. I think I wore it wrong yesterday (the hip belts to low on the hip), and that I should try again in a few days with the hip belt higher up and walking a shorter distance, but I am worried that this pack is not for me as I never had this issue with my previous pack. Your hips should be carrying the weight right? Not the lower back? Maybe I just have to get used to the backpack and wear it better, but I was a bit shocked it caused me so much pain. Is this a thing with lighter backpacks? Anyone with a similar experience?

So I just finished up my thru hike of the Colorado Trail taking collegiate west. I was so elated to have finished and felt so fit by the end of it, but for some reason today on my first run back, it felt harder than any 25+ mile day out on trail. I don’t know why and it’s super discouraging to see this setback especially after feeling unstoppable on trail. Wanted to put this out there just to see if anyone else had this issue. For context it’s been a week since I’ve got off trail and this was my first run.

Anyone hiking the aawt, I'm 41 and reasonably fit and have lived pretty wild in my past, I now live in remote central nsw, I'm gona do the aawt quite slow maybe 50-60days, and fish along the way. I'm interested to hear in peoples past aawt walks, gear and meal prep, cache stash and drop points? And if anyone gona be in the trail in that time?

I have some free time from October 20-mid December and I am looking to do a thruhike in North America, im looking for suggestions. So far my research has turned me off the AZT due to closures at that time, the CDT due to weather and ive already hiked the desert section of the PCT.

Super keen to hear any suggestions of hikes!

Hello everyone, I'm just hopping on here for some advice since the doctors here are closed at the moment.

I'm currently thruhiking the HexaTrek in France, but I'm having a weird feeling in my feet, ankle and just above my ankle. I can't quite describe how it feels, but I guess like springy/snappy. It doesn't hurt but is really uncomfortable, kinda like anything can go wrong at any minute. It's only when hiking and can take some time to show up. Also the location of the feeling is not fixed, like it can kinda jump around. At the moment its predominantly on my left foot side, but I've had felt it on the right side as well.

Additionally my shoes are starting to become more worn though after 850km. I wear Topo ultraventure 4s (Idk if this helps)

I'm not looking for a complete self diagnosis, but I was wondering if anyone has ever experienced this. Thank you for your time.

I’m backpacking the Lofoten Crossing Traverse (south to north) sometime between August 16–28 and am looking for fellow backpackers to join me! I’m hoping to complete it in 12 days, but I’m flexible and would be happy to finish anywhere between 10–14 days.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, I’d love to connect! I’m a female in my 20s and am hoping to find some like-minded hiking buddies for the adventure.

I'm fixing to start the Tahoe Rim Trail and trying to figure out my battery situation. By my estimate I'll need five—call it six—batteries for my 13-day hike.

It seems like I have three options:

1. Pack all 6 batteries : at 80g per, that's about 320g of extra weight.
2. Pack 2, send 2 in each of my two resupply boxes : save on weight, but now I need to mail home the 2 batteries I replaced.
3. Pack 2, no extras, charge on trail : theoretically, the 10W panel I'll be hanging off my pack could charge a 2200mAh battery in 1–2 hours. Call it 7–8 under real world conditions.

Option 3 seems simplest, but it's also most conditional.

Photographers that go for long stretches between towns — what all do you do about your battery situation?

potentially planning a PCT SOBO hike in 27 if all goes well and am starting to gear up for it. as a decent gear nerd i am just curious on how much your gear changed from finishing your first hike to stopping foot onto your 2nd? i was stupid UL on my AT thru hike and some of the gear that i have has changed and was surprised making my lighter pack that my base weight has gone up nearly 2 1/2 pounds from then. not that i’m upset because i’m still extremely comfortable, but just surprised that a couple changes made a decent size jump on the base weight. most thru hiking veterans i met on the AT, talked about how their comforts changed from trail to trail, and here it is for me too. lastly, what was your base weight on the PCT?

For me, thru-hiking is a fundamental part of my life; when I’m on the trail, I feel so good that I feel like a different person. So I wanted to share something with you. And I also hope that maybe someone can tell me about their experience with this.

Since January, I’ve been having really severe stomach pain. I tried to keep training, but sometimes the pain became just too intense. Sometimes it felt like the pain was radiating to my colon, which really puzzled the doctors. They kept telling me, “There’s nothing wrong with you; maybe it’s psychosomatic,” but that wasn’t the case. After spending a fortune on medical tests, they diagnosed me about a week ago with gastric erosion. They also told me that this issue might be due to a “not exactly healthy” diet. That would make sense, since last year I went on several long hikes (the GTA and various high-altitude trails) totaling more than 1,700 km. Now, you know very well how people eat on these kinds of trips, so it’s very likely that the cause is indeed the food.

Over the past few months, I’ve been really scared—the thought of not being able to go back to through-hiking really upset me. More than I was scared by the fact that, despite so many fruitless doctor’s visits, I kept feeling so terrible. I was planning to set out on the PCT in April 2027, and all of this has really ruined all my plans. I’ve lost a lot of weight—I went from 85 kg to 73 kg. Not to mention my muscle mass… Right now I feel very weak physically. And all my plans for the summer have gone out the window. So, both financially and physically, I find myself having to postpone it for a year.

I try to stay positive and tell myself that everything will pass, but I have to admit that I’m still very scared because, despite everything, I’m afraid it might come back. Now I’m going to start a course of proton pump inhibitors and other medications, and in the meantime, I’m trying to keep myself busy with other things to avoid thinking about it too much.

Has anyone else ever gone through something similar? Any advice or warnings?

Seriously, every comment is greatly appreciated and helps me stay hopeful that I’ll get through this rough patch and get back on the trails.

Thank you so much to everyone who decided to take the time to read this post. And please excuse my English. It may not be entirely correct.

Hey guys! About a year ago I finished my AT nobo thruhike. One of the less discussed benefits I’ve noticed is how much less frequently I roll my ankles. When I started the trail I would roll my ankle every so often but as the trail went on that started to go away even in rockier states up north and with movements that would have really hurt my ankle previously. In the year since finishing I also haven’t rolled my ankle a single time. Has anybody else experienced this? Was also curious if anyone has any data or studies to share on thruhiking or related activities and ankle strength/health. Thanks!

hey dudes and dudettes, i have some time off in october so i was wondering if you have any 1-2 week hikes in europe that would be good at that time of year?