Most first long-distance hikers do not fail for lack of gear. They fail for pace, weight, and a calendar that does not match the trail.
In Halfway Anywhere's 2025 PCT survey, 54.5% of thru-hikers were on their first long trail. Of those who quit, 39.6% left for injury. Foot overuse and knees led the hike-ending list.
- Starting too fast. Big-mile days in week one are the usual path to shin splints, IT band pain, and a bus ticket. Easy early. Fitness arrives on trail.
- A pack that is still a project. 37.2% of 2025 PCT hikers said they would have cut base weight before they started. The people who wished they had gone lighter began around 22.6 lb — well above the class average.
- Shoes that only worked in the store. PCT hikers used 4.81 pairs on average. Feet swell. A half-size up, with room to go larger, is normal — not a failure of the first pair.
- Planning every box from the couch. The 2025 class told the next one: do not mail the whole trail. Towns change. Appetites change. Flexibility beats a perfect spreadsheet.
- Treating section hiking as lesser. A finished section is finished trail. Many of the strongest hikers on the CDT got there by stacking sections, not by forcing a first thru.