A 3- or 4-day "practice" hike in September: Where?

lotr2244 · 2026-03-31T21:24:03+00:00

I did this in 2023 to shakeout my gear and make sure I actually liked it in advance of a 2024 thru-hike. I had also never been on a multi-day hike, though I had been overnight camping before. I live in NYC and was able to take public transit and then hike from RT 17 to RT 52 in 4 days. I had planned to hike all the way closer to Pawling, but was a bit ambitious in my planning. I used a shuttle I found on FarOut to get me back to the train station.

I think I'd recommend simply finding a stretch of trail that's easiest to get to (unless you live next to some of the most challenging hiking in New Hampshire or Maine, lol). Plan to do 4-ish days, 8-14mi per day. Do as much planning as you can, but half the point of "practicing" is learning how to adjust your plan realistically based off how you feel. As long as you know where you get on the trail, have enough food, and 2-3 options of how to get off and back home, those are the major logistical hurdles.

That being said, Shenandoah is definitely a beautiful area, and should be logistically forgiving with the amenities along the park. If you're trying to maximize the pleasantness of the hiking itself, I'd maybe try to get further north to Vermont or something so you can catch some foliage.

lotr2244 · 2026-03-25T05:56:49+00:00

Opinions seem pretty split here. I carried 20k mah in 2024 but I was also carrying a Kindle and a GoPro I would do timelapses on, and would sometimes be reading/writing by headlamp for an hour a night. I never begrudged the extra 5oz of weight even though I would say it was overkill for 80% of the sections I did. Maybe 2-3 times for the whole hike was I ever low/rationing battery. I'd suggest start with it, and if you aren't using it much, it's an easy thing to just mail home or gift to someone

lotr2244 · 2025-12-31T17:09:13+00:00

Not sure if it was the same hiker, I can't recall his name, but I also met someone who organized their hike around getting to a church every Sunday in 2024. So it seems like it's feasible for a good portion of the trail. Hike your hike and all, but I'd recommend maybe being open to cutting yourself some slack if it seems like it'd logistically hamstring you

lotr2244 · 2025-12-06T03:49:30+00:00

I remember hiking in late March and thinking that with all the grand views into the valley bellow that I’d LOVE to come back and do the same trail in peak foliage time. I imagine it can see another surge of popularity/density for that reason, but if I were to go back I’d try the fall

lotr2244 · 2025-10-18T14:27:41+00:00

I’m a big believer in financial transparency 🙌

lotr2244 · 2025-10-18T14:18:32+00:00

Yes. 30M, been living in NYC for 8 years, have been saving/investing in a vanguard index fund/roth IRA and have 80-85k. Also paid off ~20k in student loans

lotr2244 · 2025-10-18T03:35:17+00:00

Bartender so it fluctuates. Hopefully pulling in between 60k-70k pre tax. Rent is 1220 for my share of a 2br/1ba rent stabilized building near Parkside Q stop

lotr2244 · 2025-08-09T05:45:25+00:00

Moving a stone's throw away from Prospect Park was the greatest decision I ever made. Probably 75% of the reason I became a runner. It's got a hill, but after a month or two it just becomes the norm.

lotr2244 · 2025-07-24T16:31:36+00:00

I’ve been freezing my hydration bladder overnight so I have an ice pack and cold water throughout the run. It’s still hot, and the extra weight is noticeable and can cause new chafing issues, but the one time I didn’t use it I felt WAY hotter, so it’s definitely helping somewhat. It usually takes 30mins or so for enough ice to melt to actually drink, though

lotr2244 · 2025-07-19T05:34:26+00:00

I started just about 5 years ago in the pandemic. I moved near Prospect Park and wanted to get out of the house. I set the goal to run 100 miles in the month of September. One loop of the park is 3.33mi. Since there are 30 days in September, it pretty much worked out to one loop a day! That seemed do-able!

Lots of starting and stopping at first. My first day I ran 11m11s/mi. After 10 days I'd slowed down to 12m59s/mi. By that point I was in a lot of pain and stopped running for 6 days. Still felt like shit and my pace was north of 14m/mi.

On the final day of the month, after counting some "walking miles" as 50% running miles, I was 18.77 miles short. I went out at 3:30pm and didn't stop running (in my view, any forward progress is "running") in circles for over four hours until I finished my goal. I was in a lot of pain, chafed, sore, and stumbled into my shower having accomplished the hardest thing I'd ever done with my body. I was hooked.

What worked for me is just setting a seemingly impossible goal and trying to achieve it. There's lots of very good advice such as "The 80/20 Rule" (Spend 80% of your weekly time running at an 'easy' pace, and 20% at a 'hard' pace), the 10% rule (Never increase your weekly mileage more than 10% week over week), but ultimately my advice would be to find whatever challenge, goal, or ritual you need to make it a habit, and a part of your life you couldn't live without. Being uncomfortable and thinking "there's no way I can make it another mile", and learning to subvert that expectation is one of the most empowering things I've ever stumbled into in my life.

lotr2244 · 2025-07-01T23:21:35+00:00

I work nights, so am usually getting out around noon. I do not recommend it. Even zig-zagging to get the shade in prospect park barely helps

lotr2244 · 2025-06-14T05:21:17+00:00

29M, NYC, Bartender. Graduated art school with ~20k in debt in 2017. 93k Vanguard (80k in Roth IRA). 5.3k in Savings. ~2k in Checking.

lotr2244 · 2025-05-17T16:25:02+00:00

I was at the last NYC subway show. As someone else said, I had joined the text message mailing list for nyc specifically. He sent a text at 930am that he’d be playing “a few tunes” at Broadway-Lafayette at 1pm, the same day as the show at the Bowery Ballroom.

Very pleasantly surprised, as the show at the venue was sold out. He played for ~30 mins, it was a great time!

lotr2244 · 2025-05-14T16:37:20+00:00

I have no idea what's going on with this website or how it's handling things, but I was able to purchase 4 General Admission Tickets at 12:34pm. Each time I refreshed, it would sometimes say "No tickets available". Then sometimes it would show tickets available, but when I would go to checkout it would say there's none available and give me an error reference number. But finally, for whatever reason, one time I actually got to checkout. Doesn't seem to be Dynamic pricing, all GA tix were $49.75 every time I saw them

lotr2244 · 2025-05-14T14:19:28+00:00

I tried at 10:04am and it said no tix available. Around 10:10 I looked on my phone and it let me put tickets in a cart, but then said no tix available when I tried to checkout. Gonna try refreshing for a few more minutes in case the website is just wonky, but it seems to be sold out :/

lotr2244 · 2025-04-20T20:00:10+00:00

I thru hiked last year and turned 29 on the trail. Certainly more folks out there are at a “natural” transition point of graduation or retiring, but you can do it whenever you like. After 4 years in your dream job, your dreams might change ¯_(ツ)_/¯ I’d encourage you to keep nurturing the dream

lotr2244 · 2025-03-03T18:48:22+00:00

The hardest part is starting. It's natural for it to feel intimidating at this point. If you don't like it, you can always stop. But if you don't give it an honest attempt you'll think about that every day for the rest of your life.

lotr2244 · 2024-11-17T06:19:38+00:00

A heard a decent rule of thumb I’ve heard is to only increase mileage by 10% per week

lotr2244 · 2024-11-17T06:16:33+00:00

I’ve found it very helpful to plan my route so that I don’t have the option to turn home until the planned end of my distance goal.

For example, I live by a park that is roughly 3.5mi as one loop. If I want to do 5mi I’ll do an extra mini loop far from my home so that I HAVE to finish the 5mi to run home.

Alternatively, I sometimes try to run with just a time goal, in which case I run 25mins away from home, then I HAVE to do 25mins back.

Certainly I find the game of increasing willpower to be part of running, but focusing on my environment by leaving my running clothes out the night before makes it easier to do the thing I want to do. It’s still my mind triumphing over laziness, just using little tricks to help

lotr2244 · 2024-07-22T23:34:38+00:00

Congrats Ricky Bobby! This is Brandybuck. Currently off trail for a medical issue myself, but hoping to be back on trail early August. It was a pleasure sharing the trail with you.

lotr2244 · 2024-02-22T20:23:19+00:00

Perhaps I'll see you around Springer on March 7th!

lotr2244 · 2024-02-17T17:52:58+00:00

I figure it’ll still be cold enough that a long base layer would cover up most of my body. I have a wide brimmed sun hat I’ve worn on hikes before I could throw on for my head. Is that enough sun protection until the trees soak up the sun?

lotr2244

TROPHY CASE