Josh and his hiking partner decided against taking on the the entire Appalachian Trail in one bite:

After a hot and buggy hike in Pictured Rocks we started thinking about the cost of our life energy along with what we could do if we did not hike the trail compared to the enjoyment and adventure of a thru-hike. Aimless and I have put a lot of our life on hold the last 4-5 years all to be able to attempt a thru-hike. Basically for us it does not seem worth it.

In economics they call it “opportunity cost” — the price you pay for doing one thing that deprives you of the opportunity to do something else. It’s one of the calculations a hiker has to make while deciding whether to set half a year aside and do nothing but hike and camp.

As I noted in a comment at Josh’s blog, the best time to have this “come’s a dawning” realization is a year before you set out. Those folks who have everything plotted out — food drops, TrailJournals accounts, shiny new gear — but who bail after the first few weeks on the trail have to spend a fair amont of time undoing all those preparations, which has to make the “what the hell was I thinking?” factor all the more painful.

I’ve become enough of a gray-beard to realize I’ve got only so many years left, and I wonder if I’d really want to hike away a large chunk of any one of those years. Of course that would get in the way of my blogging, so I doubt the issue would ever come up.