Brady

hey there brady......plus2 here......i am also planning a 2012 thru hike and very little experience backpacking.....best wishes......see you on the trail

I am thinking about hiking the trail in 2012. Here is my logic to my start date. April is a bit late to start. Especially if you are not exactly sure how long the trail will take you and you don’t want to finish too late. Baxter state park does close at some point. Though, if you want to miss the snow then you need to start after April 1st. I feel like a good start date is March 20th, the first day of spring. Though a lot of people like to start on this day, so this makes it not a good time to start. So if I hike the trail, I will probably start (give or take a couple of days) around March 13, a week or so before the first day of spring. Not only will I avoid some of the crowds, I have an extra week to help me finish on time. Also, if you start later, it will get too hot before you get out of the south.