Section Hike advice: Shenandoah Natl Park

[ericrhett]

Hi! Im planning on starting at Swift Run Gap June 22 (thurs) & finishing at Skyland June 25 (sun). It looks to be 25 miles..Im wondering if this is an easy stretch and therefore i should pick up more miles and finish farther down the road..

Any opinions on this schedule? Thanks!

Eric

[The Kisco Kid]

No one can really judge your pace except you. That being said, the trail through the Shenandoah's is known to be a relatively easy section. So, 25 miles in four days is a little on the light side.

[Slo-go'en]

The whole AT through the park is pretty easy (in respect to the AT in general) and that middle stretch is about as easy as it gets. How hard/easy you will find it is impossible for anyone to say.

[bigcranky]

We did US 33 to Front Royal in 5 days back in 2005, and we were not experienced distance hikers at the time. We averaged 13 miles per day without trying hard at all. Skyland is great, we spent a night there. You might think about having some flexibility in where you finish the hike, if possible.

[MuddyWaters]

What are you gonna for the other 1.5 days?

[BillyGr]

Of course, if one got hiking and covered more than they planned to do (thus having time left over or needing to "slow down" to avoid getting to the destination too soon, Shenandoah wouldn't be a bad place to have the issue.

If one has a map of all the trails in the park, there are many places where you could add several miles by going off the AT onto a side trail and making a loop back to the AT (so that you could hike, say 10 miles but wind up back on the AT only 3 or 4 miles from where you left it).

[QuietStorm]

It's not the most difficult section of Virginia by far but surprisingly rocky between Rock Spring Hut and north of Skyland. Some great views. I hiked from Beahm's Gap to Rock Spring Hut in 7 hours. With all the side trails it was about 18 miles. I'm not a fast hiker so you should be able to go much further than Skyland.


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