January Start

[michelle_wingerter]

I want to do a northbound thru hike starting in the middle of January. Has anyone here done this? Does anyone have advice for winter hiking? I don't have much backpacking experience, so any advice at all would be appreciated.

Right now I have an REI Quarter Dome T1 for a shelter and a Marmot Trestles 0 for a bag (Yes, I know it's huge and heavy. But it should keep me warm, and it was one of the few bags I could afford). I also have an Exped Downmat 7 for a mat and a Montbell Thermawrap jacket for my insulating layer. I'll probably bring the thermawrap and a fleece and a capilene baselayer and a rain jacket and some other shirt--I'm thinking that should be enough to keep me warm (at least on top) even on cold days...maybe?

I'm starting in January because I graduate from college in December and because I would love to experience the trail in winter. I know it'll be cold and snowy. I know there won't be many people hiking. I know it'll be a lot more complicated than hiking in the spring/summer. But I really want to do this, and I would really appreciate your help.

[campingfever]

Chapstick, sunglasses and a pull over toboggan that completely covers your head, face and neck. The kind that only exposes your eyes is great for sleeping in at night. Keep your head warm and dry at night and you will greatly increase your warmth, comfort and safety.

[HiKen2011]

Trek started January 1 2011, it can be done, stay warm!

[FatMan]

Since you have little backpacking experience I would strongly suggest you start at the more traditional time. Winter backpacking is for the experienced only, and without experience is frankly dangerous. During the traditional start time you will have plenty of support along the way.

[Creek Dancer]

Get a good pair of waterproof mittens. Mittens are warmer than gloves.

Always be sure to keep warm dry clothes for camp, even if that means putting on cold wet things in the morning before you start hiking for the day.

[kayak karl]

i did jan and feb. just keep the calories up

[wornoutboots]

i did jan and feb. just keep the calories up

Check out KK trail Journal & many others that have started 1/1/ & you'll be much better prepared trailjournals.com

[Feral Bill]

For a person with little experience, this is a bad idea, especially solo. Either start later next spring or spend this winter gaining winter experience and go the next year. Please, reread Fatman's post and take it very seriously. Not trying to be a wet blanket, just concerned.

[bamboo bob]

The thing about the AT is that its a long skinny trail and your are never far from a road or a town. It is NOT the wilderness. So go for it. There will be others out there who can help if you get in real trouble and you can get off the trail at many places. I've snowshoed on the AT and it can be very difficult to see blazes in a storm or right after a storm. So hole up in a shelter during storms. Don't let anyone talk you out of it , you'll have a blast. Bring money.

[michelle_wingerter]

Let me just say that I know this is a terrible, dangerous, very bad idea. I appreciate the concern of those who have and will tell me to start later, etc. But I'm doing it anyway. I started this thread because even though I don't have experience, I know some of you do. So please, if you want to help me, tell me what I need to know to keep from killing myself when I'm on the AT come January.

[Marta]

It can definitely be done, though very, very few succeed. Dealing with the cold takes more experience than you might think. Lots of people think they will enjoy the solitude, but few actually do. Then there are the financial issues. A start that early means that you must either hike very slowly--and more days on the trail makes a hike much more expensive--or means you will reaching NH and Maine while there is still snow in the mountains. That's not an insurmountable problem--as someone pointed out, Trek manges to do it every year--but it does present serious complications.

A plan that is more likely to be successful, and fun, would be to work for a few months and save up some extra money, then start in April when the weather will be more pleasant and the AT social scene will be in full swing. Please look on Trailjournals for the stories of people who have started in January. It should be sobering.

[Papa D]

Your experience level worries me. I backpack quite a lot in the winter and enjoy it but will tell you that there is a certain skill set necessary for regular backpacking and an enhanced skill-set for winter backpacking. Since apparently you have little (or no) skills, it's sort of like a non swimmer learning to water ski or a non rock climber taking up ice climbing - it can be done, but the deck is stacked somewhat against you. Bamboo Bob is right that it's not too hard to get off the trail - but the trail can also be a big lonely place when things go wrong and "wilderness" is a great magnifier of small problems. I'm not going to post a bunch of "how to" stuff like - stay warm, dry hydrated, sheltered, etc. - you can figure out all these details but here is a list of things that might tip the scales (in a general sense) in your favor.

1) Youth - this can be bad or good, but we'll go with good for now
2) Excellent physical conditioning - backpacking is physical endurance exercise - you need to know this now - you can't fake it.
3) Whiteblaze - read the posts of experienced backpackers - especially winter ones - Tipi Walter, Garlic, MAGS, 10-K, Wise old Owl, and others - get a feel for what to carry (and, more importantly, what not to carry)
4) PRACTICE - if you want to start a Thru in January, you've got about 10 weekends - get out backpacking somewhere now - test your skills and your gear - see if you like it.
5) Find an experienced friend to join you for the first week or so to get you going - P/M me even, I can always do a few days.

Now here are a few big pit-falls

1) You don't really know if you want to do this -- your own mind will pull you off the trail at the first road - you will have to have a lot of determination (and in winter, a whole heckava lot)
2) Fatman made a good point - winter backpacking is serious stuff (at times) only you know if your head is good enough to work out problems - temper this against Bamboo Bob's post and decide yourself
3) A really cold snowy winter - this would just be impossible for anyone but the most experienced person to overcome - Esp. Franklin, NC through the smokies to Erwin -- forget it -- wait it out at best.
4) Running out of money - in the winter, even the most experienced hiker will do 1-2 hostels a week - the other 3 seasons, I might only get a bunk and a shower every 10-14 days or so.
5) Loneliness - there won't be many hikers out until March - you'll have a great head start on most NOBOS which means you'll avoid the crowds but I'd bring a book and an I-pod.

Be safe and have fun - if you want to, you can do it.

[Slo-go'en]

Winter hiking/camping isn't too bad for a week or two. Which on average is about how long people who try to start in Jan end up staying on the trail. Being in the cold, dealing with frozen water, food, boots and anything else which can get damp or wet 24/7 gets pretty old, pretty quick.

Actually, the first two weeks while your still in GA probably won't be too bad, but once you climb into NC and your now up at 5 and 6 thousand feet all the time, during the coldest and often the snowist month of the year (Feb), you will start to question the wisdom of being out there. If we have another winter like last year (and we might), your not going anywhere.

Winter hiking/camping isn't something you can learn from a book or from advice given on an internet forum, though that will point you in the right direction to start. One really has to learn by experiance and that is best done slowly doing short trips in order to start getting the hang of things and learn what works for you and what doesn't. Jumping into it and learning it sink or swim kind of fashion really isn't a great idea.

The other problem is, if you do somehow stick with it and make slow but steady progress up the trail, your following the worst of the spring weather up the trail. You'll be cold and wet more often than not probably all the way to New England and maybe beyond.

If your serious about completing a thru, want until at least mid March to start. Use the dead time between graduation and then to either make some money or doing short trips to get that winter camping experiance and some backpacking skills. Doing that will pay big dividens and greatly increase your chances of a succesfull thru-hike.

[mountain squid]

tell me what I need to know to keep from killing myself when I'm on the AT come January.

Cold weather aside, you need to have skills at following a footpath that, at times, might be non-existent. If there is substantial snow you will not see the actual trail. You also won't see many of the white blazes on the trees. If you follow someone else's foot prints and they aren't going the correct way . . . well, next thing you know, you are lost (if you've lost the blazes, always look behind you for a SOBO blaze, you might get lucky and see one).

Carry maps.
Carry a compass.
Have the knowledge on how to use the previous two items.

Yes, Trek has done this numerous times (maybe 10?), so Trek knows where to go even if there is snow. A couple yrs ago Trek missed the snow in the Smoky's (that everyone else had to post-hole through) but got slowed down in the Roan Highlands. As I recall, he missed the relo that we had done on Little Hump because the snow was so deep that it covered the posts with the blazes on them. It wasn't too big a problem for him, because he knew the general direction of the trail.

When there is that much snow, you daily mileage will drop drastically. Post holing is VERY difficult. If you make only 6 miles on a day you had planned to do 15, that likely means that you will spend an extra night on the trail. Which means you'll need more food. Normally it is pretty easy to figure out your resupply points and carry the appropriate amount of food to the next resupply . . . if there is 2, 3, or 6 feet of snow on the ground . . . . be prepared to carry extra food.

If you are dead set on doing this, you might contact the Hiker Hostel. They may be able to slack you through GA.

Good Luck and Have Fun!! Dress Warmly.

See you on the trail,
mt squid

how to hike
observations

[Slo-go'en]

So please, if you want to help me, tell me what I need to know to keep from killing myself when I'm on the AT come January.

Ahh, the arrogance of youth. Seems we have been seeing a lot of this lately. The best thing you can do to keep from killing yourself is to get some serious experiance first. Then decide if you can handle it 24/7 for a couple of months. If that is not possible, wait a couple of months before going.

We can give you pages and pages of advice, but none of it will sink in or do any good until you experiance it first hand and as I said earlier, this is best done in short dosages with quick and easy bale out options.

Good luck.

[DapperD]

Let me just say that I know this is a terrible, dangerous, very bad idea. I appreciate the concern of those who have and will tell me to start later, etc. But I'm doing it anyway. I started this thread because even though I don't have experience, I know some of you do. So please, if you want to help me, tell me what I need to know to keep from killing myself when I'm on the AT come January.

Make sure to carry a charged working cell phone with you at all times.

[Tipi Walter]

Everyone has made good points. Postholing should be the main word in your vocabulary and will become an eventual curse word if you stick with your plan.

Here's the best advice I can give: Start sleeping outside every night right now. Throw out a bedroll or set up a tent/shelter on your deck or porch or in your backyard and test your sleeping bag and pad. Start getting your winter bag nights now before the actual trip.

[peakseeker]

I did it once.... and never will again. Cold snowy hikes are not fun - for me anyway. Fun and Sightseeing are minimal during these times. But if you must...just be prepared for a lot of down time. You will do the same distance - almost as if you had left in February.

[kayak karl]

seriously if u decide to do this, check to see if posters ever did it before. i got a TON of bad advice on WB. the best advice i got was on the trail (12/31/08 was my FIRST time on the trail and first time long distance) Rock, Marta, Hog on Ice, Darkman and Trek were great helps. Take-a-knee helped with gear list.
had a great time and would not trade it for the world. LOL took a year to get back the 4 lost toenails back.

[Lone Wolf]

I want to do a northbound thru hike starting in the middle of January. Has anyone here done this? Does anyone have advice for winter hiking? I don't have much backpacking experience, so any advice at all would be appreciated.

Right now I have an REI Quarter Dome T1 for a shelter and a Marmot Trestles 0 for a bag (Yes, I know it's huge and heavy. But it should keep me warm, and it was one of the few bags I could afford). I also have an Exped Downmat 7 for a mat and a Montbell Thermawrap jacket for my insulating layer. I'll probably bring the thermawrap and a fleece and a capilene baselayer and a rain jacket and some other shirt--I'm thinking that should be enough to keep me warm (at least on top) even on cold days...maybe?

I'm starting in January because I graduate from college in December and because I would love to experience the trail in winter. I know it'll be cold and snowy. I know there won't be many people hiking. I know it'll be a lot more complicated than hiking in the spring/summer. But I really want to do this, and I would really appreciate your help.

better have a lot of cash. you'll be spending a lot on motels, hostels and restaurants