4/2/12!!!
What are the Pros and Cons of starting my thru-hike on April 2nd. My 31st birthday!
It's a pretty good time to start. It all depends on early season weather in the south, and on your long term hiking pace, neither of which is known.
A decade ago it was very common to start in mid-April. That's probably the optimum time to start to avoid winter weather in the high country. (I started April 4 and weathered two winter storms, temps in the teens and blowing snow, in my first two weeks. If I were to go again, I'd leave a couple of weeks later). It sounds like the trend now is to start earlier and earlier, mainly to avoid crowded shelters and hostels. It's easy enough to avoid crowded shelters and hostels by simply not staying at them--there are many great camping sites between the shelters. Hostels, while part of the AT culture and good resources for shower and laundry and sometimes groceries for a good price, are not the best places to sleep, either.
Another reason to start earlier is to relax the pace. If you start in April, you do need to keep a steady hiking pace. If you want to go on a hiking trip, but don't actually want to hike every day, or are unsure of your ability to hike every day, starting earlier might be better.
I met quite a few young dedicated hikers on their first long hikes who were finishing their hikes in 4 to 5 months. They'd started in March and were finishing in July. They could have started a few weeks later and avoided some snow.
Another reason to start early is to try to get into New England before the worst of the summer heat hits the mid-Atlantic.
"Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning
A good start greatly improves your odds and finishing a thru-hike. Rather than picking an exact date, pick a window like late March or early April or mid April. Then at the last minute, let the long range weather forecast dictate your exact start date. It's amazing what a week of good weather will do for you at the start. That first week is very important, that is when you learn the ropes. That first 100 miles is a huge learning curve. If possible avoid picking an exact date to start. Pick a weather window. Plenty of would-be thru-hikers have showed up at Neels gap, 31 miles into the trip after 4 days in the rain and called it quits.
The more hikers that start around the same time as you, the better chance you will soon fall in with one or more other hikers with compatible temperaments and hiking speeds. These days the six week window when most attempting NOBO thru-hikers leave Springer extends from the last few days of February through the first week of April. So if the social aspect of the thru-hike is of much importance to you, you will see plenty of other hikers in the first week of April.
Another consideration is weather. The later you leave, the less full-blown winter weather you will likely experience. Leaving in the first week of April you will experience less southern winter than the glut who leave from March 1 to March 15, but more than the folks who leave in late April or later.
The first week of April might just strike a nice balance: gives you a chance to meet lots of other hikers at the outset; lets you avoid some but not all of the southern winter on the trail.
Off topic: when it comes to forming trail bonds, your age of 31 is an interesting one. From browsing a ton of trail journals, I notice that when thru-hikers form social pods, those pods tend to consist of hikers exclusively under 30, or exclusively over 30. There are exceptions but they are rare. You kind of fall at the dividing point.
Last edited by map man; 11-20-2011 at 12:19.
There'll be lots of trail magic March.30th-April 1st.Starting April 2nd-ish will give you 6 months to finish around Oct. 2nd. I started Saturday April 2nd, 2011, had lots of trail magic, great weather. Didn't find the trail too crowded.But I agree a window is a good way to start.
I started 5/1, and based on my experiences and my knowledge of GA weather from living here I'd say that 4/15 would be the "Best" date to start a thru if I had to pick "A" day. However, I'm certainly not going to quibble about anyone who wants to start 4/1 or subsequent.
And while picking a "window" would be a great idea for someone like me who lives here, those who have to make flight etc arrangements may not have that luxury. Especially those who want to stay at the Hiker Hostel (make those reservations early!).
I asked this same question!!! check this out.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...hru&highlight=
Planning an April 2012 AT Thru for my 26th BDay!!!! Be patient with me!
Laziness is Creativity's evil brother. -Me
pros: best weather conditions
cons: you will be starting near peak thru hiker crowds. Every shelter on trail will be filled to the gills, and I mean filled.
I was happy with my April 4th start. According to the weather service the historic average temperature was above 40 degrees starting April 4th so that seemed like a good idea. That was 2002 so maybe for 2012 what with climate change and all you can start April 1. April Fools day always seemed perfect to me.
You will be in the horde of NOBO hikers, expect every single shelter to be full, with a half-dozen or more tents around it. Expect hostels and some motels to fill, etc... I left 9 April 2008 and it wasn't too bad cause I avoided shelters and hostels, I tented and stayed in motels in towns.
I started April 3rd this year. It was a great time to start.
AT x 3
GA-ME 2010
GA-ME 2011
ME-GA 2013
I am inexperienced, not used to cold weather, and will be slow. I picked March 15 as my starting date and have already made reservations at the Hiker Hostel. I am worrying that I may be starting too early, though. I also have fears of Baxter closing before I get there. Help!
Formerly known as Texas Phlox.
I started my northbound AT thru-hike on April 10th. That was perfect for me -- not too cold in the beginning. Although there were lots of people through Georgia and North Carolina, there was great camaraderie and I'd met up with some of the best people that I've met in my life during that time.
In Maine I had to hustle to finish but I was in tremendous physical shape and certainly trail conditioned, which helped a great deal when I had to pour on the coals to finish. My thru-hike lasted 195 calendar days and I finished my thru-hike in the snow. For most people, 180 days seems to be the norm. A thru-hiker I'd run into in Vermont one evening said he was trying to stretch his hike out to 360 days. He'd hiked with a full size cut-out of Kathy Ireland.
Datto
Texas Phlox -- just to let you know, the vast majority of thru-hikers who are still on the trail 30 days after Springer Mountain are hiking at close to the same pace (measured in miles/day). Your body and daily hiking timetable make it such that you'll adjust to be able to move the necessary miles to make it to Maine. My daily mileage was 11.1 miles per calendar day and I made it from Springer to Katahdin so you don't have to be able to pull big miles all the time, day after day, in order to make it to Katahdin. It's more of a consistency of hiking that is required rather than huge spurts.
After you're on the Trail, if you feel you're behind "schedule" for some reason, Virginia (from Shenandoah north), West Virginia, Maryland and southern Pennsylvania are places where diligence can make up substantial miles if needed. Your body is in trail shape by that time and the terrain is less difficult (note: I didn't say easy, Ha). Also, the daylight hours are lengthened when hiking those geographic areas for northbounders.
Another very important point is to take it easy in Georgia and North Carolina to give your body time to make the adjustment to the stresses of a thru-hike and to allow your body to become trail conditioned. You'll likely find out the second weakest element on your body is your knees so you'll want to make sure you give your knees time to get trail conditioned.
Also, if you have a concern about your hiking pace, get out and hike every other weekend this winter and sleep on your camping pad so you can get used to it -- in any case, make sure you carry a backpack when you're out for hikes over the wintertime so your body can begin the process of conditioning and you can begin the process of weeding out the useless stuff from your backpack.
If you have a treadmill, wear your backpack on the treadmill -- start with the incline at zero and the speed at 2.5 miles per hour and hike for a 30 minute period every day you're not actually hiking on a trail. Gradually over the wintertime increase the speed to 3.0 miles per hour and a six percent incline and increase the time to 45 minutes. By March 2012, if you can carry your backpack at home at a 3.0 miles per hour pace and a 6% incline for a continuous 45 minute period you'll likely be plenty ready for Georgia (Georgia will be steeper in places but you'll be well ahead in getting trail conditioned).
Also note about cold temperatures, you'll likely find that when you are hiking and carrying that backpack, you're generating a massive amount of heat. On my northbound AT thru-hike I regularly hiked in only a T-shirt in 40*F temperatures. You may find that when you approach another thru-hiker on the trail, the both of you have steam coming off your shirt. When you stop and take a break along the Trail, have your coat ready and put that on so you don't get a cold. If you're really concerned about freezing, carry a 4 oz Mylar space bag from REI or Campmor -- that kept me plenty warm waiting out a blizzard on the Trail in Maine (it goes inside your sleeping bag at night -- the next morning you're wet from the overnight condensation but plenty warm all night long so you'll get continuous sleep).
If knees are the weakest element on the human body, what's the weakest?
The mind.
Datto
Con: There are restaurants that will give you free stuff on your birthday, but you miss that if you are on the trail.
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