First off, great site y'all have here as I've been reading a while and finally signed up. Not really sure what to title this thread or even if this is the forum it belongs in, but somewhere between this sentence and the last maybe I'll come up with a title for it.....
A little history; my brother (7 years older) planted the AT bug in my head way back in the mid 70's. His hike never came to fruition (in fact, he's never taken a step on the trail), but mine has always occupied a recess in my brain and poked it's head out ever so often, but something always seemed to get in the way. Realistically, I know I'm many years away from being able to attempt a thru hike, if ever, so I have a new plan....
Section hiking. Now, I know that's not a novel concept, but I'm someone that tried to section hike while I was stationed in CT and I made it to the trail, but couldn't bring myself to set foot on it because of my overwhelming desire to thru hike. I've since (just this fall) outgrown that and decided that starting a many year section hike is what I can pull off and as of now I plan to do it in order and as time allows.
So what is my question? I don't know, maybe it will come to me right after the title of this post does. I guess I simply wanted to throw this out there and let the discussion go where it may.
<insert long reflective pause>
Screw it, here's the plan as it sits now; Section hike in order and try to tie the weeks together as best as possible along the way and thru the years. This plan would allow the trail to be seen in it's entirety and the seasonal changes roughly the same as if it were a thru hike. The only problem I foresee with that is if somewhere along the line I find an extra week in a year when I've already done a section. I don't think I could turn that down.
Truth be told, I think the only thing I'll stick with here is the hiking the sections in order part, lol, but I would like to hear what y'all think of this idea and any pitfalls you may foresee. Oh, and thanks for bearing with this rambling. Rambling, now there's a title