People joining you on the trail?

[Aussie_donkey]

Hi guys, I've got a few questions about some logistics. I'm planning on going NOBO this year and my mother wants to fly over and walk with me for about 5weeks. I'm starting the trail in early March and she was thinking about meeting up in late April/early May. She's flexible with dates etc but we can't work out how to get to the trail. Which airport should she fly to (coming from Australia)? I know there is a train to Harper's Ferry but it seems quite infrequent. And is there a particularly mum-friendly area of the trail? She's not a total novice but she is getting older (and so are her knees). Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[Bobby]

Hi guys, I've got a few questions about some logistics. I'm planning on going NOBO this year and my mother wants to fly over and walk with me for about 5weeks. I'm starting the trail in early March and she was thinking about meeting up in late April/early May. She's flexible with dates etc but we can't work out how to get to the trail. Which airport should she fly to (coming from Australia)? I know there is a train to Harper's Ferry but it seems quite infrequent. And is there a particularly mum-friendly area of the trail? She's not a total novice but she is getting older (and so are her knees). Any advice is greatly appreciated!




It can be hard when people join you on the trail. You have already spent a fair amount of time getting your trail legs, and they have not. If you can push the dates back, I would recommend more of a summer trip in the mid Atlantic region. The weather will be more forgiving as will the trail miles. leaving from Harper's Ferry would probably work out OK. Once you start hiking you will have a better idea when you will actually be in that area - your hiking style, miles per day, etc.... will become more obvious.

Part of the fun of a thru hike is having control over your own schedule, where you stop, and for how long. If you schedule a bunch of stuff way down the line it could come back to be more of a problem in the end.

my two cents............

[Bati]

It would work out best if she would start with you and then "drop out" whenever she runs out of time. You'll both be getting used to the trail at the same time, and the logistics of starting time and place are simplified. And she'll know what you're dealing with, thus avoiding additional logistics such as "do 40 miles to meet me" or "be at Harper's Ferry in exactly X weeks".

[moldy]

The best place for her to hike would start at the Southern Entrance of the Shenandoah National Park. Her weeks on the trail would be through Northern Virginia, Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania. It would be easiest on her and because of the better mass transit service would make it easier for meet up with you. I recommend any of the Washington DC airports. With the best being Reagan then BWI then lastly Washington Dulles. She will need to connect to the national railway service AMTRAK for a trip to Charlotsville Virginia. That is the best place for you to find her. You will have to arrange a taxi or shuttle to the trail. Her return trip to Washington will be a snap. Good luck.

[Malto]

I would avoid doing this especially mid trip. You will have established a routine, pace, group of hiking companions. When she joins you you will lose everyone you know on the trail and be socially starting almost from scratch. But if you must, I would agree with starting from the beginning. You know your start date, that is the only point where you KNOW you will be at a given date. Hike with her a while, then "get down to business." Have a great hike.

[Drybones]

Harpers Ferry would be a good end point, catch commuter train to DC ($11) and a flight home from there. South of Harpers Ferry would give you some easier walking through Shenandoah Park and give you exit points if needed. Where to start depends on your hiking speed. I started at Pearisburg, VA last October and it took me 22 days to do the 387 miles (17.6 miles/day avg), 5 weeks would average 11 miles/day. She could fly into Roanoke and get a shuttle to Pearisburg ($96). If you want a shorter hike just start closer to Roanoke, there's a hiker lady on this site that lives close to Roanoke that I'm sure will volunteer to help you out.

[BrianLe]

I completely agree with all of the above. My wife joined me to hike the Shenendoah portion, but she trained really hard and was hiking 20 mile days from the start. My hiking partner was willing to take it a bit slow and just sort of cruise for those few days so it didn't split us up. But when she joined me on the PCT another year, even though she had trained hard then too, I did lose my hiking companions as a result, and I definitely did miss them after my wife left the trail. In most cases I think it will be somewhat unhappy for all concerned.

If she must do this, you need to be ready to substantially adjust your process. A particular issue I think is whether she would feel the need to hike close to you all the time. I joined some friends to do a PCT section hike last year, we hiked the southern half of Oregon together. We would hike together for a while, then I would go my pace and then just read or snooze on the trail for a while until they caught up. It had the potential to be either really frustrating or relaxing; I fortunately was able to take it as the latter. Weather, temperature, bugs, water availability, these could all impact that significantly (I actually setup my tent a couple of times last year due to bugs and it was well worth the extra effort). One point here, however, was that splitting up during much of the day made this work out great for me. Had I been forced to walk their pace all the time, it would have been very unpleasant.

I note also that you said your mother has "aging knees". Of all the major U.S. hiking trails, the A.T. is arguably the hardest on knees, so factor that in too when trying to make realistic plans.

[colorado_rob]

The best place for her to hike would start at the Southern Entrance of the Shenandoah National Park. Her weeks on the trail would be through Northern Virginia, Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania. It would be easiest on her and because of the better mass transit service would make it easier for meet up with you. I recommend any of the Washington DC airports. With the best being Reagan then BWI then lastly Washington Dulles. She will need to connect to the national railway service AMTRAK for a trip to Charlotsville Virginia. That is the best place for you to find her. You will have to arrange a taxi or shuttle to the trail. Her return trip to Washington will be a snap. Good luck. I like this plan. One nice aspect of this is that your mom could fly to Wash. DC just a tad early and enjoy all the sights there, like the outstanding museums, then join you when you reach Waynesboro, for example. That way the timing wouldn't have to be perfect.

Different situation, but probably similar age, my wife joined me twice last year (flying out from Denver; please, easy on the Bronco jokes, it hurts tooooo bad) and it worked, though sure, it does put a constraint on the thru hiker. But totally worth it for loved ones. I probably wouldn't go through the hassle for mere friends, but wives and moms are a different story.

[yellowsirocco]

If she can't start with you then she needs to stay home. Her meeting you in the middle has bad idea written all over it.

[Lemni Skate]

She can fly to Charlottesville, VA. It's not far to the Southern entrance of Shenandoah National Park from there. Heck I'd even give her a ride if she came in when I was off from work.

[flemdawg1]

You seem to have a pretty wide window, so here's a rough estimation of what regional airport you shoud be near:
week 4 Erwin, TN- tricities Airport
week 5 Damascus, VA -tricities
Week 6 Bland, VA - (none)
Week 7 Pearisburg, VA -Roanoke
Week 8 Daleville, VA- Roanoke
week 9 Montebello,VA,- Charlottesville
week 10 Waynesboro/SNP -Charlottesville
week 11 Front Royal VA,- DC airports
week 12 Waynesboro PA - Hagerstown MD

[flemdawg1]

I also concur with the poster that said it was better to have your Mom start with you. Late April is a nice time to start the trail.

[m_factor]

I'm also among those that suggest your Mom join you for he beginning of the trail. It's not the easiest section of the trail but that's the section where most hikers are moving their slowest and doing fewer miles. You'll also be getting to know others on the trail and getting into trail shape. You will not have developed relationships with those that will become your trail family at that point. It'll also be easier for your Mom to get to know others when they don't already know one another.

Given that five weeks is likely to be a full fifth of the time you spend on the trail, if your'e looking for somewhat easier trail, consider Virginia. While there are still plenty of mountains, they include long ridge walks and the Shenandoah. The drawbacks to having her join you there is that most hikers end up doing relatively big miles there just because it's easier. They big miles that get banked there allow hikers to slow down in the northeast where the Whites and Maine slow hikers down. If you slow down for your Mom, you'll fall behind your trail family and find it more difficult to bank those miles as you move further north.

Starting at the southern end of the Shenandoah would mean less overall climbing than starting further south but the she'll have to deal with the Pennsylvania rocks. Basically, it's miles upon miles of annoying rocks jumbled at knee twisting angles. You'll also be getting to this section in the summer when it's hot and humid.

Whichever section you choose, try to ensure your Mom's backpack is as light as possible. She may also want to us some hiking poles to reduce the wear and tear on her knees.

Here's a link to the lightweight hiking page on my web site:

http://friends.backcountry.net/m_factor/lightweight.html

and

The hiking poles page, too:

http://friends.backcountry.net/m_factor/poles.html

[Aussie_donkey]

Great advice, Thank-you

[Aussie_donkey]

Thanks for the advice I had thought about adjusting my routine when she arrived but hadn't really considered that it might mean I would lose people that I had been hiking with until then. She's really excited about it and has been training quite a bit and the advantage for her is that I carry most of the gear so her pack should be light enough to give her an easier hike. Thanks again

[Kaptain Kangaroo]

Some very good advice here. You will find it difficult to slow down enough for your mum. It will be hard to lose contact with the very good friends you have made on the trail. Even a 10 mile day, which would be ambitious for a mother with bad knees, will feel like a job only half done at that stage in your hike. I would be fairly confident that neither you nor your mum will really enjoy it.
I started early March & my wife met up with me in early May in Harpers Ferry. She didn't hike with me, but we met up at road crossings each afternoon for 5 days & stayed in local hotels. It was great to see her, but it was also nice to get back to the simple trail life afterwards & not have to worry about being at a certain place at a certain time.

If you did decide to hike together, I would second the suggestion to start the trail together. If this just can't work, and it has to be May,then go for Shenandoah National Park as it is probably the most sustained section of easy trail.

good to hear of an Aussie heading out. Let me know if you have any other questions I can help with.

[KVKV]

Hi,

I hiked in 2010 and my mum joined me for 4 weeks (from Australia) too. Here's our experience and then some advice.

My mum trained for the hike and is very fit in general. I carried a lot of her gear and she was able to do 20 mile days from the start. She joined me in June (I started at beginning of May). The hard part was working out where exactly I'd be. I'd scheduled that I'd be close to Harper's Ferry, so she flew into DC and I arranged a shuttle for her from DC to Harper's Ferry. I was actually a bit further south than Harper's Ferry (Thornton's Gap in the Shenandoah) so I arranged a shuttle for myself from there to Harper's Ferry, met my Mum and then we shuttled back down. We hiked all the way to Duncannon. We decided then to skip up to New York to have the opportunity to do some of the Northern states and have a bit of variety. She then flew out of Boston, back to Oz.

The difficulties you'll encounter are:

1, even if very fit, if she meets you after you've been hiking for a while, she'll not have your fitness. That's not a problem but it means that the hike will seem easy for you but hard for her (you'll also have to be very careful not to push her to avoid injury). It's nice for hiking partners to experience the same feelings of hardship etc along the way. (in the same way, you'll be an expert at camping and trail life in general, she'll be learning it all. It's sometimes nice to learn things together)

2. she'll be pretty jetlagged at first and if you head straight into the hike (as I did with my mum), she'll be destroyed physically at first.

3. it's very hard to work out where to meet and where you'll finish. You don't want to be on a punishing schedule to make sure you are at a certain place at a certain time. I did that and it was a bit annoying.

4. if you have hiking partners you'll lose them (wasn't a problem for me as I hiked alone, but if you're social, then you might find that hard). You'll never catch up with those partners because your hiking speed will decrease significantly.

Personally, I would definitely do as others have recommended and start with your mum, rather than her meeting you half way. Then you get so be newbies together and she can leave at whatever stage you're up to without any pressure.

My trail journal is at http://trailjournals.com/location.cfm?trailname=10409 (Alpine 2010) and my time with my mum starts around 16 June to give you an idea.

Alpine

PS I ended up not being able to hike the entire trail because I had a limited time to hike (4 months) and being with my mum slowed me down too much. I probably missed about 500 miles or so. I'd never change the experience though!

[SunnyWalker]

Assuie Donkey: You'll probably only have one chance to do the AT . . . at the same time only one chance to do something like this in your life with your Mother. What I feel is: I don't think you would ever regret doing some of the trail with your Mother. It would mean incredibly so much to her and she would never ever forget it-either would you! I would go for it and help it to work out. Trail friends are great and all, but a Mom is so much more important. Take care.

[Blissful]

It is very difficult having someone join you mid trail. You are already in your stride and wanting to make miles. You have buddies that will be long gone. I agree, if she can begin thr trial or join oyu shortly thereafter and each of your schedules an be adjusted, maybe the Smokies on, it would be better. But you will need to drop miles.

[Aussie_donkey]

[QUOTE=KVKV;1843916]Hi,


My trail journal is at http://trailjournals.com/location.cfm?trailname=10409 (Alpine 2010) and my time with my mum starts around 16 June to give you an idea.

Your journal is fantastic! Mum and I have been reading it and it's really brilliant! Your advice is perfectly spot on. Thank you so much, she'll be able to book flights and shuttles and I can stop worrying about it. Although I'd like her to start with me there wasn't a time that would work with our careers and lives so meeting it was meeting in the middle or nothing. It's nice to hear that people do do this sort of thing with a parent and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[KVKV]

Hi,

I'm glad the trail journal is helpful. Meeting in the middle of the trail will be fine, as I said, we did it and really enjoyed our time together. Just don't push your mum too hard or she'll end up injured.

I'd also recommend you prepare a detailed list of what she should bring in her backpack once you've been on the trail for a month or so. Then you'll know what's really required. Staying light will help her enjoy it and might prevent injury.

[Prime Time]

For all the reasons stated already, you will love hiking with your Mum but it will impact your hike significantly. If you start with her in early March your Mum may have a horrible, freezing experience. I would recommend that she join you AFTER Mt. Rogers around early May and hike north with you from there.

If it were my Mum, here's what I'd do. Plan on meeting her at Wood's Hole Hostel (mile 620 and about 7-8 weeks into your hike), which is just a half mile off the trail and was my FAVORITE place on the AT! She could fly into D.C. then fly to Roanoke, VA. From there you or she could arrange a shuttle right to the Hostel. If you call Michael or Neville of Woods Hole Hostel at 540-921-3444, they could help arrange it. From there you have the relatively easiest and some of the most beautiful hiking on the AT. Over the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah National Park. It's 400 miles from Woods Hole to Harpers Ferry (Mile 1019) which you can plan on doing pretty easily in 5 or 6 weeks. Even if this proves a bit much for your Mum, she could get off at Front Royal, VA. Either way it's easy for her to get back to D.C. to fly home. You'll have the added advantage of being in VA before the real heat and after the cold! Lastly, although you'll lose your hiker group you were with when you get to Woods Hole, since you will start in early March, you will meet up with plenty of new Northbounders after Harpers Ferry once you get there.

[Drybones]

Give the lady a gift she wont forget, if she's up to it, hike with her. My guess is that it will probably seem like a drag at the time but you'll remember and treasure it every day of your life....and so will she, regardless of how it turns out...IMHO.