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Bad Knee Walking
11-08-2014, 06:10
Well after visiting this site for many years as a visitor this is my first thread

While visiting this site a couple of years ago I came across a 10 and 15 mile walking schedule for the Appalachian Trail.

Now I have joined the site as a future walker I can not find them again.

Hopefully someone out there knows where they are and can point me in the right direction

Thanks

SouthMark
11-08-2014, 06:15
I downloaded the 12 mile ad day schedule and could send it to you. I did not download the others. Now I wish that I had.

SouthMark
11-08-2014, 06:21
Here is a link to the 15 mile plan.

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/content.php/221

MkBibble
11-08-2014, 09:41
I can't get there right now to share a link, but Awol's website has several different plans.

Old Hiker
11-08-2014, 11:41
http://theatguide.com/PlanNobo2010-12.html

http://theatguide.com/

Spirit Walker
11-08-2014, 12:21
Don't try too hard to stick to a schedule. As long as you have the information on water sources and towns, you really can make it up as you go, and you should. Some days you will get up early, feel great, ease down the road, and make more miles than you planned. Other days the weather will be awful, the mountains steep and endless, your body aching in every joint, and you'll do fewer miles. Some days you'll be hiking with a friend, and before you know it 18 or 20 miles has passed. Another day you'll see a good creek or pond and decide that you want to spend an hour or two swimming or just lazing by the water. Or perhaps you'll decide you really really need some ice cream, so you'll go to a town you hadn't intended to visit, which takes up half the day. Or your hiking companions want to go to DC or NY and you don't want to lose their company, so you go too. I've seen people get injured, trying to stick to a schedule without taking into account the reality of the trail. Hiking when you're exhausted makes for a miserable hike. Hiking when injured can end up sending you home. Stopping your hike at 1 in the afternoon because your schedule put you at a shelter that day, makes for a long and boring afternoon and a lot of wasted hours. Missing unexpected opportunities (i.e. we were invited to go rafting out of Nolichucky -- we went and had a terrific time) will give you regrets later.

So look at the schedules to give yourself a chance to be familiar with what's up the trail -- but then throw them away.

rafe
11-08-2014, 12:42
+1 on tossing the schedule. I'm pretty anal about a lot of stuff but a schedule for hiking never seemed right to me.

Another Kevin
11-08-2014, 13:16
I'm a clueless weekender and occasional section hiker. The last time I planned a two-week hike, I was careful to plan distances and durations.

I didn't stay at any campsite that was in the plan. Not even once. :)

But the plan was still useful. It was what informed me that I had lost enough time taking a couple of sick days that I wasn't going to finish the hike before running out of vacation time, and told me where to leapfrog forward and continue from to get to the other end in time for my scheduled pickup.

So I guess I'm in both the "make the schedule" and "toss the schedule" camps.

colorado_rob
11-08-2014, 14:41
Where schedules come in handy is when you are attempting to join family/friends for a section or two on the trail; I built my own in a spreadsheet (accessed on my smartphone), including easy-updating for actuals and MPD averages, so I was always able to tell a couple/few weeks ahead fairly close to where I'd be for planning meetings. This was especially important for me as I had folks flying in to places to meet.

In addition to planning for meetups, it also worked great for mailing resupply boxes. I understand the desire to make it up as you go, but having a near-term schedule tool really helped my effort along my last long-distance hike.

Slo-go'en
11-08-2014, 14:57
If you look at the 15 mile/day schedule, you'll see it rarely has you walking 15 miles in a day. That's because campsites and shelters have variable spacing which is determined by a number of factors like the difficulty of the trail in between and where the suitable places to put a campsite or shelter are. In some places an 8 mile day is a very hard day while in others 20+ is a piece of cake.

At first glance, the 15 MPD outline looks reasonable, but start adding in neros or weather factors and it could quickly get out of sync. The 15 MPD plan outlined is a 148 day trip or just under 5 months, which is fairly typical. A 10 MPD average would take over 7 months. You'd really have to drag your feet or take a lot of zeros to stretch it out that long, though some people do.

CarlZ993
11-08-2014, 17:50
I found a schedule useful as a template. In the beginning, I would end up at the town on the planned day. Where I stayed in between towns wasn't always the same as the schedule. I sped up considerably after Damascus. Slowed some in New England (NH/ME mostly). I ended up summitting on the last day of my schedule. Just kinda worked out that way. 152 days w/ 12 zeros.

Good luck.

lonehiker
11-08-2014, 21:50
I develop a spreadsheet that shows my anticipated resupply points and the mileage between them. I do this mainly so that I don't wander into town with any food. Then I pretty much wing each days mileage. But, I have hiked long enough that I know how long it takes to cover given distances.

Bad Knee Walking
11-08-2014, 23:16
Thank you for the information and advice.

I agree in my walking I have found that a schedule is a place to start but you have to be prepared to change for any reasons.

Thank you also for Awol web site a great source of information.

My panning now begins

rickycodie
11-09-2014, 22:29
Don't try too hard to stick to a schedule. As long as you have the information on water sources and towns, you really can make it up as you go, and you should. Some days you will get up early, feel great, ease down the road, and make more miles than you planned. Other days the weather will be awful, the mountains steep and endless, your body aching in every joint, and you'll do fewer miles. Some days you'll be hiking with a friend, and before you know it 18 or 20 miles has passed. Another day you'll see a good creek or pond and decide that you want to spend an hour or two swimming or just lazing by the water. Or perhaps you'll decide you really really need some ice cream, so you'll go to a town you hadn't intended to visit, which takes up half the day. Or your hiking companions want to go to DC or NY and you don't want to lose their company, so you go too. I've seen people get injured, trying to stick to a schedule without taking into account the reality of the trail. Hiking when you're exhausted makes for a miserable hike. Hiking when injured can end up sending you home. Stopping your hike at 1 in the afternoon because your schedule put you at a shelter that day, makes for a long and boring afternoon and a lot of wasted hours. Missing unexpected opportunities (i.e. we were invited to go rafting out of Nolichucky -- we went and had a terrific time) will give you regrets later.

So look at the schedules to give yourself a chance to be familiar with what's up the trail -- but then throw them away.
This, especially if you haven't walked like this before.