PDA

View Full Version : Clothing System for a Flip?



dangerdave
12-27-2014, 11:22
I asked this in the Class of 2015 Flip-Flop thread, but got no response. Perhaps that wasn't the best place to ask this question, so I'll repost here in the hopes that experienced hikers can give me some advice...

"If I start my hike north from HF to BSP, then return to HF to head south to Springer Mountain, how do I work out my gear. NOBO's have a standard schedule to guide the need for and exchange of cold weather gear for warm weather gear.

Doing a Flip this way, when will I need different kinds of gear, and/or where? Do I start with my Summer Pack or not? When will I (or might want) my cold weather gear going in each direction? I've been so focused on the NOBO schedule of gear, I have no clue."

Thank you for any and all advice.

Slo-go'en
12-27-2014, 12:02
If you start at HF in April, you will need pretty much the same gear as if you started at Springer and you'll probably end up keeping it all the way north. The North East stays much cooler, much longer (and typically much wetter) then the rest of the country due to the way the Jet stream directs cold air from Canada. Don't be fooled by a couple of warm or hot days.

Then when you flip, you can ditch most of your gear as it will be blazing hot when you go back to Harpers Ferry some time in July.

dangerdave
12-27-2014, 12:56
Sorry, Slo. I should have specified. Starting Flip at HF beginning of May.

My research finds: NOAA weather data shows this year (2014) in central PA (Harrisburg region, 320' elevation), in May, the temp (F) ranged from a highest of 87, and a lowest of 43. Most of the AT in PA runs through the 1000'-2000' range in elevation. With a loss of 3.5 degrees per 1000', we're still looking at possible lows in the mid thirties. In 2013, the lowest low temp was 35 (27 in the heights!).

So, I'll need my 20F bag in May passing through PA. And with further review, it seems you are correct, Slo-go'en. The possibility for sub-freezing temps at height exists throughout the summer. ok.

dangerdave
12-27-2014, 13:03
Heading south from HF, it will indeed be hot, so summer gear is needed. By the time I reach the Smokies, it will be getting cool again, depending how quickly I move (who knows!). Frost can hit the GSMNP in late September, so if I'm not going to be done by the end of October, I'll need to have my cold weather stuff shipped to me toward the end.

Am I looking at this right?

squeezebox
12-27-2014, 13:41
I also very interested in this topic. Would Erwin be a reasonable place to pick cold weather back up?

Slo-go'en
12-27-2014, 14:29
Okay, starting in May at HF you should be able to start with summer weight gear. I did PA once in May and by the time I got to the DWG I just about died of heat stroke and that was only Memorial weekend. I think I started at Roanoke (Cataba) early in April and it was still pretty cold and wet down there when I started.

dangerdave
12-27-2014, 18:44
Ok, got it!

Tprunty8
12-27-2014, 23:32
You are planning exactly what I'm looking to do in a couple of years (HF to Katahdin starting in early May, then flip to HF for SOBO finish). Looking forward to following your hike. Good luck!

Lauriep
12-28-2014, 14:44
Flip-floppers starting in Harpers Ferry in May going north can start with warm-weather gear and a lighter pack than nobos. Temperatures in the first months of your hike (and the majority of your hike) will range from cool to hot (mostly 50s and 60s to start but ranging from 40s to 80s, maybe 90s occasionally, especially later) but it's unlikely you'll see temps below 40 degrees. When you reach the White Mountains of New Hampshire, you'll want to add some layers, and a colder bag or a sleeping bag liner. Have it sent to you in Hanover or Glencliff, NH, about 800 miles north of Harpers Ferry. In the Whites, you probably won't encounter temps below the 40s when you get there (though you could in the Presidential range), but it could be accompanied by rain and 30, 40, 50, or 60 mph winds above treeline. That you need to be ready for, but don't worry too much about that now. Just make sure you take the conditions you will encounter in the White Mountains seriously and prepare at some point before you arrive. You'll have 2 months of steady hiking so you'll be in shape, and there's a wealth of wisdom to help you with your gear in the weeks before you get there.

Don't worry too much about having gear for the whole trip all figured out ahead of time. Spend your energy getting your pack as safely light as possible to start out. Wear your pack and walk on the hilliest terrain you can find, so you know what that feels like. Don't waste your time walking with a full pack on the flat around the suburbs. The only place there is flat, smooth terrain on the A.T. is the first 2.7 miles north of Harpers Ferry and through a few towns. Do some overnights on hilly terrain. Learn how incredibly difficult, uncomfortable and maybe depressing and overwhelming it can be to carry a 50-lb. pack, and how much more enjoyable hiking can be with a 25- or 30-lb pack is. (A few people do fine with 50-lb. packs and keep that weight throughout the trip, but the vast majority of hikers with super-heavy packs pare down or quit.) Almost everyone tweaks their gear as they go as their bodies change, the weather changes, they see other hikers with cool products they didn't know about, and some gear that wears out. There are outfitters along the Trail (although admittedly overall most of the very best ones are in the southern quarter of the Trail). Almost anything can be ordered on-line and sent to you.

If you return to Harpers Ferry around September 1 you won't need cold-weather gear until Pearisburg or Atkins, Virginia. To be safe, you'll want it when you cross the Mt. Rogers High Country north of Damascus. You could take your chances and send it to Damascus, VA, but you'll definitely want it before the Roan Highlands, where elevations are almost as high as the Smokies.

September 1 is the recommended time to start the southbound leg of your flip from Harpers Ferry. Any earlier and you won't have much company from sobos, and you'll have beastly hot and humid weather longer. Start much later and you're trading summer days for cold, dark, wintery, possibly snow-and-ice filled days at the other end. It's fun to see snow at least once in the course of your hike, but most people would rather not have day after day of hiking when the temperatures stay below freezing, or hiking day after day in snow when everything is cold and wet and nights seem to last forever. Starting around Sept. 1 provides the best balance of things. You'll be at the beginning of the sobo hiker stream. The first ones you see will probably pass you, but that's okay. Most you will have crossed before and it'll be fun just seeing them again. (Sobos, on average, hike faster than nobos and flip-floppers, as stronger hikers self-select sobo to begin with, and all but the strongest get weeded out pretty quickly.) If you have a partner, then it makes sense to start from HF before September 1.

Expect temperatures to dip below freezing by the second half of October, especially if you're at the highest elevations. You can count on temperatures below freezing and in the 20s and possibly teens or even single digits in November in the high mountains of the South. By the time you need to carry your winter gear, you'll be a super strong hiker and you should have no difficulty carrying the additional weight, even if you aren't thrilled about it at first. Be prepared for the possibility of snow and ice in the Smokies. Bluff Mountain Outfitters in Hot Springs, NC (right on the Trail 35 miles to the north) should have everything you need that you might not have by that time.

Here is some general advice, and especially to flip-floppers considering other itineraries:

Because there are so many variations in time and starting points and directions for flip-floppers, it's not one size fits all. There are three things to be aware of: latitude, elevation, season/time of year. To most people it's somewhat obvious that 1) the further north you go, the colder it is; and 2) the closer you are to summer months, the warmer it is. However:

Elevation has a profound affect on weather and climate on the A.T., often trumping latitude and season. As a broad outline:

Warmest: Georgia and Mid-Atlantic (northern Virginia through New York) - summer gear from May through September, keeping in mind New York will be a little colder than say, northern VA
Coldest: Smokies and Roan Highlands in TN/NC, Mt. Rogers in southwest VA, Massachusetts through Maine, the White Mountains of New Hampshire the coldest of all (and Katahdin, for the hours you'll be above treeline).

Here's some information I posted in the other thread about flip-flopping, if you haven't seen that:

It's counter-intuitive, but the further south you go on the A.T. from Harpers Ferry, very broadly speaking(until you get beyond the Smokies) the colder the temperatures. That's because the mountains get progressively taller the further south you go.

A.T. high points, by section listed south to north:

Georgia - 4,661'
North Carolina - 5,498'
TN/NC border - 6,625'
Tennessee - 6,285'
Southwest Virginia - Mt. Rogers 5,500'
Central Virginia - 4,206'
Shenandoah National Park - 3,837'
Northern Virginia - 1,500'
Harpers Ferry, WV - 250'
Maryland - 1,880'
Pennsylvania - 2,080'
New Jersey - 1,400’
New York - 1,433'
Connecticut - 2,316'
Massachusetts - 3,481'
Vermont - 4,010'
New Hampshire - 6,288'
Maine - 5,267'


April is very much a transition month between winter and spring, with winter conditions prevailing on and off at the higher elevations south of Harpers Ferry. The first week or two of April there's still a good chance of snow squalls and nighttime temperatures sometimes dipping into the 20s, especially above 2000 feet, which includes almost the entire A.T. starting about 60 miles south of Harpers Ferry. There have also been pretty severe ice storms occasionally as late as the first week of April. Starting in Shenandoah or anywhere south of there in early April you would want to start with cold-weather gear.

You could have a warm spell in early April, and still get mild temperatures, but inevitably, sooner or later temperatures would dip down again at high elevations. In the Smokies, you can still get a major snowstorm in April (the average snowfall on Clingmans Dome in April is 5"--some years less, some years more, but the snow can also drift to create significantly deeper depths). It just means that starting a flip-flop a month earlier and further south from Harpers Ferry means you'll encounter significantly colder weather.

March is still winter along the whole A.T. Case in point: the Smokies have their highest monthly snowfall of the entire year in March, averaging 26" at Clingmans Dome (that's more snowfall than we get in Harpers Ferry on average during the entire year, but we can still get snow in March, even when flowers may be blooming).

There is significant variation in what is the "right" or "best" gear for a range of individuals in exactly the same conditions. Younger, male, fit, and experienced hikers may not need the the same clothing and sleeping systems that female, older, or not-as-fit hikers require. Those are just broad generalization based on my observation of lots of hikers. Another difference: thru-hikers a few months into their journeys may have different metabolism than they did starting out. For example, southbound males arrive at ATC in Harpers Ferry wearing shorts and bare legs, even in December when it's 30 or 40 degrees out. What they are wearing is appropriate for them, but could be a recipe for disaster for most people. Be mindful that sometimes thru-hikers in the first blush after they have finished their journey may have forgotten what their minds and bodies were like when they started out.

Find a warm-weather gear list, but prepared to modify it for your own needs.

Rather than selling yourself short on having enough warm gear, reduce your pack weight by planning on frequent resupply, or even slackpacking until you start to get your "trail legs." The Teahorse Hostel in Harpers Ferry is one establishment that offers both lodging and shuttles, and you'll find others as you go north, listed in the A.T. Thru-Hikers' Companion, the A.T. Guide, and the ATC Shuttle List (appalachiantrail.org/transportation (http://www.appalachiantrail.org/transportation)). If you're having qualms about slackpacking not being a "pure" thru-hike, here's one thing to consider: camping off-trail helps keeps the A.T. itself more pure. By camping off-trail, you are reducing your impacts, and providing economic support to local A.T. communities.

I hope this helps. Let me know if there is anything else I can help with from ATC's perspective.

Treehugger
12-28-2014, 18:50
Thanks again LaurieP! DangerDave's question on clothing for a flip is now answered! I want to offer another source for shuttles near HF as the Tea Horse is for sale so ya never know. The Appalachian Outdoor Readiness and Essentials outfitter in Purcellville, VA near Bears Den will be doing some shuttling between Front Royal and HF and points nearby.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk