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dmorrison
12-06-2016, 13:42
I live in Charlotte, NC and would love to do a thru hike but I am a school teacher and time just does not permit it. My "penciled in" plan is to start a hike near Bland, VA and hike as far north as I can beginning the end of May ending July 31st. Then I will pick up as much of the southern part of the trail as i can in long weekends and vacations in the fall. The following summer I will head back north and attempt to complete the northern section. Does this make sense to those of you in the know? Thanks for your help?

Rmcpeak
12-06-2016, 14:18
I'm a teacher too and have been using a lot of my time off over the last two years to section hike the AT with the intent of section hiking MD/PA line to Springer and then thru hiking MD/PA line to Katahdin at some point in the future. Here's my blog: http://hikingbob.blogspot.com.

Last summer I did Damascus to Pearisburg (and a couple of shorter sections too), which includes Bland. You might consider starting in Damascus as there are good hostels and outfitters there. Then hike north and see how much of VA you can get done in the time allotted.

I've hiked about 600 miles now. I should finish VA over spring break (Daleville to Waynesboro) and then I'll have MD/PA line to Damascus (almost Tennessee) hike, plus about 40 miles around Roan Mtn. in NC. The more I hike the more I want to start/stop where I last left the trail. That is, I'm now taking a more systematic approach, rather than just hiking whatever section looks good next.

There's no wrong way to go about it. Go for it!

dmorrison
12-06-2016, 14:28
Good info! Thanks for that and I will check out your blog!

Gambit McCrae
12-06-2016, 14:32
I have been completing the AT by section hikes most of which average 30 mile sections. Smart by leaving trail closest to home to do in small sections, my completion is organized, but not tactful until not I can no longer drive to the AT (small section of VA left), and there for am starting over for a second completion in march just to have something to do.

dmorrison
12-06-2016, 14:47
Excellent! Thanks for the reply! I am excited to get going. I have done day hikes in several areas of the AT. I will be doing overnights this summer to prep and begin the long hike May of 2018.

illabelle
12-06-2016, 14:51
Makes great sense! Our sections are shorter, but that's the exact strategy we use. Sounds like you'll finish much quicker than we will on the 10-year-plan. One part that may be difficult for you is dealing with the heat during the summer. It is what it is.


I live in Charlotte, NC and would love to do a thru hike but I am a school teacher and time just does not permit it. My "penciled in" plan is to start a hike near Bland, VA and hike as far north as I can beginning the end of May ending July 31st. Then I will pick up as much of the southern part of the trail as i can in long weekends and vacations in the fall. The following summer I will head back north and attempt to complete the northern section. Does this make sense to those of you in the know? Thanks for your help?

chknfngrs
12-06-2016, 14:57
I call myself SASHer (opposite LASHer) doing as few as 5 miles at a time. It's what I have to do to get my fix.

dmorrison
12-06-2016, 15:00
Yes, that heat is a concern but I would rather hike in hot than cold! That is just me. I am hoping to finish the trail in 4 years. Thanks for the reply!

dmorrison
12-06-2016, 15:01
i totally get that! Hike on!

hikernutcasey
12-06-2016, 15:32
If you are a teacher with summers off you should have no problem completing the trail. With that kind of time you might be able to get it knocked out in 3 or 4 years.

I like your idea of starting your longer hike further north and leaving the southern sections to do as weekend trips. That's a really good plan and you may want to start even further north than Bland since you can shoot right up I-77 and I-81 to the Roanoke area in 2 to 3 hours time from Charlotte.

I live just up the road from you in Elkin, NC and have been section hiking for 7 years now, completing 1,260 miles so far. It started out with 3 and 4 day weekend trips ranging from 30 to 60 miles all in the south. Now we are almost through Pennsylvania with plans to do weeklong trips each time we go up north, knocking out anywhere from 100 to 120 miles each trip.

Sarcasm the elf
12-06-2016, 15:35
Yes, that heat is a concern but I would rather hike in hot than cold! That is just me. I am hoping to finish the trail in 4 years. Thanks for the reply!

I have a lot of trouble hiking in the heat. The trick I've found is to get up early and hike for several hours before it gets hot. Then take a break for a few hours during the worst of the heat and the hike again until dusk.

The plan in your original post sounds great by the way.

dmorrison
12-06-2016, 15:39
That makes a lot of sense about hiking in the heat. Be great to find a little pond for a swim and siesta! Thanks for the input!

dmorrison
12-06-2016, 15:53
That is a good thought about starting a little further north. I would be open to suggestions about that. Obviously the further north I start the further north I end. Then less to do in the north the following summer. Does anyone have a suggestion of where I would have to start to get to the 100 Mile Wilderness? Assuming I travel average miles in 60 days.

Kerosene
12-06-2016, 16:28
Check out the AT Distance Calculator at http://www.atdist.com/ which will allow you to calculate your own averages and start/end times.

For example, the southern end of the 100 Mile Wilderness is Monson, Maine. Delaware Water Gap is just about 780 trail miles south. If you average 100 miles per week and have about 8 weeks of hiking, then that might be a good starting point. Of course, average miles hiked per week can vary quite a bit by person. Plus, you should probably start out a bit slower than average and ramp it up as you go along (those 56-year old legs and heart aren't as strong as they once were!). Also, note that you will be hiking about 1.0 mph slower than your typical average once you get to the White Mountains, so your total miles in a day tends to drop by 30-40% versus the "smoother" sections to the south.

Note that there are fewer easy-to-access bail out points once you reach New Hampshire, so you may want to be a bit more conservative on your average mileage if it is critical that you end in Monson. Alternatively, start a bit further south and recognize that you may not reach Monson this trip, but you can adjust your stopping point as you get closer to the end of July.

Have fun. It only took me 41 elapsed years to complete the AT, mostly in 100-mile sections. Of course, I didn't do much backpacking in the 80's or 90's as I was focusing on career and family and had relocated to Michigan.

Alligator
12-06-2016, 17:50
Along the lines of what Kerosene said, if you have a reasonable estimate of your daily hiking miles, you can divide that into the length of the trail you want to section in shorter hikes. Springer to Bland is roughly 600 miles. At 10 miles per day, that is about 60 days or at 15 mpd, 40 days. I lanned my weekend hikes as 30-50 mile chunks, often around a holiday/day off work. Then you will have your summer hiking time to consider as well. Maybe 70-100 miles a week. As another poster mentioned, you aren't too far from other accesssible weekend trips. That midpoint divide between long and short hikes could therefore be shifted further north, depending on your schedule. Consider how far you might drive to do a weekend hike. At some point, the driving and transportation costs tend to make a short section infeasible.

As a teacher, you will be able to knock out large chunks over the summers. In just three summers you could have 1500+ miles done easily in 5-6 week periods. Think about how many weekends you might realistically hike, plus winter and spring breaks. Depends a lot on your other social commitments.

rafe
12-06-2016, 20:14
OP's plan makes sense to me. At least in the sense of: short sections close to home, sections getting longer as the endpoints get farther from home. Getting to and from each section takes time and costs money. Youi're trying to maximize the ratio of hiking time to getting-to-the-trail time.

You'll know after your first few longish hikes what to expect for average daily mileage. Bearing in mind, the central (mid-Atlantic) part of the trail is the easier part. The two ends are the hardest, particularly the north end. Figure 10-20% few miles per day at the ends.

In the resources section of Whiteblaze you'll find some nice articles by mapman discussing average hiking rates over the trail, state by state. Some interesting and surprising results, eg. Georgia is almost as hard as New Hampshire in terms of vertical change per mile of trail.

theinfamousj
12-06-2016, 20:39
I am a former high school teacher and I made a plan to section hike the AT. I would do two, one week sections a year: one during spring break and one during summer break. That way I still had time to work on my CEUs and just sleep.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

dmorrison
12-07-2016, 08:26
Thanks for the info! Lots of good stuff here. I appreciate it very much!

dudeijuststarted
12-07-2016, 09:37
I think its a great idea, go for it!

Puddlefish
12-07-2016, 10:21
I ended my hike in Bland VA this year, and plan to head back there again in the spring. It's not the easiest place to get to by public transportation. I'm Flying into Roanoke and taking a shuttle to the trail. Bubba runs a local shuttle, nice guy, reasonable rates, punctual.

Alligator
12-07-2016, 17:12
I ended my hike in Bland VA this year, and plan to head back there again in the spring. It's not the easiest place to get to by public transportation. I'm Flying into Roanoke and taking a shuttle to the trail. Bubba runs a local shuttle, nice guy, reasonable rates, punctual.If the timing works out, you could maybe catch the Greyhound to Wytheville from Roanoke. It would save you 75 miles in your shuttle distance.

Kerosene
12-07-2016, 19:35
In the resources section of Whiteblaze you'll find some nice articles by mapman discussing average hiking rates over the trail, state by state. Some interesting and surprising results, eg. Georgia is almost as hard as New Hampshire in terms of vertical change per mile of trail.Georgia was much, much, much easier (for me at least) than New England, and frankly probably easier than any state besides West Virginia. For me at least, it's not the climbs as much as the trail surface that slows me down. With a smoother surface I can keep cranking at a pretty good pace going uphill or down, but once you start to need to look at every footfall then things slow way, way down. The AT south of West Virginia is pretty darn smooth (smooth, not flat) and I think I averaged close to 3.0 mph for full days down south. In the Mid-Atlantic states I probably averaged something like 2.75 mph, but I was a lot younger then. Up north my average mph plummeted, as you have to be conscious of almost every step you take and your body is moving all over the place to make forward progress. I miss the Virginia trail for its ease of hiking (in cooler weather at least), but miss New England for its raw beauty, even though it probably contributed to my now-bad knees.

RockDoc
12-07-2016, 20:01
I've met a lot of teachers who slowly section hiked the AT. Takes a few years, so what?

shelb
12-08-2016, 00:01
A school teacher myself, I started section hiking a few years ago, averaging 100 miles a year. I have hike SNP to NY. However, this past year, I went south and hiked about 200 miles Amicalola Falls, SP beyond Gatlinburg, TN.

I really liked hiking a 200 mile plus section... It immersed me into trail culture a lot more, allowing me to meet and travel with more people for a continuous time period. I will do that again this year.

Someday, I will finish the trail....

Storm
12-08-2016, 11:14
I am pretty much a LASHER, have covered the southern 1000 miles of the AT in three section hikes. Of course I am semi retired and just go out and hike until I get homesick. I think just about any plan to hike is a good plan if it works for you. The main thing is that you get out there and do it.

dmorrison
12-08-2016, 12:31
Thanks everyone! I am excited to get started. I have no plan to finish on fixed date. I will hike my hike and finish when I finish! Hope to see some of you on the trail. I have not given myself a trail name yet or been named obviously. I suppose that will happen when the trail allows it!

Theosus
12-15-2016, 21:17
The only problem with sectioning like that is you have to start over every year with your physical fitness. From everything I've read, the thru hikers spend the first weeks getting their trail legs and finally get into hiking shape. Its still a struggle, but not as bad as it is for the weekenders. You're going to fight those initial two weeks each year.
That being said, I fight it every time. I started doing long weekends last year, trying to go somewhere once a month. I've covered something like 300 miles. At this rate I'll be dead before I finish, haha. A hiking buddy of mine is an art teacher, he's retiring in two years and he's going to do the whole trail then. He's in great shape, and even at 64 he's one of the fastest hikers in our group. I wish I had the summer to take off and hike! I'm just trying to save up 10 days in a row of vacation to hit the trail and see how far I can get.
I LOVE your plan. When I weekend it, a lot of the time we feel pressured. You HAVE to do 8 miles the first day to get to the shelter, then you HAVE to do 14 the second day to be in position to walk the last 7 on day three to get back to the car and be home before it's too late. The idea of just hiking off into the hills until youre tired, then plunking down and saying "I'm done for today", getting up when you want, stopping for a swim, and saying "screw it I'm done again" at any point sounds like the perfect way to hike. And without having to get to the end by a certain time, you don't even have that rushed feeling. I'd love to do a hike like that.

MuddyWaters
12-15-2016, 21:47
The only problem with sectioning like that is you have to start over every year with your physical fitness. From everything I've read, the thru hikers spend the first weeks getting their trail legs and finally get into hiking shape. Its still a struggle, but not as bad as it is for the weekenders. You're going to fight those initial two weeks each year.

True.
But relative.
It depends on what kind of shape you allow yourself to get into
If you like to run and do cardio, and do wts too, and carry a light pack, it aint a big deal.

If you like to just watch TV, drink beer, eat bonbons, well then its probably a worse transition.

Whack-a-mole
12-16-2016, 00:37
Don't be afraid to go in the winter to click of those three day weekend trips. It usually isn't too cold, and you obviously have to be smart about it and watch what the weather guessers are calling for. NO BUGS! You aren't sweating your fanny off, etc. Lots of great reasons to go in the winter. From Springer to Fontana, there are lots of road crossings for pick up and drop off points, and friendly shuttle folks. I've been off the trail for almost two years due to a foot issue and the resulting surgery, but come February I'll be back in the Smokies. Can't wait!

MtDoraDave
12-17-2016, 09:13
Not a teacher, but I tend to do my 1 week hikes when school is out due to my business partner staying home with his son when school is out.
I hike a couple hours on Sunday mornings in a local park frequently and do some overnighters every couple months to stay in some semblance of conditioning - but I live in Florida, so there really isn't anything I can do to prepare for the mountains except take the first few days easy.

After driving up to the section I'm going to hike, the first day of hiking is usually delayed by a shuttle ride, which is fine because I like to keep the first day relatively short (8 - 10 miles). The second and third days, I hike a bit longer, then I start stretching out the miles some more. The last section I did, my last 3 days were 16 - 17 or so miles per day.

Some day in the not too distant future, my drives will be getting long enough that I may consider flying to do a section. When that happens, I'm probably going to do 2 weeks at a time.

I would love to do a thru hike, and have been building up my thru hike savings account, but my business partner doesn't seem to think taking 6 months off is realistic, and thinks I should wait until retirement. I'll cross that bridge when the savings account is built up enough cover the mortgage and the hike. My knees may not be able to do a thru hike 24 years from now. Until then, I'll keep knocking out sections. Who knows, once I've completed the AT section by section, I may not find a thru hike desirable, and will have to do something else with that savings account... PCT, perhaps? Who can say what my passion will be that far in the future.