Hiya

[Daniel]

Hi all!

I'm a new thru-hiker, just registered with WhiteBlaze.net right now. A couple of newbie questions to ask (I'm sure the information is elsewhere here, but a quick search didn't locate it, and I wanted to post a "Hi all" message anyway).

Anyway,

Q1: I have a wedding anniversary on April 24. If I don't leave until after that date am I going to be able to hike through before it gets too late in the season? I will also have to take a week off around June 8-11 for a 10yr college reunion also. I consider myself a very fast hiker (although I am afraid of overestimating my abilities when it comes to the A.T.).

Q2: I have a few year old North Face Cats Meow sleeping bag rated at 20 degrees. Is that going to be sufficient for early and late season? I assume I'll want something much lighter in summer (or will I want to keep it with me for the mountains?)

Thanks all. Nice to meet you!
/Dan

[weary]

If you are a fit hiker, you will make it to Katahdin, barring accidents.


Hi all!

I'm a new thru-hiker, just registered with WhiteBlaze.net right now. A couple of newbie questions to ask (I'm sure the information is elsewhere here, but a quick search didn't locate it, and I wanted to post a "Hi all" message anyway).

Anyway,

Q1: I have a wedding anniversary on April 24. If I don't leave until after that date am I going to be able to hike through before it gets too late in the season? I will also have to take a week off around June 8-11 for a 10yr college reunion also. I consider myself a very fast hiker (although I am afraid of overestimating my abilities when it comes to the A.T.).

Q2: I have a few year old North Face Cats Meow sleeping bag rated at 20 degrees. Is that going to be sufficient for early and late season? I assume I'll want something much lighter in summer (or will I want to keep it with me for the mountains?)

Thanks all. Nice to meet you!
/Dan

[sdoownek]

You're going to have the "YOU MUST LEAVE IN MARCH" crew tell you that you don't have enough time.

You'll be fine. Don't spend a lot of zero days goofing off in town, though.

And keep track of the weather and time. If you find that you're getting close to Harpers Ferry and it's late August, then flipflop and just hike home.

Besides, how f'ing cool would it be to hike home, knock on the door and say "Hi, I'm home!"

[Rendezvous01]

Daniel--
First, welcome to WB!

I left Springer on April 30, do not consider myself any sort of a fast hiker, took nine days off in June to visit with friends and family, and was still on schedule to make it to Katahdin before mid-October when I left the Trail after 1100 miles. If you're in good shape and aren't obsessed with taking a zero in every trail town, you'll be fine. You may run into snow near the end, but you'll be well conditioned and prepared to deal with it, unlike many who start in early spring and can be driven from the trail by bad weather in the south.

Your 20 degree bag should be fine for a late April start. You'll probably want to wear a hat to bed for the first and last months, unless you are an exceptionally warm sleeper. Also, it is advisable to keep a set of light long johns plus liner socks to be worn only as as pajamas: in addition to always having dry things for sleeping in, it will keep your bag much cleaner. Plan on keeping your bag until after Mt. Rogers and then getting it back at Glencliff before the Whites, if you choose to go lighter for the warmer months. You can make that decision from the Trail.

Rendezvous

[Daniel]

I may be living in maryland now, but "home" will always be in Maine where pretty much my entire family lives. Besides, I really want the Mt. Katahdin Finale (I climbed it 2 or 3 times about 10 years ago).

So, I should be fine leaving the last week of April with a week off in the middle, barring accidents (that's the rub!)?

[icemanat95]

Should be able to do it if you don't dawdle.

I started at the end of March, but dawdled pretty ferociously along the way. I spent three days at Davenport Gap/Mtn. Momma's, I spent 5 in Hot Springs, I lost about 4 or 5 in Erwin recovering from the too fast hiking I did trying to make up for dawdling in Hot Springs. I spent three days in Damascus around trail days, then ended up spending another 4 in Damascus recovering from some bad water or food poisoning (not sure which). That's 20 dawdling days so far and I hadn't even gotten significantly into Virginia. Didn't do much Dawdling again though until I reacher Harper's Ferry where I took a few zero days enjoying the area. Not much Dawdling through Pennsylvania or New York. Dawdled a day in CT. Then lost a week recovering from a badly infected cut on my foot on the MA border. No more dawdling Until Killington, where I took a couple zero days to visit my parents and hang out with the woman who later became my wife. Hit the trail again with a vengeance through to Pinkham Notch where I dawdled one day to let a rain pattern slip by. Then I got stuck in Gorham for about 5 days waiting for my first neive to be born...I wanted to know right away, so I hung out at the Hiker's Paradise for a while and left the day after she was born. Took a zero in Stratton to wait out some rain. Took 2 zeros in Monson soaking up the ambiance of Shaws. And that was it for zero days.

If I counted that up correctly that was about 43 days lost to dawdling, sickness or injury, and that didn't include the odd half day or normal zero day here and there...these were mostly just the un-necessary ones. I finished my hike on October 8th from a March 28th start. Factoring in the un-needed zero days, it took me about 4 and a half months of normal hiking, to hike the AT. considering an April 25th start, you've got over 5 months, actually about 5.5 months to get er done before normal park closure at Baxter. That's completely doable. You don't even have to work that hard. That's under 15 miles per day average. You'll be cranking out upper teen to low twenty mile days in the mid-Atlantic, probably right through to Vermont, which'll give you some breathing room for zero days here and there.

How has the Cat's Meow been stored?

My Cat's Meow died and early death during my AT hike not because of it being used...I only used it for the first month and from Killington to Maine. What killed it was the time it spent stuffed in its stuff sack, uncleaned, in my parents house. I had asked them to store it unstuffed at the least, but they forgot or failed to realize the importance...the fibers got crimped by being compressed so long and it never was as warm as it had been again. I finally threw it away this past year...sentiment was overwhelmed by the need for space in the gear closet.

You aren't going to need a full fledged sleeping bag for much of your hike. Once you get passed the Smokies, things warm up pretty good. I sent my Cat's Meow home from around Pearisburg or maybe even Damascus and replaced it with a fleece bag that served me quite well through most of Vermont.

Because you are starting in late April, you will probably dodge most of the real cold weather in Georgia and North Carolina as well, so even a degraded Cat's Meow will probably do the job. You will be getting to Maine in Cold Weather and should expect some sub-freezing nights, but by then you'll be pretty well adapted to colder temps and the bag will be fine.

Good luck and have fun.