View Full Version : has any one ever left ME in sept to GA
lostmonkey
04-28-2006, 22:43
I know its a late start but just found out that my back was worse than I thought, can it be done?
Sure it can but you'll be hiking through winter. I'n '97 I met a southbounder late March with about 10 days to go to finish that started in September.
Fiddlehead, Pieps and Shirt hiked southbound startind Oct 14th, hiked fast and finished in Febuary on a van supported hike.
briarpatch
04-29-2006, 08:38
Two southbunders finished on Springer about a week ago that had started last fall.
MileMonster
04-29-2006, 12:55
In 2004 we saw two southbounders heading down to NOC in March. One was Fu Man. Right off hand I don't remember who the other was.
-MM.
I met a guy named Dude who started south in October of 2004. He said at one point he went 6 weeks without seeing a single other hiker.
fiddlehead
04-29-2006, 22:09
Yeah, we started Oct 14 and finished Feb 10 in 2001. New England is really awesome that time of year. We saw almost no hikers except for our first week or two as late northbounders were finishing up. the problems you may run into are the fact that not much is open! State parks close, restaurants close, Hotels close, Hostels definitely close. And of course the well known problem is that the nights are long.
But the trail is really awesome. You get the views after a month as the leaves are gone from the trees. You see virtually no one except on weekends and during hunting season. (we actually saw deer season in 11 of the 14 states of the AT as we were following it south.)
We were van supported which was very nice cause we didn't need hotels, restaurants, food stores on the trail.
Of course we had to ford the Kennebec but we wanted to anyway. I believe if you contact Steve the ferryman, you can set up a time to meet and he will still come out and ferry you if he's available. but i'm not sure about that. fording it is fun anyway.
So, i say go for it if you can take the long lonely nights, or if you are doing it with your girlfriend or good friend. It is one of the best ways to hike the AT if you don't like crowds. have fun.