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View Full Version : would a SoBo hike be entirely too lonley?



kritter
07-23-2006, 19:49
I'm really looking foward to hiking the trail when I graduate high school next summer. I'm already prepared and very antsy! (I know it's a year away but I've been looking foward to this my whole life) But the problem is hiking alone. I always go backpacking alone, but after about a week I get very anxious if I don't see familiar faces or have anyone to shoot the breeze with. I'll be starting in summer so I HAVE to walk south which means less hiking buddys.

I really want to know about how many people on an average hike north to south, when do they leave and which of you are planning on it in 2007:confused:

Lone Wolf
07-23-2006, 19:56
Go south young lady. You won't be alone and you won't be overwhelmed with too many either. It's just right. I SOBOd in 98. Left Big K June 28. Saw people every day. Have fun.

The Snowman
07-25-2006, 19:01
While few thru hikers go south bound lots and lots of section hikers go south you won't be alone.

ramblinbob
08-23-2006, 12:44
Keep an eye open for me (leaving mid june).

DawnTreader
08-23-2006, 12:52
I sectioned south ... met many people.. hiked with sobo thrus for almost a month.. everyday.. never overwhelming. never alone when I wanted company... The worst part was when we started hitting the NOBOS In maine.. a real downer...

Cuffs
08-23-2006, 12:55
I am actually reconsidering changing from NOBO to SOBO... I think I would rather see just a few people intermitantly, than bunches all the time... Hope to see you out there!
(my main concern is not people, but the black flies!!!)

HIKER7s
08-23-2006, 13:01
If you go NOBO you need to start much eariler to get to Katahdin before they close it. I guess, I mean unless your doing a speed hike. If your going NOBO your gonna need to start at least by APRIL 15

Minervan12
11-09-2006, 14:48
You'll see my group heading south, likely June 21st (first day of summer)...we're very excited about there being less people and being more challenged early on. I have also heard that the weather is more temperate going sobo...

Additionally, we're from Georgia and like to think of it as the long way home...

hopefulhiker
11-09-2006, 16:44
Around three quarters or more of the people hike northbound,, but there are plenty of people out there, and generally it is a great bunch of folks.. you can socialize at the shelters and campsites,, if you aren't too tired...

handlebar
11-09-2006, 23:38
Another option is to do a flip-flop. Start out northbound in June after you graduate at Harper's or a little further south and you be on the leading edge of the NOBOs that started in March at Springer. Then after you summit big K, head back to where you started and head SOBO. By then some of the late starting SOBOs should be coming through and you can hook up with someone compatible. That way you avoid black fly season in the north and catch fall colors down south. You do miss the spring wildflowers in the south however.

kritter
11-14-2006, 19:10
thats an excellent idea. im might be doing just that.

rbrfuture
12-02-2006, 20:12
I'm planning to start my SOBO thru hike in early June. I've hiked the southern 700 miles of the AT so far, have been a member of the Georgia AT Club for the past year, maintaining a nice, short 0.6 mile section in Georgia. Since realizing that my partner who has hiked the other miles with me isn't really interested in doing a thru hike, I've gotten more excited about getting on the trail myself to meet other kindred souls!

Dancer
12-05-2006, 20:01
The SOBO ranks are growing, I don't think it will be lonely at all. See you all out there!

Amazonwoman

rainmaker
12-05-2006, 22:42
Madame and I section hike the AT during the fall of each year. This year we completed the SNP in October and met several small ad hoc groups having the time of their lives. You could tell they really enjoyed each others company. Other SOBOs would drift in and out these groups as they headed south. So as the Wolf said, go South. BTW, Madame and I will be hiking Penn. next October. Maybe we'll run into each other.

RAT
12-05-2006, 22:52
It used to be a lonely trek, but in recent yrs. the numbers have grown to the point to where it would not be that way at all.

RAT

warraghiyagey
12-08-2006, 02:12
I left SOBO this past June 29. I had always envisioned myself walking the trail alone. After two days that vision was different and I'm better for it today. If you leave anytime in June (after the 15th seems reasonable) you will not only meet almost all the NOBO's who can be great company at times, but you will fall in with a stream of SOBOs and likely find the right group to hike with as you meet along the way.
Don't sweat the loneliness. If you feel that way the first few days just give it a minute, someone will be along.
I'll be leaving around the 7th of June with Springer on my mind, but more importantly, the trail at each footstep.
Peace

DawnTreader
12-11-2006, 12:48
I left SOBO this past June 29. I had always envisioned myself walking the trail alone. After two days that vision was different and I'm better for it today. If you leave anytime in June (after the 15th seems reasonable) you will not only meet almost all the NOBO's who can be great company at times, but you will fall in with a stream of SOBOs and likely find the right group to hike with as you meet along the way.
Don't sweat the loneliness. If you feel that way the first few days just give it a minute, someone will be along.
I'll be leaving around the 7th of June with Springer on my mind, but more importantly, the trail at each footstep.
Peace

I'd have to agree, I thought I'd be alone, especially after the guy I was hiking with ditched 4 days in. However, I did run into this crazy guy at Hurd Brook leanto, wore pink bike racing shorts, was quite ecentric, a little loopy; kept burning his tee shirts in the fire. Had a boat load of fresh produce, and carried a library on his back. Great times... Anybody got a spare apple?
"Money talks, it can't sing and dance, and it can't walk." Neil Diamond

warraghiyagey
12-11-2006, 23:53
Duuuuuuuuuude. El Duderino. The Dudemeister. It's great to be talkin to you again man. Had a case of post-trail stress disorder.
But planning for an '07 SOBO thru has me better than ever. OK so your last post almost made me spit ramen noodles all over the keys. I'll carry plenty of spare apples if you'll thru this year.
So you see Kritter - I met The Dude at the first lean-to out of Baxter State Park. We kind of gelled as 'the Mobsters.' I might have forgotten parts of hiking alone, but I won't forget that my first section was with this roup.
There will be plenty of company in both directions along the way but ultimately,
the trail will grant you the experience you were meant to have.

Peace,
Warraghiyagey :) :)





Quote:
Originally Posted by warraghiyagey http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?p=282076#post282076)
I left SOBO this past June 29. I had always envisioned myself walking the trail alone. After two days that vision was different and I'm better for it today. If you leave anytime in June (after the 15th seems reasonable) you will not only meet almost all the NOBO's who can be great company at times, but you will fall in with a stream of SOBOs and likely find the right group to hike with as you meet along the way.
Don't sweat the loneliness. If you feel that way the first few days just give it a minute, someone will be along.
I'll be leaving around the 7th of June with Springer on my mind, but more importantly, the trail at each footstep.
Peace

I'd have to agree, I thought I'd be alone, especially after the guy I was hiking with ditched 4 days in. However, I did run into this crazy guy at Hurd Brook leanto, wore pink bike racing shorts, was quite ecentric, a little loopy; kept burning his tee shirts in the fire. Had a boat load of fresh produce, and carried a library on his back. Great times... Anybody got a spare apple?
"Money talks, it can't sing and dance, and it can't walk." Neil Diamond

warraghiyagey
12-15-2006, 05:08
Duuuuuuuuuude. El Duderino. The Dudemeister. It's great to be talkin to you again man. Had a case of post-trail stress disorder.
But planning for an '07 SOBO thru has me better than ever. OK so your last post almost made me spit ramen noodles all over the keys. I'll carry plenty of spare apples if you'll thru this year.
So you see Kritter - I met The Dude at the first lean-to out of Baxter State Park. We kind of gelled as 'the Mobsters' with a few other hikers. I might have forgotten parts of hiking alone, but I won't forget that my first section was with this group.
There will be plenty of company in both directions along the way but ultimately,
the trail will grant you the experience you were meant to have.

Peace,
Warraghiyagey :) :)

rafe
12-15-2006, 09:21
I really want to know about how many people on an average hike north to south, when do they leave and which of you are planning on it in 2007:confused:


The "typical" :-? sobo leaves K in mid/late June and presumably arrives at Springer.... well.. hopefully by New Years day :). I'm guessing on average sobos take a bit longer to do the whole trek, because down south they're dealing with shorter days and colder weather. (Or you could compare them to the early-starting nobos, who deal with the same problems at the start of their hikes.)

I do some of my sections NOBO and some of 'em SOBO, and it's fun to mix it up. This last section (early September '06) was SOBO and... if not lonely, well, quite solitary. I was in empty shelters most nights... and yet, the hostel at DWG, near the end of the hike, was pretty lively.

I was competely alone in the woods (I mean, not one other human seen) between Fitzgerald Falls and Rte. 94 -- nearly 48 hours.

So I wouldn't say it's a bad thing at all, and of course there are exceptions -- but IMO, on average, a sobo trek is considerably more solitary than a nobo one.