Thru Hike NOBO... Another question for ya'll...

[H2O_Buffalo]

...note my acquired southern drawl.

Is it possible to do a thru hike north bound, WITHOUT :-? :eek: hitching into any towns, assuming you are having no problems. In looking at some of the articles here, many trail towns are 10 miles from the trail (Hiawassee for example). I am planning on mail drops for much of my resupply and it seems possible but I'd like some opinions from some of the experienced folks here.

Thanks,
H2O

[Skidsteer]

How do you plan to pick up your mail drops?

[Footslogger]

Anything's possible but if don't want to hitch you'll be doing some road walking sooner or later.

'Slogger

[max patch]

Yes. Someone does it every year. But it certainly complicates things -- like in your example -- you're not going to get resupplied in Hiawassee.

I like the concept -- and I hike a bit with someone who did exactly that --and I've always thot that on my next thru I wouldn't get into a car the whole way. Don't know if I can do it or not until I try.

[Jack Tarlin]

1. It CAN be done, but this would be very difficult. Some popular re-supply
towns are many miles from the actual Trail; if one is unwilling to hitchike,
your choices are to re-supply elsewhere and skip those locations, or
roadwalk. In some places, like Maine, I assure you that you won't want
to roadwalk, nor will you want to carry the extra food that'll be necessary
if you choose to skip these towns as re-supply points. In short, it's VERY
difficult to hike the entire A.T. without putting your thumb out at some
point, unless you want tocarry weeks of supplies at a time over very
difficult terrain.

2. If you have reservations about hitching, be assured that your concerns
are felt by other hikers, especialy women hikers. If you don't feel good
about hitching by yourself, then find another hiker who'll also be heading
into town. (The night before, at a shelter or campsite nearest the road
crossing is a good place to find out what other people's plans are, town-
wise). In almost every case, you'll find another hiker who'll hitch in and
out of town with you, will wait at the road crossing til you arrive so you
can hitch together, etc.

3. In many cases, there are motels, hostels, or local shuttlers who'll take
you BACK to the Trail from a town for either a nominal fee, or it'll be in-
cluded in your stay. If you do some homework and make a list of places
that do this, it'll greatly decrease the number of times you'll be in a "hitch
or walk" situation back to the Trail.

[Spirit Walker]

On my first thruhike, I assumed I would not want to hitchhike, so I planned maildrops so I wouldn't need to do so. That meant 14 days food in some sections. I really don't recommend doing that. I was lucky in that I seriously underestimated how much food I would need. So 14 days food was, in reality, closer to 7 days food. I ended up hitching to town to fill in the gaps.

On my second hike, I hiked for a while with someone who had vowed not to get into a car on his entire hike. He kept to that, except when accompanying another hiker to a doctor.

On the CDT I met a couple of hikers who didn't hitch. Since towns are sometimes 25 or more miles off trail, they created routes that would allow them to walk to town. It takes some creativity, but it is doable. I hate roadwalks, so I would rather hitch than roadwalk to town. I think it's safer. Plus you meet some very interesting people. On the AT there are very few towns used for resupply that are far from the trail. Maine had the farthest, but even there usually it was less than 10 miles. That's nothing.

[map man]

I've gone through the the Data Book and Companion trying to figure out how this could be done, and here are some conclusions I've come to, starting north from Springer.

Send a package to Walasi Yi at Neels Gap.

Then you've got a long stretch because Hiawasee and Franklin are both farther than I would want to walk. You can send a package to Nantahala Outdoor Center, though some don't advise this since packages are stored at a less-than-secure location there, according to the Companion. So you either have a 100 mile stretch to Nantahala or a 130 mile stretch if you decide against that and go on to Fontana. At Fontana you can avoid a long road walk by taking a side trail into town a few miles before you get to the main Fontana Road (all side trails I mention from here on I've discovered by looking at the pertinent USGS 7.5 minute maps).

From Fontana it's another long stretch to Hot Springs, but you can shorten it by sending a package to Standing Bear Farm hostel.

After Hot Springs, Erwin is a bit of a problem because it involves a considerable road walk through town to get to downtown. One option in this stretch is to send to a willing hostel again, like Greasy Creek Friendly, which the Companion says accepts packages.

From there you can resupply at Hampton. If you take a side trail into Hampton, shortly after you pass Laurel Fork, you will walk about a mile by trail to town instead of many miles of road walk.

From there Damascus is a reasonable distance.

From there Atkins involves a road walk, but it is no more than three miles, I believe.

From there it's Pearisburg, and you can take a lesser traveled side road into Pearisburg instead of the main highway and save yourself distance and hassle.

From there it's the Daleville area, with lots of services within a mile or so of the trail.

From there it's a good distance to Rockfish gap, where instead of a five mile road walk to the left to Waynesboro, you can walk right one mile to the Post Office at Afton.

From there it's through Shenandoah National Park (with lots of eateries along the trail) and on to Linden, which involves a road walk of just over a mile.

From there it's Harpers Ferry.

From there it's either on to Duncannon, or resupply at Boiling Springs to shorten up that stretch a bit.

From there the trail goes right through Port Clinton.

From there it's on to Delaware Water Gap.

Then it's on to Vernon, New Jersey, which involves a road walk of a little over two miles (the road walk to the Unionville, NY PO is much less, but that would lengthen the next segment).

From Vernon you can try to go all the way to Kent (while stopping at a deli or two along the way) or you can break that stretch up with a package mailed to the Bear Mountain PO.

From Kent it's on to Dalton.

From Dalton you can go to Manchester Center, or go a little farther to the Danby PO, which is a slightly shorter and less traveled road walk than Manchester Center.

From there resupply next at Jack Tarlin's refrigerator in Hanover -- er, I mean at a PO or grocery store in Hanover.

Then it's on to the PO at Glencliff.

The next stretch is a rugged long one. You might be well advised to bum all the food you can at the Huts in the White Mountains, or at the very least gorge yourself at the visitor center at Pinkham Notch.

Then you can take a side trail at Mt. Moriah left to the east edge of Gorham instead of going on to the main highway and walking 3.6 miles on the road.

Then it's another long, rugged stretch to Stratton. At Stratton don't walk the highway for five miles but go on past it to where the Bigelow Trail intersects the AT and take that into Stratton.

From there it's a short jaunt to Caratunk.

From there it's on to Monson. Again there is a slightly shorter and less busy side road into town before you get to the highway.

Then it's the hundred mile wilderness and you are there (you can break up this stretch some at White House Landing if you care to).

If you show up at Springer in shape, and manage to hike a dozen miles a day in the White Mountains and western Maine, you should never have to travel with more than eight days worth of food.

Now, the disclaimer -- I haven't done any of this walk myself! This is all planned on paper using USGS maps and the Data Book and Companion. But hey, it's kind of a fun exercise in logistics, isn't it?

[Appalachian Tater]

If you end up doing some long road walks, try not to avoid the most dangerous ones, and don't do any of them in the dark.

[Appalachian Tater]

Yeah, please do not try not to avoid them, avoid them.

[H2O_Buffalo]

Thanks for the input. Road walking does not bother me until it's about five miles one way. At that point one is adding 10 miles or at least three hours of walking in given day. One thing I did not mention is that shuttles don't count as hitch hiking. I have read many counts and some of the hostels provide shuttles (Miss Janet too, for example) for a donation or small fee.

Map Man, your analysis is interesting and the stretch from Neels to NOC without a hitch to Hiawassee was one that I noticed might be a problem.

Interesting responses. Thanks all.

Anyone else with ideas out there??

[shades of blue]

H2O
Just curious, what is your reason for not wanting to hitch into town? There are several reasons I can think of not to hitch, but as Jack said earlier, there are ways around the safety issues (for the most part). I thought I'd have a huge problem with hitching, (safety) but in the end I only had one time I felt a little unsafe. That doesn't mean that bad things can't happen, but my experience is that life is different on the AT (in most places). If your reason is for the challange, or the experience, then that's awesome. If it's safety, that's understandable, but I think you'll find that this is an issue you can work around and not have to carry a sherpa's amount of food.

[H2O_Buffalo]

H2O
Just curious, what is your reason for not wanting to hitch into town? There are several reasons I can think of not to hitch, but as Jack said earlier, there are ways around the safety issues (for the most part). I thought I'd have a huge problem with hitching, (safety) but in the end I only had one time I felt a little unsafe. That doesn't mean that bad things can't happen, but my experience is that life is different on the AT (in most places). If your reason is for the challange, or the experience, then that's awesome. If it's safety, that's understandable, but I think you'll find that this is an issue you can work around and not have to carry a sherpa's amount of food.


Laffs...

Good question Shades, I am not fully sure. It is more a question of having to go so far off the trail I suppose. I can't say I have ever done any hitch hiking in my life (sheltered existence I know...:eek: ) so it's something new to me. Not afraid and I am pretty intuitive about folks too. Part of it is the challenge and depding only on self as much as possible I suppose. But then part of the thru-hike experience is to deal with others... hikers and non-hikers alike.

Not much of an answer. I am getting some good input here tho.

[shades of blue]

The first time I hitched was on the AT, so I don't think you've led a sheltered life. I know 10 miles seems like a long ways, and on foot, off the trail it is a long ways. You'll find that you can yogi a ride in many different ways (if that is what you choose to do). Back in the summer, my wife and I leap frogged with some scouts for a day or so. At Dick Creeks gap they were just in front of us, and offered us a ride into Hiawassee. All the worrying that we had about getting into Hiawassee disappeared in 2 minutes. I can name countless times that something like this happened. It gave the scouts a neat way to give trail magic, and for us to experience it. There have been a few times I was forced to walk into town (palmerton, PA), but in the end, even that wasn't too bad. So, the logistics of getting into town work themselves out. Some might say that God, the universe, trail gods...whoever provides. Quite often you'll find that good things happen more often than not.

The idea of being self sufficient and not riding in a car for six months is a cool idea. You'll find that there are all sorts of little restrictions/challenges that you can place upon yourself. The great thing about the AT is that it is your hike, and you can decide what way to hike it. If you hike for a while and change your mind, that is your choice too. It is your hike to enjoy....You'll have a great time.

[Peaks]

Like Water Buffalo, one of my preferences was to minimize the hitch hiking, and minimize the amount to car rides. In general, it worked fairly well. But sometimes, it's a long way into town.

I skipped places like Gatlenburg, because it's a long ways off the AT. I tried to carry through from Glencliff to Pinkham Notch. Too far. I hitched into Gorham, but could have blue blazed into town instead (and at that time, blue blazed out of town also). Maine is tough, because many of the towns are a long ways off the AT. So, I skipped Andover and Stratton, but hitched into Rangely. If I were to hike the AT in Maine again, I'd probably do it the same way.

I planned my trip using Wingfoot and the Data Book. I did grocery store much of the time, but at places like Linden I did a mail drop and didn't go into Front Royal.

To each their own. That was the way I choose to do things.

[1Pint]

I've gone through the the Data Book and Companion trying to figure out how this could be done, and here are some conclusions I've come to, starting north from Springer.
------
Now, the disclaimer -- I haven't done any of this walk myself! This is all planned on paper using USGS maps and the Data Book and Companion. But hey, it's kind of a fun exercise in logistics, isn't it?

Wow! Thanks! Like you, I've been having fun with the logistics. I've been working on putting together my expected mail drops and grocery resupply and I've only gotten about half of the trail planned. I'm going to have to go back over my stuff and see how it compares to what you've put together and the other comments here. Great stuff.

I have two reasons for wanting to skip the hitch. First, as a solo female hiker, I'd rather just avoid the whole situation for safety reasons. Second, as a hiker, I'd rather be as close to the trail for as much of my time as possible.