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ember
01-22-2008, 01:25
Hi
I'm from Melbourne Australia and hoping to begin my hike on or around the 1st July 08. I'm hoping to gleam advise about date and schedules for a southbound hike. Where is the best place to get this info or has anybody got a reasonable shedule re: hiking times, distances and amount of food required etc.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've looked at northbound info but its a bit weird trying to do this backwards.
Cheers
Rob

warraghiyagey
01-22-2008, 07:19
Hi
I'm from Melbourne Australia and hoping to begin my hike on or around the 1st July 08. I'm hoping to gleam advise about date and schedules for a southbound hike. Where is the best place to get this info or has anybody got a reasonable shedule re: hiking times, distances and amount of food required etc.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've looked at northbound info but its a bit weird trying to do this backwards.
Cheers
Rob
Hi Rob,
You might look up Kaptain Kangaroo in the Members List above. He's a countryman of yours and hiked NOBO two years ago. He'll be able to answer plenty of your questions and is a darn good guy.
Cheers.

kayak karl
01-22-2008, 07:22
did you checkout this part or WB its a good start
http://whiteblaze.net/index.php?page=content

Marta
01-22-2008, 07:45
It's pretty hard to come up with a schedule. People take anywhere from 4 to 8 months to make the hike, with some being even shorter and others being even longer than that. You might want to check out Trailjournals.com. You can use the search function to pull up SOBO hikes, and then see who comes close to you in age, physical condition, and outdoor experience. That'll give you some real-life examples of how long the hikes actually took.

hammock engineer
01-22-2008, 09:59
get used to converting to southboundise. It got a little old reading the guide book in reverse. I think the only major schedule to keep is the length of time your VISA will allow you to stay.

If it helps I planned 10 days to make it to Monson, start with 2 extra days to cover my time at Katadin stream campground. From there I started planning 10 mile days between towns. When I started to get in shape I planned 12-15, that was sometime after Maine. I would rather have more food in the foodbag than not enough.

naturejunkie
02-11-2008, 14:08
One of the best resources I found is reading some of the more detailed Southbounder journals from previous years on trailjournals.com. Read what they have to say and what their schedules looked like. Of course, every hike is different, but it can help you make a basic plan. Good Luck!

Stormennorm
02-15-2008, 21:05
Check out http://appalachianpages.com/store

Great Southbound ME-GA book. Includes mileage, shelters, town information, stores, inns, ect.

I am hiking Northbound and carry this book as well as Appalachian Trail Thru-Hikers' Companion (2008)--NEW for nothbounders.

Great references.

RenoRoamer
02-15-2008, 21:46
I'm planning on a southbound hike. My impression is that southbounders have to move fast if they want to avoid:

1) bug season in Maine (ends sometime in July)
2) snow and bitter cold in the south (starting in late Nov)

I'm planning on a mid-July start myself, because I really don't want to start my trip off on the wrong foot with a lot of bug hassles. And I'm not too keen on walking in bitter cold either, so if I don't get to Springer by Dec, I'll probably call it quits. That gives me 4.5 months to complete the trail, which is on the low side. But I'm not worried, because I'm not too committed to finishing the trail in one go. I'd much rather start late and thereby avoid the bugs in the north and the heat and ticks further south, and so enjoy my hike, even if this means I'll be less likely to complete the trail in one season.

Marta
02-15-2008, 22:17
Actually, one of the reasons I chose SOBO is because the time constraints are less than they are on NOBOs, who have a pretty definite end date of the middle of October.

In TN, NC, and GA, the cold kind of comes and goes all winter long. A cold day or two will be followed by some warm weather. I had a zero degree night on Roan Mountain. A few days later it was in the 70s during the day. Sure, you need to prepare for cold weather, but cold won't persist, and there won't be a snowpack.

rafe
02-15-2008, 22:30
If you have some backpacking experience, you should have a feel for the miles you can cover in a day. If you have no backpacking experience, a SOBO start from Katahdin may not be the wisest move. The terrain between Katahdin and Monson isn't particularly difficult (I'd call it about "average" for the AT) but -- there are no services to speak of between those two points, except for White House Landing. A reasonably fit hiker should be able to do 12-15 miles/day through this stretch. NOBO thru-hikers will be doing 15-20, or more. In terms of resupply and town access, this is a tough stretch of trail.

thestin
02-15-2008, 22:33
Here's a journal from Felix who SOBOd starting August 4, 1998 that can give you some ideas.

http://members.tripod.com/~Felixhikes/AT.html