Writing your itinerary [Archive]

Tallaroo

03-10-2009, 10:03

Pickleodeon

03-10-2009, 10:11

I'm taking the easy way out. There is a plan for 12 miles per day, 15 mpd, and 20 mpd, on the left side. Hike plans with resupply info.

I'm going to take the 12 and 15 ones and then once I get the hang of things, just figure it out as I go, but it's a good guide.

http://appalachianpages.com/index.php?pageid=15%20mile%20plan

^ This is the 15 mile per day one.

warraghiyagey

03-10-2009, 10:16

The best way to ruin a hike is to have a pre-planned itinerary. . . there are so many reasons that it makes the experience so much less than it should have been.
If you need a plan. . . keep it to how many months do you want to take and let the days and the trail come as they will. . . the beauty of the trail can be sullied by a daily schedule. . . :sun

Slo-go'en

03-10-2009, 10:49

Unforseen variables such as weather, terrain, zeros and the like tend to make detailed pre-hike itineraries go out the window the moment you step on the trail.

Itineraires can be useful in a general sort of way, but once on the trail, use it to start a camp fire and wing it day by day and town to town.

Lone Wolf

03-10-2009, 11:05

mountain squid

03-10-2009, 11:11

When planning your thru-hike, did you create a complete itinerary from end-to-end? How closely did your hike match your itinerary?I did...don't really know how closely I followed it. Circumstances on the trail change so quickly that you don't pay attention to an itinerary. It was fun doing it beforehand, though. An itinerary is also good for someone at home to have a 'rough guestimate' of where you are (assuming you are within a few days of it).

An itinerary might be helpful in the beginning, though, to help minimize the amount of daily miles. Hike 8 miles and stop...even if you feel ok and it is only 1400 (2 pm). You might be able to do 5 more miles, but you will likely feel it the next day. Take it slow in the beginning, take lots of breaks and air your feet out frequently.

Another place for an itinerary would be in The Whites. The weather may change it, but in The Whites it is good to have a plan as opposed to just planning to 'Work for Stay' in all the huts. Use the huts as an emergency if necessary. You can get through The Whites by staying at the shelters and free tent sites (http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/campsites/campsites-profile.cfm). Osgood tentsite (free) is on the AT approx 5 miles South of Pinkham Notch.

See you on the trail,
mt squid

Rockhound

03-10-2009, 11:26

A plan is only something to deviate from. The farthest you should plan ahead would be to your next resupply point. Aside from that I'd say you can use all your charts and spreadsheets and graphs for fire starter or TP. Do you want this to be a hiking adventure or more like those senior citizen bus tours where they are told what they will be doing every hour of every day? HYOH but if you are an obsessive compulsive planner please don't share your itinerary with me. Nothing is more boring than listening to Joe or Jane hiker seeking approval for their "proper planning".

Billygoatbritt

03-10-2009, 11:38

I can see a general plan and approximate timeline. Too many things to see and do all along the trail. Take the time to enjoy the walk and see what develops. Plan your next mail drop but that's it. Anything else would ruin the experience.

garlic08

03-10-2009, 11:40

I only met one hiker, an accountant, who was still sticking to a schedule after day one. He was bragging about how he was 1.5 days ahead at day 47, or something like that. He wasn't very fun to hike with, compared to "Wing it!" who obviously did no planning at all.

I like to plan to the next supply stop, sometimes look ahead a couple and maybe decide to skip a town or two based on "spacing" of stops in the future. As was said above, it's something to do in camp and exercise whatever half of the brain does things like that. After a few weeks, you will know your daily mileage and will do pretty well at estimating each hike between supply stops. You will also be able to make adjustments for heat, terrain, length of day, how good you're feeling--or not, just walk.

4eyedbuzzard

03-10-2009, 12:14

Yeah, accountants make lousy golf partners too. Go figure.

Powder River

03-10-2009, 12:17

Ditto what Garlic said. The only planning I did was in my head when figuring out how many snickers to buy, so they would last until I could buy more snickers. For this you just need to look at the book and calculate the miles. Sometimes I would underline the shelters I wanted to stay at, so I didn't run out of food.

If you really needed a way to figure out when you might be arriving at any given place (for example, to make your family feel better) make it a fluid timeline, not a hard one. In other words, give them a list of distances between places, not the dates you think you might be there. If I know that I can hike from Harper's Ferry to Duncannon in about four days, then I might tell my family I'll be there about four days after leaving Harper's Ferry. But this is still just speculative, and you'll find so many variables that change your itenerary that its really not worth using your time on it. The biggest variables of these are the people you meet, and might want to hike with. Don't ditch your friends for an arbitrary schedule!

A-Train

03-10-2009, 12:19

When planning your thru-hike, did you create a complete itinerary from end-to-end? How closely did your hike match your itinerary?

I'm considering writing a two-week itinerary to start, then once I start hiking writing two-week itineraries as I go along. I don't feel confident in my pre-hike mileage estimations, and making up an itinerary along the trail will give me something fun to do at night. I'm leaning towards a 're-supply in town, mail drops only as needed' schedule atm. I'd appreciate thoughts on pros or cons of this idea.

I did this to appease my mother (I was 19). I figured where I'd be everyday (it was fun!)and approx. how much I would spend and where. I ended up with a schedule of 6 months. In reality I did not come close to sticking to the scheudule. The only thing it was good for was my mom telling me "you're two weeks ahead of schedule!" every time I called, which I guess made her feel like I was some kinda superhero.

Do one if you love to plan or are excessively bored, but like others have said, they aren't worth much of anything. All said and done I outhiked my schedule by more than a month :sun

fiddlehead

03-10-2009, 12:39

I met a NOBO lady once in GA, in April, who had stopped at a shelter at 2 PM because she had done her miles already that day from her schedule.
When i told her that i was from near Port CLinton, PA, she looked in her book and told me she'd be there on July 20 at 2:30 in the afternoon.
I wished her luck with that and moved on.

Sometimes schedules have to be made for planning food and maildrops (especially on some western trails) BUT, the best thing you can do is "Burn the schedule" just before you take that first step. You'll be glad you did.

Pickleodeon

03-10-2009, 14:18

those schedules (the APP pages ones that I posted, #2) are just a general guide for me, until I figure it out for myself. I dont planning on living by them.

I'll probably wing it after a couple days. I like to have a plan, at least as of right now, but it'll go out the window in a few days.

The Weasel

03-10-2009, 14:51

No plan survives contact with the ground.

Weasy

Tilly

03-10-2009, 14:59

Nope, the only "itinerary" I have is a rough estimate of miles per day based on how much food I put in my resupply box (I'm only doing 5 and then buying along the way.)

I do want to camp on Big Cedar Mt, though.

Sigh, 2 more weeks...

Pootz

03-10-2009, 15:06

I only made solid plans for my next resupply. Like others have said their are to many variables on the trail to do much planning. The only thing I did was keep track of my miles VS the 180 days or so I had to finish my hike. 180 days = 12.08 miles a day. Every time i got 12 miles ahead of schedule I could afford a 0 day. I also had about 2 weeks of padding on the end so my hike was pretty flexible.

If you plan on finishing you need to at least try to stay on track with your mileage and money. The miles will get easier so you can plan to make up miles as you go, especially through the middle 1000 miles. Your mileage is always going to be lower at the beginning.

Frick Frack

03-10-2009, 15:07

I came up with a rough itinerary (in about 45 minutes) for my sister/brother-in-law so that they could be somewhat prepared for our maildrops. We didn't follow it on the trail but amazingly didn't deviate from it much (w/o trying/knowing). We had planned 5 months and finished in 5 months (& 2 days). On the trail we never knew where we were ending up for the night until that day.

The Solemates

03-10-2009, 15:11

we made an itenerary and followed it to what i would consider would be rather closely. i had us arriving at katahdin 12 july and we made it by 3 july...not too far off.

wrongway_08

03-10-2009, 16:07

take the amount of time you have to complete the hike, subtract two weeks for zero days and divide by the miles, this way you know how many miles you need to do every day.

Other wise then that, just hike. Schedules will get screwed up and you'll find they are no fun to follow because then you'll miss out on the unexpected fun that will come up.

I had some sort of schedule planned, didnt work out at all - miles per day, amount of time the hike would take, mail drops (ended up just sayn screw them and bough what I needed along the way) - it all changed.... made the trip more interesting.

Vagrant Squirrel

03-12-2009, 14:56

My plan is to get all the gear I need and make it to Springer... From there I'll just walk and hope for the best.

Lilred

03-12-2009, 15:14

It's fun to make an itenerary when planning your trip. Pouring over maps and guidebooks and imagining what could happen can be loads and loads of fun. It's a great way to pass the time as you wait for your leave date as well. Leaving an itinerary with someone also eases their mind, thinking they'll know where you are at all times. When you get on top of Springer, make a ritual out of burning that dern thing and just go walking.

buff_jeff

03-14-2009, 09:51

Do whatever you want, but an itinerary would ruin the whole thing for me. Winging things makes the experience so much better. I generally just carry maps so I never know what is available in any given town. It makes it so much better.

JAK

03-18-2009, 07:49

I think an itinerery works well for some people but not so well for others.
For myself, too much planning is another way for me to put off what I should be doing.
For others, it helps enable them to do what they love to do and get the most out of it.

bigcranky

03-18-2009, 10:02

take the amount of time you have to complete the hike, subtract two weeks for zero days and divide by the miles, this way you know how many miles you need to do every day.

I want to rephrase this, because for a newbie it can be misleading.

Take the amount of time you have, subtract two weeks, then divide by the miles, and you know how many miles you need to average per day over the course of the hike.

If you come up with a number like "13" realize that you don't have to make 13 miles every day from Springer to Katahdin. You can start at 8 mpd then do 15 or 20 mpd later in the hike. The "average miles per day" is a very useful number for planning purposes, but it's not a fixed number for every day on the trail.

(No offense, Wrongway, your explanation is the common one. It can just be somewhat misleading, that's all.)

Pedaling Fool

03-18-2009, 10:20

When planning your thru-hike, did you create a complete itinerary from end-to-end? How closely did your hike match your itinerary?

I'm considering writing a two-week itinerary to start, then once I start hiking writing two-week itineraries as I go along. I don't feel confident in my pre-hike mileage estimations, and making up an itinerary along the trail will give me something fun to do at night. I'm leaning towards a 're-supply in town, mail drops only as needed' schedule atm. I'd appreciate thoughts on pros or cons of this idea.
I wrote an itinerary, strayed from it from day one. It take military-like dedication to stick to a schedule -- I'm retired and want to live a retired life, so had no compunction to the regimen required.

However, making an itinerary is fun, kind of like virtual hiking, just don't take it too seriously.

The General

03-18-2009, 11:06

I had a detailed one in 2004, with every day marked out including mileages food drops even restraunt meals and every place I intended to stay at. It soon goes out of the window for one reason or another. That been said I did start and finish where and on what day I scheduled. Along the way I sort of fell on stoney ground and was weak and led astray so the in-between bit's were a little fluid.
In 2008 I just got on the trail and hiked North consuming as much good beer as I could along the way. I hiked with no pressure on being in any one place by a certain day unless I chose to be, which was usualy because they had good beer with good better company. Those of you who feel that a schedule will help with planning then go ahead but don't start to panic if it starts to slip a little and certainly don't let time control your hike take it as it comes you will enjoy it all the more.