View Full Version : Where Should I Start?
thruhiker1992
03-20-2009, 21:52
Hello i live in new hampshire and am planning a thru hike. i want to know if people could give me advice on where to start, Georgia or Maine?
TJ aka Teej
03-20-2009, 21:53
:welcome to WhiteBlaze!
Survivor Dave
03-20-2009, 22:11
Hello i live in new hampshire and am planning a thru hike. i want to know if people could give me advice on where to start, Georgia or Maine?
Start at the beginning.
Hello i live in new hampshire and am planning a thru hike. i want to know if people could give me advice on where to start, Georgia or Maine?
Start in GA. That way, you finished with the best of the trail and with the best weather (nothing beats Maine in the fall!).
Do you really want to go southbound? If you do, you get to start with the 100 mile wilderness at peak bug season.. then hke out of the heat and into winter, with the pleasure of finishing at a non descript seen one seen em all type of peak. also, if you start in GA you will be closer to home when you end up in ME.
Furthermore, going north bound, the hostels are open and GA, while far from easy, is a whole lot easier to hike than Maine!
Theat's my two cents.
David
stranger
03-20-2009, 23:00
Southbound will mean much more solitude than going north and potentially a harder first few miles because I don't believe there is more than one place to resupply in the wilderness. But if you were to leave Maine on 1 July you would have to deal with the bugs, and potentially blackflies, but after mid August the bugs wouldn't be much of an issue in my experience. Southern Maine is without question the hardest section of the trail, then the Whites would be next - although I've always felt the Whites were overrated in terms of difficulty. It would probably mean a quicker hike due to a shorter window of time, I don't know if I would want to be in the Smokies in mid November for example.
Going northbound, you would be around dozens of hikers assuming you leave between 1 March and 15 April, you will have to deal with cold in the south, potentially as far north as Mt. Rogers in Virginia, but you can go much lighter as town,resupply options are everywhere in the south, I didn't carry more than 2.5 days worth of food until Hot Springs, 270 miles from the start. You can still find heaps of solitude if you avoid shelters and hostels, that's where the crowds always are. Northbound also means a pretty long heat battle from about mid Virginia to Vermont, that means bugs, ticks, heat, sunburn, chaffing, all the good stuff.
I like going northbound, the so called traditional way, but last year the amount of hikers really got to me, so I found myself camping between shelters more and more and using motels in towns instead of hostels - there are benefits to either direction, and drawbacks of course.
Blissful
03-20-2009, 23:21
Well, you're in NH you know the terrain. SOBO is tougher than NOBO for sure. No outfitters for the longest time, bugs, mud, river crossings, tough terrain up front when you don't have your trail legs. Also depends on the time you have to hike (like some can't start until college ends and or make it to spring semester - SOBO; or some need to finish to make it back to college for the fall semester - NOBO)
thruhiker1992
03-21-2009, 15:00
Thank you all!
Yes i have alot of family in maine and it would be alot better to end the trip in Maine.
Anyone know a good transport system down to Georgia?
Suggestions?
The best place to start is ATC's Hike the Trail (http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.mqLTIYOwGlF/b.4805465/k.9760/Hike_the_Trail.htm). Download a copy of NPS's Appalachian Trail Strip Map (http://www.nps.gov/appa/planyourvisit/upload/APPA%20Map.pdf) and ALDHA's Companion (http://www.aldha.org/companyn.htm). That's where I'd start.:)
Start in GA. That way, you finished with the best of the trail and with the best weather (nothing beats Maine in the fall!).
Do you really want to go southbound? If you do, you get to start with the 100 mile wilderness at peak bug season.. then hke out of the heat and into winter, with the pleasure of finishing at a non descript seen one seen em all type of peak. also, if you start in GA you will be closer to home when you end up in ME.
Furthermore, going north bound, the hostels are open and GA, while far from easy, is a whole lot easier to hike than Maine!
Theat's my two cents.
DavidMake that four cents worth :D
Pokey2006
03-21-2009, 16:31
Thank you all!
Yes i have alot of family in maine and it would be alot better to end the trip in Maine.
Anyone know a good transport system down to Georgia?
Suggestions?
Bus to Gainesville, Ga. is probably your cheapest bet. Nowadays, more people carpool -- you might find a ride on here or on Craigslist. Or, if you have the funds, you can fly.
stranger
03-21-2009, 19:15
If you like trains I highly recommend hopping a train to Gainesville, it would be a long haul but is so much better than a bus. The train gets in around 7am and the hiker hostel people can pick you up and drop you off at Springer, or you can stay with them and head up the next day. It's not exactly cheap, about $120-150 probably, and I don't know if the train line goes anywhere near you, but I've always found this to be the best way to get down to GA.
I paid $74 for a one way ticket to Atlanta on Delta. Check the airlines. They have good prices now.
The only difference between NOBO's and SOBO's is that SOBO's are going the wrong way.
thruhiker1992
03-21-2009, 20:25
The only difference between NOBO's and SOBO's is that SOBO's are going the wrong way.
HAHAHA!
I like that!
yeah Im pretty young so scraping the money together for the trip wont be easy!
Ive heard that the trail expenses cost a dollar a mile. Is that true?
Blissful
03-21-2009, 21:24
HAHAHA!
Ive heard that the trail expenses cost a dollar a mile. Is that true?
More like 2 a mile roughly. $4000
thruhiker1992
03-22-2009, 11:35
wait is that for overall costs such as:
gear
food
money for restaurant/extravagances
bus trips
other ****.
i just want to know.
i already have a pack and a nice bag and, hammock :]
A fair amount of money—typically about $3,000 to $5,000—to undertake a 2,000 mile, five- to seven-month hike, not counting $1,000 to $2,000 or more for gear. Many dollars are spent in vain, along with planning time and effort, when someone learns too late that a thru-hike is not for him or her. Most of your money will be spent in town. Few hikers can resist the temptation of restaurant food, motel beds, and hot showers after days of deprivation. You will also need money for supplies, laundry, postage, equipment repair, and equipment replacement.
ATC's Hike the Trail (http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.mqLTIYOwGlF/b.4805465/k.9760/Hike_the_Trail.htm) > Thru-Hiking (http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.mqLTIYOwGlF/b.4805471/k.2480/ThruHiking.htm) > Preparing for a Thru-Hike (http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.mqLTIYOwGlF/b.4805477/k.772A/Preparing_for_a_ThruHike.htm)
thruhiker1992
03-22-2009, 13:08
so about 6000-7000 dollars?
Better to have too much cash than not enough. Fortunate to raise enough at the last minute to complete Maine, I finished flat broke.
Having the physical ability and will to complete a through hike, but not the financial wherewithal to see it through would be very disappointing indeed. It's something I once contemplated myself before I finding a solution.
See also the WhiteBlaze article Ideas for an inexpensive thru-hike (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?p=801458#post801458) by Weathercarrot.
thruhiker1992
03-24-2009, 17:33
I see.
if you name referres to your birth date and your planning on doing it in 2010, do SOBO! im doing sobo and might be the same age