Hike recc'd pls.

[fishboy]

I will be hiking with my partner who is in no particular shape and not experienced backpacker- i have 4-5 3-4 day trips under my belt and in avg shape- we agreed to take a slow- 5 mi. a day hike on the AT preferably through the smokies- for about 18- 20 days- any recc'd would be a appreciated. Where should we start and how much food should we pack for- we are looking just to take in the scene- not make speed. Also, what clothing do you recc'd for March- i assume cold temps- any help is appreciated. Thanks

[Yahtzee]

I would recommend starting north of the Smokies or seeing if you can get dropped off at Clingman's Dome or Newfound Gap and hiking out of the Smokies. 5 miles a day would require an enormous amount of food starting at Fontana and going to Davenports.. If you start in the middle of the Smokies or just north of them, you could hit a resupply pt. every 4 or 5 days at the rate you have layed out.

[Cabin Fever]

5 miles a day is probably underambitious. Say the average person takes 8000 steps a day. If each step is 2.5 feet, that is 20000 feet, almost 4 miles. Even slow hikers average 1 mile per hour. You are going to get mighty bored only hiking 5 hours per day. I think you could easily up your daily distance to 8 or 10 miles.

[Slo-go'en]

If your going to hike the Smokies along the AT, then your going to have to go shelter to shelter. Most are spaced a little over 7 miles apart, but some are rediculously close together. If you go 5 to 7 miles a day, it will take at least 11 days, 10 nights to do the Smokies - thats a lot of food to carry. If your going to take that long, it only makes sense to drop down to Gatlinburg for a resupply half way at New Found gap.

March is not a real good time to do this, especially early to mid March. It will likely be cold, there could well be still significant snow and ice on the trail and over an almost 2 week window, your very likely to be hit with some kind of storm, be it cold rain or wet snow. You'd be much better off waiting until April - preferably mid April at the earliest.

[Blissful]

I'd head up here to Shenandoah, much easier terrain, IMO. April is a great time. You could start at Rockfish Gap and go north to Harpers Ferry