View Full Version : Hiking 25-30 mile days. Good sections for it?
The Kisco Kid
06-01-2010, 12:55
I'm a section hiker who's halfway there... I'll be hiking PA this summer and hope to make it down to Virginia as well. I'd like to make some big mile days: 25-30 miles.
What are some good sections from Pearisburg, VA to Port Clinton, PA for big miles? And the entire trail for others that may be interested.
Cheers,
-Marcovee
bulldog49
06-01-2010, 15:18
I'm a section hiker who's halfway there... I'll be hiking PA this summer and hope to make it down to Virginia as well. I'd like to make some big mile days: 25-30 miles.
What are some good sections from Pearisburg, VA to Port Clinton, PA for big miles? And the entire trail for others that may be interested.
Cheers,
-Marcovee
Maryland
Dennis Cove to Damascus
Shennies
When all is said and done, it's a 25-mile day done by many during the long days of summer. Fast hikers who start at sun-up can be at Port Clinton Hotel by early afternoon.
It strikes me as a stretch to call it big miles since I hiked it with a group of Boy Scouts working on their hiking merit badge years ago.
fiddlehead
06-02-2010, 04:57
I believe the part of the AT between Waynesboro, VA and Port Clinton, PA are the easiest part of the whole trail.
Almost anywhere in there is possible for what you want to do.
The rocks get a bit tough closer to Port Clinton so, maybe end there instead of start.
The Shenendoah NP is the easiest of all. (although snack bars and stores close to the trail tend to slow folks down)
Maryland --- yup, there's a reason that the 4-state challenge is do-able, and it includes if I recall correctly some canal road walking.
In fact, this year a couple hiking friends wanted to include one 30+ mile day just to do it, and we did it somewhere in Pennsylvania. Penn is known for rocks, but there's also a lot of fairly flatish terrain there so if a person learns to dance on and around the rocks some decent mileage can be accomplished. My recollection of that area (less than a month ago now) was of little elevation gain/loss.
FWIW, I just looked it up and the somewhat random time my little group picked to do a 30-miler was from Peters Mountain Shelter, NOBO mile 1148.9 to William Penn Shelter, mile 1180.3. I'm not suggesting that particular stretch to be optimal, it was more about group dynamics if I recall correctly.
I'm not sure I agree about Shenendoah NP; I went into there expecting it to be dead easy and it was more up and down than I had expected, though definitely overall pretty easy in the context of the overall AT. Now, if you were walking Skyline drive, then yes ... :-)
Blissful
06-02-2010, 20:37
Maryland
Dennis Cove to Damascus
Shennies
Yeah that's about it for possible 25-30 milers.
Though one must inquire - why that kind of section hike, fresh from city life?
As I hear on the trail - too many go too fast. And some regret it in the end.
I only did a few 20s and there are so many places I don't remember at all 'cause I was so mileage-driven.
But hyoh
Ox97GaMe
06-02-2010, 22:31
25-30 mile days are pretty common for a seasone thru hiker by the time they get north of Pearisburg until up into Mass. It may be difficult to start out doing 25, or to keep a 25-30 mile pace if you arent in shape, but as was stated earlier, you have long hours of sunlight. If you maintain just 2 mile/hr pace, and hike from sun up to sun down, you can get in 25 miles. Most thru hikers are reaching close to 3 mile/hr pace by the time they hit the Shenny.
I can also state as fact that almost any stretch of the AT can accomodate a 30 mile day if you are in shape, keep pack weight reasonable, and are committed to hiking long periods of the day. It isnt for everybody, but Ive heard stories and told stories of some incredible 30+ mile days by hikers carrying their full gear.
Kerosene
06-03-2010, 11:42
Although I typically wasn't planning to hike 20+ mile days, most of them have occurred between US-19E and Waynesboro. As a section hiker, I didn't find SNP to be as easy as thru-hikers describe it, as they are in great shape by that point. North of Maryland, I find that the uneven trail surface slows me down, making it harder to keep up my pace.
The Kisco Kid
06-03-2010, 14:26
Though one must inquire - why that kind of section hike, fresh from city life?
I'm headed to PA for a few long weekends this summer. Train/bus service is decent from NYC to Harrisburg and Allentown, PA. So that's where I'm going.
I did a 25 miler in one of the sections mentioned in this thread, from Iron Mountain Shelter into Damascus for Trail Days in '99.
The second was much more difficult, 27 miles into Uncle Johnny's in Erwin, TN. My brother and I combined two trail days to have a zero day to go rafting.
Unfortunately, a crazed murderer was on the loose in the area and the rafting company canceled that day's trips. Seriously. He was killed in car chase the next week in the Smokies.
So we spent the day hanging in Erwin. The night before we arrived a meth-head who was on the run after blowing up his house in Ohio where he had a home lab, stayed at Uncle Johnny's somehow making his way there from the highway. Again, seriously.
He then escaped into woods and we sat on the porch watching all day as every car headed up the hill was checked by the police. The tv news came by to do a story, interviewing the caretaker at the time. He appeared just as we were leaving to take a shower and turn himself in.
Hoping to have more productive (though less exciting) big day ahead..
-Marc
Train/bus service is decent from NYC to Harrisburg and Allentown, PA. So that's where I'm going.
-Marc
Reading too. Carl Beiber and BARTA will get you to Cabela's.
stranger
06-03-2010, 20:54
Waynesboro to New York is a fairly easy cruise, with the exception being a couple bumps in northern Virginia, and the rocks which start getting bad just south of Port Clinton and go into New York. The 'easiest' section being Maryland to Port Clinton in my view.
The equalizer however, is the heat...that changes alot!