Temperatures going Southbound

[steveinator]

Hey all,

I've seen about two hundred threads discussing the subtleties of temperatures experienced at different times of the year going northbound. These are rather unhelpful to me as I'm about to head southbound. Anyone want to lend me some insight on what temperatures I'll be hitting going south? I'm planning on leaving early June.

[Megapixel]

while i only hiked 350 miles sobo last year, i left june 14th from Kathadin. Of course the top of that mountain was cold, upper30's with a cutting wind, but otherwise a very enjoyable hike up to the tablelands. From there I experienced some nights still in the 40's, but great sleeping weather. I never needed my down jacket-- a fleece pullover was sufficient. As far a daytime highs the weather was really comfortable, and most rain was not that extremely cold, biting rain. On top of Saddleback and Avery peak jackets were needed, but only because of drying sweat. Can't tell you what to expect past Maine, but I hope to see you in 2012 as I'm going at it again!

[fadeleaf]

I started june 30th and finished dec 5th last year....in general temps were 70s-80s in maine, 60s in the whites, 70s-80s from vermont to around NY, then almost constant 80s-90s all the way to northern VA (cooled off to 70s for about a week in southern PA but got hot again)....central VA is when it really started cooling off, highs in the 50s/60s...on the TN/NC border there was a foot of snow on the ground for a few days, but then a couple of days later highs were in the 60s...it's pretty variable...the last week of my hike the high didn't get above 40.

[steveinator]

Cool, what temp sleeping bag did you carry? You think I could get by with just buying one? Also, how was the whole southbound experience? Did you see many other thru-hikers along the way or is there significantly more alone time?