Timing question

[stranger]

So I 'might' be doing another 500-600 section again next year, my time window will be about 5 weeks from late April, I would like to ideally hike from Erwin to Waynesboro...

Now timing wise...say I leave Erwin on 25 April, I should be ahead of the main crowd right? I don't recall many hikers being able to hike 340 miles their first 4 weeks, I'm thinking the main 1 April hikers will be around Gatlinburg/Hot Springs towards the end of April.

Thoughts?

[map man]

You will be a little BEHIND the middle of the NOBO thru-hiker pack, but still definitely in the midst of it. Here is a table that shows what dates the middle of the NOBO pack reaches various landmarks along the way:

MEDIAN DAY ~~ MEAN DAY ~~~ LANDMARK
March 17............March 20...........Springer
March 25............March 28...........Georgia Border
April 1................April 5...............Fontana
April 28..............April 29..............Damascus
May 29..............May 28..............Waynesboro
June 9...............June 8...............Harpers Ferry
June 29.............June 27..............DWG
July 12..............July 10...............Kent
Aug. 5...............Aug. 2...............Glencliff
Aug. 15.............Aug. 12..............Gorham
Aug. 26.............Aug. 22..............Stratton
Sept. 9..............Sept. 4..............Katahdin

[Slo-go'en]

By then the bulk of the late March/early April crowd will have thinned out and spread out a lot, but there will still be pleanty around. What would be fun would be to go SOBO and meet them all as they pass by. I did a SOBO from Marion starting about the middle of April once and passed a good 700 people heading north. The only problem is it can be pretty wet in Virginia in May.

[stranger]

Thanks for the table Map Man, and I've thought about doing sobo...I could also simply go back to Springer and be behind the crowd, it would be nice to hike through the Nantahala Mountain again, could live without going through the park again though...hmmmm

[max patch]

Thanks for the table Map Man, and I've thought about doing sobo...I could also simply go back to Springer and be behind the crowd, it would be nice to hike through the Nantahala Mountain again, could live without going through the park again though...hmmmm

Take BMT thru the park; still have to deal with the bureaucrats but won't have the crowds.

[4shot]

Take BMT thru the park; still have to deal with the bureaucrats but won't have the crowds.

2nd this advice....to add to his point,the BMT allows you to tent every night instead of dealing with the shelters on the AT. The BMT has just one shelter and it is new and lightly used. You can plan your hike to avoid it. This is a big plus to anyone who doesn't like the shelters, which I don't.

[illabelle]

By then the bulk of the late March/early April crowd will have thinned out and spread out a lot, but there will still be pleanty around. What would be fun would be to go SOBO and meet them all as they pass by. I did a SOBO from Marion starting about the middle of April once and passed a good 700 people heading north. The only problem is it can be pretty wet in Virginia in May.

This is a good idea Slo. We went from Hot Springs to Davenport Gap in March 2013. Plenty of thru-hikers on the trail. We spoke for a moment on the trail, or for 30 minutes at the water hole, and went on our way. It was nice to see them, without being part of them. They were spread out enough that we had no problem with shelter/tent space. We met Rash on this trip and several of his companions, but he was the only one we know of who went all the way to Katahdin. Even though we only spoke to him very briefly, it made us interested in following his journal, which turned out to be one of the best ones this year.

Another benefit to meeting the bubble SOBO is that we didn't have to suffer the humiliation of being passed again and again and again by young energetic thrus while we're plodding along.