Originally Posted by
FlyPaper
Piggybacking off this thread, would like advice on planning NH and southern ME.
I've been section hiking for years. I'm not super fast not exceptionally fit. But I get by. So far, after hiking almost 1200 miles on the AT, nothing has been out of my league.
For NH and ME, I can tolerate low mileage days. I can plan my trips for the ideal time of year.
What I worry about is finding a place to stop when my miles are surprisingly low. If I start out and can only do 5 miles for a particular day, that's fine. But what I'll need is a flat spot near the trail to setup a tent. From the hiking I've done so far, I've learned that it can sometimes be multiple miles between plausible camping spots. And the elevation profiles in NH make me suspect it will be even more difficult to finding camping spots. In the south, I've learned to plan accordingly, but also I've relied on being able to always make it plenty far so as to not only have options to choose from, but to even know about them ahead of time from guidebooks.
How can one ensure at least he'll have a place to setup a tent in NH if one is constrained to a surprisingly low mileage day? Is that even possible, or is it necessary to have substantially good fitness to even complete that section?