2014 - August or September E2E

[fastfoxengineering]

Hey guys it's been awhile since I posted in the Long Trail forum. Thanks to you I pretty much set on my gear and have been using at all a lot lately. Been up some 4k's in the white mountains.

With the current conditions of the trail, would you rather hike the LT end to end in August or Sept? I know it will be cooler in September but my quilts are rated to 20degrees so I'm not worried about getting cold. I have the option of doing either or. I'll be doing a SOBO hike.

In essence, is there any good reason to hold out until September to start? Could even start mid august. What do ya think?

Regards

[bigcranky]

Here is a link to a Backpackinglight post on a Long Trail e2e soutbound in September. Looks like a great time to hike -- changing fall scenery, no bugs, no rain, no people.

We're going in July because that's when we can go.

[Just Bill]

Going Sobo- I prefer september, but if you're flexible you could check back on the turning leaves when it gets closer.
August will likely be too early for the leaves, and going Sobo, it's unlikely they will catch you. If you get lucky, you will "hike with the color".

Not the end of the world if you miss them, but if you can pull it off, it really is a different trail when the colors are turning.

[Deadeye]

Not to be morbid, but go when you can. You could get run over tomorrow.

[Slo-go'en]

Assuming I'm not run over tomorrow, I'd go in September...

[Praha4]

September is better than August IMO. Go in August if you like hot weather hiking. By mid September the weather really begins to change in Vermont. I started NOBO last year Sept 6th. This year I'm planning another LT hike, but will likely start a week later around mid September and finish first week of October.

[Yukon]

September is hands down the best month to be on the LT. I wanted to go again this year, but I'm getting married in Stowe in September. So, it looks like an SOBO E2E in September of 2015

Enjoy your hike!

[Cookerhiker]

I did an inside-out thruhike starting in mid-August. Ironically, some of the hottest weather I experienced was in the September portion of the hike.

No problems with bugs.

[mark schofield]

end of september sobo and you'll get nice weather, no bugs, foliage change, and not too much traffic.

[fastfoxengineering]

It's official, we'll be leaving late into the 2nd week of August for a SOBO hike. 95% of my gear is squared away and my budget is looking good. A few questions for everyone. This is my first long distance hiking trip, and I have no experience with resupplys, trail towns, hiker hostels, inns, etc. I've done multi-day trips but brought enough food for the whole trip.

My major question is, what is an ideal budget for trail cost on an LT End to End. Some forethought, I'll be sending myself one mail drop about halfway through the trip. It's not necessary but I'm gonna pack it with some stuff to help motivate me on my first thru hike. Just goodies from back home that I might not be able to find in Vermont. But I will also take this opportunity to fill it out with some actual trail food and resupply. Besides that, the plan is to break the trip down into 4-6 resupplies.

Now, I do plan on staying at most likely 2 hostels/inns. Also, when we go into town to resupply we'll grab a dinner and a FEW beers. I don't drink heavily at bars/restaurants. 2-3 and I've had my fill.

I have googled it and most people are saying that they very comfortably hiked the LT with 300-400 dollars. Seemed a little low to me. I will have closer to $600 saved for this trip. I wanted to over budget and leave myself a margin of error just in case.

Thoughts?

[bigcranky]

My wife and I are attempting an E2E starting in July. I worked up a spreadsheet based on my experience resupplying for myself, and added in food and meals for her. We're going to resupply 4 times, and take a night in a B&B or hostel each time.

Travel: $500 ($400 for r/t train tickets, $100 for shuttle from Amherst to North Adams)

Lodging: $600 (six nights: one before, four during, one after, averaging $100 each. I think this may be a little high.)

Resupply: $500 (four complete resupplies of food for two people at $125 per for 5-6 days of food, or $10-12 per-person per-day. This is inline with what I spend on resupply here in the South, so it may be low.

Meals Out: $400 (includes lunch, dinner, and breakfast for two people four times. Includes beer, so this may be very low )

So basically I'm looking at about $1000 per person including transportation and before/after lodging. Take that out, and it's $650 per person spent while actually onthe trail.

I'm not including money for gear upgrades or all the little stuff we needed to repair or replace. I'm sure that we'll spend more -- if there's a restaurant half a mile off the trail, we'll probably stop in But this seems like a good estimate from which to work for planning purposes.

We're sending a small maildrop to the Inn at Long Trail, with some goodies for motivation and some things it'll be easier to mail.

Have a great hike.

EDIT: let me add that this is our vacation, so we'll spend the extra money on a B&B over a hostel, and on a nice restaurant meal over the AYCE Chinese place. This is close to a luxury budget.

[fastfoxengineering]

My wife and I are attempting an E2E starting in July. I worked up a spreadsheet based on my experience resupplying for myself, and added in food and meals for her. We're going to resupply 4 times, and take a night in a B&B or hostel each time.

Travel: $500 ($400 for r/t train tickets, $100 for shuttle from Amherst to North Adams)

Lodging: $600 (six nights: one before, four during, one after, averaging $100 each. I think this may be a little high.)

Resupply: $500 (four complete resupplies of food for two people at $125 per for 5-6 days of food, or $10-12 per-person per-day. This is inline with what I spend on resupply here in the South, so it may be low.

Meals Out: $400 (includes lunch, dinner, and breakfast for two people four times. Includes beer, so this may be very low )

So basically I'm looking at about $1000 per person including transportation and before/after lodging. Take that out, and it's $650 per person spent while actually onthe trail.

I'm not including money for gear upgrades or all the little stuff we needed to repair or replace. I'm sure that we'll spend more -- if there's a restaurant half a mile off the trail, we'll probably stop in But this seems like a good estimate from which to work for planning purposes.

We're sending a small maildrop to the Inn at Long Trail, with some goodies for motivation and some things it'll be easier to mail.

Have a great hike.

EDIT: let me add that this is our vacation, so we'll spend the extra money on a B&B over a hostel, and on a nice restaurant meal over the AYCE Chinese place. This is close to a luxury budget.

Thanks for the detailed response.

I am fortunate enough to have FREE transportation to the Northern Terminus to start my hike and another free ride home at the Southern Terminus. We plan to drive up early for our SOBO hike and start with a very low mileage day and camp out. Wake up and really start the trek. Also depending on my transportation home, we will camp out another night if we have to wait a day to he picked up.

So no transportation/lodging fees to before/after trail.

Resupply: I honestly have no idea. I think where looking at 4 complete resupplies for young lean hungry hikers.

Meals out: Only gonna eat when we go into town, and keep it to to one meal. Two if we realllllllly feel like it. We don't drink alot.... in towns. We'd rather have few beers then split a bottles of bourbon and fill up our pint flasks for the trail ... cheaper and more efficient.

I think the two places we plan to stay are the Inn at Long Trail and one other hiker hostel.

I think I'll be ay okay with $600. Thanks again

[bigcranky]

I usually find it costs me $10-15 per day for food on the trail. So a 25 day E2E would be $250-375. Add $75 for the Inn and $20 for the hostel, and $20 for a meal a few times in town, and yeah, I think $600 should be good. And you're probably faster than we are, so you'll need less trail food.

Hope you have a great hike.