Underutilized sections of the AT?

[somers515]

Hiking bubbles and seasons aside, are there generally sections of the AT that get significantly less use but are still great sections of the trail? Are you willing to share your favorite underutilized sections?

Thanks in advance!

[egilbe]

Maybe most of Maine? The trail is used quite often. Mostly on weekends, during the week it gets a break. Winter hiking the trail seems more like you would get the solitude you could be looking for.

[BirdBrain]

Mahoosucs.

[tdoczi]

that are "great" sections of the trail. i dont know, maybe maine. seems like a lot of nice but not especially noteworthy sections up there dont get seen by anyone but thru or section hikers. same may apply to parts of VT.

plenty of kind of bland trail in NJ, NY, PA i think barely gets touched too. truthfully, the sections in ME and VT i am thinking of might not eb any more interesting except that to me they are novel.

[rafe]

Most of Maine, except for the Hundred Mile Wilderness.

Parts of CT and NY. I had a 48 hour stretch with no other humans at all between Island Pond (NY) and the trailhead near Vernon NJ. Right around this time of year, back in 2006.

[peakbagger]

Hike off season and most of the trail is underutilized. I sectioned much of the southern AT in the fall and in general avoided the bubble. One year I hiked Northern VA to southern PA in Late septembe/ early October and had the trail to myself.

[tdoczi]

Most of Maine, except for the Hundred Mile Wilderness.

i dunno, i hiked from east flagstaff road to rangely on a weekend this past july and on saturday it was amazing how many people were out, in large groups, on very remote trails. and they were day hiking. i really dont know how they did it. i mean how does a group of girl scouts with no visible overnight gear get to the summit of spaulding mountain by 10am?

[egilbe]

i dunno, i hiked from east flagstaff road to rangely on a weekend this past july and on saturday it was amazing how many people were out, in large groups, on very remote trails. and they were day hiking. i really dont know how they did it. i mean how does a group of girl scouts with no visible overnight gear get to the summit of spaulding mountain by 10am?

Up over Sugarloaf? It's not that far from the summit of sugarloaf to Spaulding mountain.

[tdoczi]

Up over Sugarloaf? It's not that far from the summit of sugarloaf to Spaulding mountain.

again, it was 10am!

i mean sure, its entirely possible and obviously they did it. just saying, that section of the trail is actually heavily used despite its degree of remoteness. they werent the only ones out i saw that weekend either. long way from it.

[Heliotrope]

Met a young couple in the 100 mile wilderness last year the looked right out of a backpacker magazine ad. Fresh and clean. How did they get there? They were dropped in on float plane that morning.


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[rafe]

Met a young couple in the 100 mile wilderness last year the looked right out of a backpacker magazine ad. Fresh and clean. How did they get there? They were dropped in on float plane that morning.

Yep, I saw stuff like that my second time through and it felt like it diminished the experience. When men were men yadda yadda you used to have to commit to a 100 mile hike to the other end. Now, not so much. Shuttlers ply the forest roads.

[LittleRock]

In my experience, most of the AT is pretty empty on weekdays outside of thru-hiker season.

[hikernutcasey]

I am a section hiker that tries to avoid the bubble. Obviously you are going to see more folks on the weekends but during the week, depending on where you are at, it's usually just a handful of people most days.

My favorite times to take a trip are April (unless it's in Georgia or NC because of the bubble) and late September/October. Cool temps and no crowds. Sign me up!

[Bronk]

If you don't get your mind stuck on hiking just the AT you can find many underutilized trails. Most of the places I hike these days I can go out for 3 or 4 days and not encounter another person.

[joshuasdad]

West of I-81 in Virginia (e.g., Tinker Cliffs, McAfee Knob, Dragon's Tooth and southward) is often really deserted in the off-season, yet may be hiked most of the year. I felt much more alone there than in the 100 mile wilderness.

[peakbagger]

In the offseason even the Blue Ridge Parkway and SW VA is deserted. In 2002 we started at the south gate of SNP and went south. For three weeks we saw few hikers. We has the shelters to ourselves most nights and even on weekends we rarely had much company.

[Stubby]

When we section hike in January and February, we usually see fewer than 3 people per day, and shelters are empty. But, on one mid-February trip, it snowed pretty hard, hadn't seen anybody all day, and when it got to the shelter, it was full. A scout troop - about 7 people, and two early-bird NOBO thru-hikers (southern NC). We pitched our tent on about 3" of snow. Slept warm, it was a good trip.

[BillyGr]

i dunno, i hiked from east flagstaff road to rangely on a weekend this past july and on saturday it was amazing how many people were out, in large groups, on very remote trails. and they were day hiking. i really dont know how they did it. i mean how does a group of girl scouts with no visible overnight gear get to the summit of spaulding mountain by 10am?

You say no visible overnight gear - could they have camped somewhere and left gear, just bringing daypacks?

[egilbe]

There is not a lot of ways to get to the summit of Spaulding. Caribou Valley Rd, but it's still quite a hike. It is kinda puzzling. I was told of a trail to the shelter there, that gets some use, from the time the shelter was built, but I've never been on it.

[tdoczi]

There is not a lot of ways to get to the summit of Spaulding. Caribou Valley Rd, but it's still quite a hike. It is kinda puzzling. I was told of a trail to the shelter there, that gets some use, from the time the shelter was built, but I've never been on it.

i'm sorry i mentioned it. my point was it gave me the impression that area sees a lot of use. the curiosity of how they got there so early in the am was a side note. i imagine they either camped somewhere that they left there gear (dunno where) or, more likely, they started up on a side trail somewhere very early in the am. for the record, i started from caribou valley road headed sobo and encountered them headed nobo (not actually at the summit, but in the vicinity of the trail to the summit) and no it didnt look like they had camped at spaulding mountain lean to that night as i stopped in there around the time i saw them.

i saw a lot of similar groups in that area over the weekend, again, my point was only that the area is not under-utilized.

and while im typing a posting, i'm going to throw this out too- re-read the OP's question all of you, he said not counting seasonal discrepancies. thats how most of you seem to want to "answer" the question.