How Many Days of Food are you starting out with?
I've heard some people say four or so... What's your first resupply point? how are you planning on resupplying?
Neel Gap at mile 31 is 3-4 days depending on if you are starting from Springer or Amicalola. Limited resupply (maildrop would be better) is available at Suches at Mile 21. Most people can make it to Neel Gap in 4 days.
2.5 days worth. Two nights, with a breakfast and snack for the 3d day, as you'll be at Neel Gap by lunch or early afternoon. Then the kind church group will come and feed you. Then pick up 2 or 3 days of slightly over priced grub at Mountain Crossings to get you to Hiawassee or the Hostel at Dicks Gap.
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take 4....Originally Posted by RedwoodRoots
Thanks guys! Sounds like Neel Gap it is!
Like LW said 4 days. Some have taken 5 days to get to Neel, some never make it.
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I'm so confused, I'm not sure if I lost my horse or found a rope.
I carried enough to get me to Hiawasee (where I had a resupply box waiting), 5 days, kinda, but knowing I would probably stay at Neels Gap (I did) and get dinner and breakfast, I backed off to 4.5 days. I really didn't want to deal with buying stuff at an expensive store 2.5 days into my hike.
I realize not everyone follows this method, but I like walking into towns pretty much "empty". In 45 years of backpacking, this has never resulted in a bad situation. A couple/few times I've run significantly behind and had to slightly ration, stretch 2 days of food to 2.5 or 3, zero biggie, some seem to fear death in such situations, not sure why.
If you are attempting a thru hike and cant make it to Neel's Gap in 3 days, you need to reconsider.
That's only like 31 miles..... and Blood mountain isn't exactly a scramble..... I had more issues with the poor blazing on the way down.
* In regards to food..... I carried 5 days of food from the start. I resupplied the first time in Hiawassee. It's easy to get a ride into there from Dicks Creek I think..... Ron Haven and his crew will get you for free if you stay at their inn.
Keep in mind, your hiker appetite will probably not be kicked in yet. I'm just a section hiker, but I find my appetite severly depressed when I go on my typical section hikes. I always overestimate and take too much food.
A lot of hikers don't push it in the beginning and get there on the forth day. They don't need to reconsider just because they don't hike like you.
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I'm so confused, I'm not sure if I lost my horse or found a rope.
Many hikers lately only pack 3 days of food and stop at a hostel/motel every 3-4 days.Add trail magic at every gap in the first few weeks.Then they head for trail days in Damascus and go home after that...
Sleep on the ground, rise with the sun and hike with the wind....
so not true. i've known dozens of hikers in the past 30 years that took 5-7 days to get to neel gap and go on to finish the trail
As a default I plan for 5 days. The first day is without Breakfast(pop tarts + instant breakfast mix with instant coffee) the last day is without Dinner(Romin noodles or rice sides with protein)+ a candy bar. Each day is about 3300 calories and 1.5 lbs. I try to plan 2 resupplies at a time. If I can carry fewer meals and snacks I will. This is my plan anyways, figured it out on the LT last summer.
I also plan on hiking less then 10 miles per day for the first 3 weeks, NOBO from HF
Plus pushing yourself to hard right at the start is a great way to get yourself injured, not to mention frustrated.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Doing the approach trail or no? Realistically, it adds a day. I'd carry four days of food in any case.
You can bring some sort of prepared meal for the first night out, for example a deli sandwich. That becomes SOP after a while.
Most folks are going pretty slow those first few days... ten miles per day is probably par for the course.
You dont need breakfast day 1, or dinner last day when reach resupply.. Even if it takes 4 days hiking, you only need 3.5 days food max. You also probably wont be that hungry and food will go farther.
It's only 31 miles to Neels Gap, which at a normal 4mph walking pace is only 7.5 hours. So realistically, you shouldn't need more than lunch and some snacks, or you're not a "real hiker" and will never make it to Maine.*
OK, sarcasm aside, if you start at Springer, planning to get to Neels Gap late on the fourth day is a reasonable plan. So that means you need three full days of food, a fourth lunch, and some extra trail snacks (you'll have breakfast in town before starting, and dinner at Neels). The four day hike plan is Springer > Hawk Mountain > Gooch Mountain > Lance Creek > Neels, about 8 miles per day. This is a reasonable mileage for a starting thru-hiker -- sure, some experienced long distance hikers will go farther, but so what? If you want to do the Approach Trail (which is great and I recommend it), add another day and plan to camp on the summit of Springer.
The main reason I recommend this itinerary is that it makes camping fairly simple. Those sites have tent pads and good water (and this concentrates the [over]use in those prepared places). In addition, in most cases trying to go a little farther results in hitting some tough climbs late in the day (Sassafras and Justus on day one, for example), or not being able to find a decent place to camp. Finally, for a beginning LD hiker, this pace helps prevent the common injuries that force people off the trail early -- mostly knee issues from overuse, in my experience.
(Again, experienced LD hikers can scoff at this, but people who are asking how many days of food to bring at the start probably need to start out a little more slowly.)
*On our first long section, in 2003, we started the Approach Trail, camped on Springer, and started hiking north on the AT the next morning. Around 9:30am we were passed by a hiker with a small day pack. He had started at the base of the Approach Trail that morning, and was planning to be in Neels Gap that evening. I never did catch his name, but he had hiked the PCT the previous season and seemed well prepared to hike very big miles on the AT. So the "one day to Neels Gap" isn't a total fantasy, but probably one hiker in a thousand can actually pull it off. BTW it took us five days to Neels including the Approach Trail.
I did the approach trail so I went Springer to hawk to Gooch(gap) to woods hole. It was 2000, before bear can regs. So i got to neels early on day five and still had food in my pack. My recent trips in the last few years I have always carried to much food, I now find that for the first few days I can barely eat. By day three I find an appetite and then have to go home. after I became a experienced LDH I was able to hike springer to Justus to slaughter gap then neels getting in real early on day four. And back in 2000 to 2004 I dont remember all the trail magic down south
Let's consider that a hiker starts hiking at 8am, and ends early at 5pm.
So 8hr x 3 day = 24hr
31miles / 24 hrs = 1.3 mph pace
5280ft mile / 60 minutes = 88ft a minute... or about 30 yards if you want to think of it in terms of a football field.
Springer starts at 3700ft, dips at the lowest to 2500ft and maxes out on Blood Mountain at 4400ft.
The average elevation is a little less than 3500.... not exactly a strenuous hike over three days by any means.
So of course people are going to say, HYOY.......
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