Asking for several reasons - New Trail miles for me next year up in new England and would like some first hand experience.
I have pencil'd in To finish PA the week of July 4th & to fly up to Goose Pond to walk north for 16 days starting sept 1st.
Bugs and Heat are my main questions. Now this year I walked in Virginia all the way thru summer months and the heat never even became an issue, neither did the bugs. I would like to just get some feedback on these areas, during these times of the year. If I do not take advantage of the 3 day weekends on both of these dates then I do not have enough vacation to spend 3 weeks on the trail. That is my leading reason for choosing these dates.
On another point of interest - I averaged 17-20 MPD thru CT, NY NJ and PA this October. Can I expect to keep that average up thru Mass and Vermont? I am expecting to have to drop my daily mileage thru most of NH and ME but not sure by how much. I would like to be finished with the AT by the end of 2019 but I have a feeling I am going to have about 150 miles left to finish in 2020.