Skipping the Approach Trail

[peakbagger]

Same reason folks skip the logical approach (and departure trails up Katahdin from the east side.

[shelb]

..... Why in the world the AT has not been changed to terminate at the arch behind the visitor center is beyond me

Agreed! The approach trail is worth it!

[Last Call]

Same reason folks skip the logical approach (and departure trails up Katahdin from the east side.

Actually it needs to be officially extended to Flagg Mountain, Alabama....

[PaulWorksHard]

I get that and that has been the debate rolling around in my head for months. But I want to make it to the NOC in 13 days with one Zero and one Nero. Not sure I could pull that off if I do the approach trail.

Where and why do you want to do a zero? Is the zero more important than the approach trail?

If you are in decent shape and have a reasonably light weight pack 13 days to NOC should be very easy. Amicalola is a beautiful section of the hike I can't see why you would skip it.

[Countyline]

Where and why do you want to do a zero? Is the zero more important than the approach trail?

If you are in decent shape and have a reasonably light weight pack 13 days to NOC should be very easy. Amicalola is a beautiful section of the hike I can't see why you would skip it.

This will be my first attempt at a hike of this length since I was a much younger man. I've only been able to do dry runs of 2 or 3 days at the most. So it's not so much that I "want" a zero as much as I think I will "need" the zero.

[tiptoe]

From where I sit, you are still a "much younger" man. You won't know your capabilitiies until you get out there and try. Should you fall short of your goal, you can always find a shuttler to help you out.

[lonehiker]

This will be my first attempt at a hike of this length since I was a much younger man. I've only been able to do dry runs of 2 or 3 days at the most. So it's not so much that I "want" a zero as much as I think I will "need" the zero.

It is your hike so zero when you feel you need/want it. There is no particular reason to do the approach trail so do what you feel comfortable with. If you want to skip to have that extra day for your hike it sounds like you have a good plan.

[Another Kevin]

I know BigFoot covered this in a video and apparently it would literally take an act of Congress to move it.

If there were a good reason, a normal Congress would rubber-stamp it. (The last couple or three sessions haven't been normal, they've been two groups of great apes screaming at each other and flinging poo across the aisle. It doesn't seem to matter who has the majority.)

I seem to recall reading that the original rationale was that getting to the Trail should be a miniature adventure all by itself - that's why both ends are on mountain tops. If the architects intended it to be otherwise, they'd have laid it out the way the architects of the Northville-Placid did - from train station to train station. (Neither station is still in service; the one in Northville is now under the waters of Great Sacandaga Lake.) Even when the Trail started at Mount Oglethorpe and included today's Approach Trail, it started at the summit, not the highway.