Damascus/Sourhern Virginia in March??

[Ethesis]

I was thinking of a March section hike.

Springer is obviously too crowded then.

The Smokies look too cold on the average. But the section from Damascus north looked like it could be a good one.

Of course each year is different, but on the average how is it in real life (rather than in tourist brochures) on the trail?

[Slo-go'en]

Probably cold and wet.

[Ethesis]

.

Ive read http://trailquest.net/weather.html etc.

Guess there really isn’t more to add.

[moldy]

Ah'...March what? 1st or 31st? Late March can be all warm, blue birds with the dogwoods in bloom if you get normal weather.

[bigcranky]

Here in the Piedmont the weather in March is great -- it starts getting into the 60s or even the 70s during the day, and all the spring flowers and trees are blooming. Lovely. So then we get serious trail fever and schedule a weekend in the Mt Rogers area, where the trees are bare and the cold wind whips across the open balds, even into the end of April I've had both my coldest night on the trail, and my heaviest snow storm on the trail, at the end of March in that area (different years, though.)

March is still winter, even in the Southern Appalachians. If you're prepared for that, it's a great time to be out. It is less crowded than Georgia in March. Hope you enjoy it.

Edit: this is a link to our post about our weekend trip this past spring, the third weekend in April. There is nothing unusual about this weather for that time of year. We got cold enough overnight to have slushy water bottles in the morning.

[Dan Roper]

Yeah, late March is definitely winter in the southern highlands. There won't be any dogwoods blooming (or close to it) on March 31.

[MuddyWaters]

Yup march still wintry in old virginny mtns

But nothing wrong with that if prepared, and pick nice weather window. It can be great for short trips.

[Gambit McCrae]

There will be zero Spring like symptoms in March, on any day. No leaves on the trees, grass is still brown, no flowers or buds. It will still look like winter, and still the possibility of snow dumps at high elevations.

I consider the first week of May to be "The Bloom of Spring"