Quote Originally Posted by JPritch View Post
@LittleRock why not park your car at the end and get a shuttle to the beginning of your hike? Takes all that worry of making the arranged rendezvous off your shoulders.
Good question. I've done both in the past and I think there are pros and cons to each.

For example, 2 years ago I did park my car at the end of my hike and shuttle to the beginning. It was a 7 hour drive to the pickup point and when I arrived I really wasn't looking forward to sitting in another vehicle for 2 hours. Also this caused me to start at dusk and walk a mile in the dark to my first campsite. My schedule ended up being constrained anyway because I had to hike fast enough to make it to my resupply point on Saturday, because it was closed on Sunday. However as you said it is always very nice to have your car waiting at the end.

Last year, I chose to shuttle at the end because my biggest fear was riding in the car with a stranger during COVID. I figured it was better to risk getting the virus at the end, when I was going home, than at the beginning, when I'd be on the trail. Also since my plan is to section hike the entire trail NOBO, for the northern half of the trail shuttling at the end saves me a couple hours of extra driving. The downside was having to pull a couple of long days (hiking sunrise to sunset) toward the end to make it to the pickup point on time.