NOBO Late Start

[ShadeTree]

I'll be getting a late start (early May), because of graduation. However, I'm still hoping to make it through. I'll probably take it easy for a week or two before I start picking up the pace. Once I gain some ground it'll be time to stop and smell the roses. I'm just wondering if anybody else is going to be taking off around that time. If not, I hope to catch you early birds on the trail!

[ShadeTree]

I suppose I should mention this is for a 2008 thru hike.

[ScottP]

That's really the perfect time to start. You'll miss the bitter cold in the deep south, lyme disease season in the upper mid-atlantic and southern new england, and biting insect season from jersey north.

You'll have other people starting at that time--mostly young people graduating from college (or on summer breaks), so you shouldn't have a problem meeting people that you have a lot in common with. Meeting a partner online then expecting to thru-hike with them isn't the best of ideas.

Enjoy your hike.

[The Solemates]

dont kill yourself trying to make it to Maine. you'll have plenty of time. I wouldnt worry about your schedule much.

[Webs]

Well this thread makes me happy. I still have a few years of college left, but I'd love to thru when I graduate....early May I suppose. I'm glad it sounds doable--5 1/2 months should be fine. Time to daydream some more, only now with grounded hope!

[peanuts]

shadetree, go southbound..........

[ShadeTree]

I had considered going SOBO, but I didn't feel like hiking through Maine being eaten alive by the black flies and such. Not to mention, I really want to finish on Katahdin with a bottle of the bubbly and a few friends I've met on the way. More importantly, my logistics will be much more efficient on a NOBO hike...I have the parents down south to leave my maildrops with without going out of my way, and I have friends spread gradually up the trail that I hope to take advantage of

I would like to say that with this thread I'm not necessarily looking for a thru hike partner. I'm more interested in finding people that I'm highly likely to cross paths with. I did like one of RockStar's suggestions about a whiteblaze patch, or something along those lines...that'd be nice