Midway point of trail

[RWK]

OK I know where the midway point of the trail is geographically but about where is the halfway point hiking northbound time wise? So, if say I took 6 months to do the trail about where should I be at 3 months?

[Lone Wolf]

a couple miles north of Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pa.

[RWK]

I understand where the midpoint is for mileage but since trail difficulty is not the same throughout I would expect the time would not be the same to get from Springer to Pine Grove Furnace as from there to Katahdin

[max patch]

a couple miles north of Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pa.

I didn't believe this answer so I went back to my journal and checked.

At the midpoint of my hike - timewise - I was at Caledonia State Park which is 20 miles south of Pine Grove, or one day away from the midpoint of my hike milewise. Good guess, LW.

Wouldn't have thot the correlation would have been that close.

So I did a (oh so slightly) negative split (runner talk).

[RWK]

Yeah I guess I also just assumed it would not be that close to mileage midpoint. Thought my question was poorly phrased.

[Papa Bear]

An obvious explanation is that although the northern half might be tougher, the hiker is in better condition.

[RWK]

I wondered if that might be true before I asked but didn't think it would even out that closely

[ARambler]

I was exactly at Pine Grove Furness on hiking days (0.5 mi north of halfway at the time) and at Duncannon, PA including zero days. I think it is unusual to have more zero days in the northern half, and I think I started out relitively fit and more importantly injury free. So, I think the idea that Harpers Ferry is the psycological half way point is not that far off.
For south bounders, Rt 309 in PA is might be closer to half way.
Mapman has compiled some good Trailjournal data.
Ramber

[ARambler]

I was exactly at Pine Grove Furness on hiking days (0.5 mi north of halfway at the time) and at Duncannon, PA including zero days. I think it is unusual to have more zero days in the northern half, and I think I started out relitively fit and more importantly injury free. So, I think the idea that Harpers Ferry is the psycological half way point is not that far off.
For south bounders, Rt 309 in PA is might be closer to half way.
Mapman has compiled some good Trailjournal data.
Ramber

Wrong.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=12885
Map Man says it takes 167.7 day to hike or 83.85 days to the halfway point. It takes 79.5 days to reach Harpers Ferry. So, the half way point for tj hikers is 4.3 days north of Harpers Ferry (including zeros in Harpers Ferry) So, the half way point will be very close to Pine Grove Furnace.
Rambler

[jersey joe]

I was just about out of the Shenendoahs at the midpoint of my thru hike.

[Blissful]

Hopefully eating ice cream. (half gallon challenge, that is)

But it depends on a lot of factors too.

[Cedar Tree]

I passed the half way marker on exactly day 90 of my hike. I finished in 159 days, with 9 zeroes total. I attribute doing the 2nd half faster to being in better shape, and more importantly, getting decent shoes. I finally went to trail runners at Harper's Ferry and they made a huge impact on my hiking comfort and speed. I actually did slightly over 400 miles in 20 days coming out of HF, which was alot for me, considering I barely averaged 10 miles a day going into HF. But that pace was wearing me out both mentally and physically, almost causing me to want to quit. So I quit pushing so hard and resumed enjoying my hike.
CT

[Peanut]

I hiked out of Pine Grove Furnace State Park and stayed with a friend off of Whiskey Spring Rd. on my 3 month anniversary!

[Bare Bear]

All I remember is that it was so much easier counting down the MILES TO GO versus the miles completed. Once I hit the marker it seemed that it doubled my energy for the second 'half'. Can't wait to go again.

[Bigglesworth]

OK I know where the midway point of the trail is geographically but about where is the halfway point hiking northbound time wise? So, if say I took 6 months to do the trail about where should I be at 3 months?

Your initial fitness will influence this greatly, as could injuries, drought and weather. I started very slow and unfit and took more zeros in the South. I also got slowed by a minor injury and an early heat wave in Central Virginia. At about the "time" halfway point I was only in Northern Virginia; I think around Front Royal.