what's would be your ideal time to start from Springer?

[lloyd528]

[QUOTE=Lone Wolf;997952]

i'm with tin man. i've thru-hiked. it is overrated. fantasy is much better than reality

Lone Wolf, since you've already walked the walk, do you mind sharing why you believe it is overated. Could you also elaborate on why fantasy is better than reality...I am sincerely interested in the comments of other hikers who completed the trail in one season.

[Lone Wolf]

the novelty wears off fairly quick, like in 500 miles. the rest become a chore. a job. never for me though. it was a lifestyle. katahdin wasn't a goal. neither was doing white blazes. i was just backpackin'. walkin. til it was time to do something different

[Bulldawg]

Thru-Hiking.........I was out last week walking south bound in North Carolina. This young kid, you know the ones; experts after the first 100 miles. He stops and asks me if I was a thru hiker. I stopped and turned to him and answered, "Hell yeah, I'll be through as soon as I get to the next road. I'm going to town for a steak!" He didn't seem to like my comment.

[Tin Man]

folks seem to like lining up and do what hundreds before them have done... walk past a bunch of white blazes end to end, for what? a patch??

regardless of reason, most (not all) thru-hikers I have met (or heard from here) start with stars in their eyes and just end up sore, tired, and let down if and when they reach the end. i backpack for fun and leisure, after all it is a vacation, so why make it into a job? i get the lifestyle thing. i don't get hiking after it ain't fun any more.

so before folks tell everyone they know they are thru-hiking and end up getting stuck in the rut of having to complete the dang thing because they told everyone they would, think hard and just tell folks you're going for a walk... and be sure to visit some blue blazes here and there... that's where some of the real sights are hiding, and so often missed by those with blindfolds and hopes of some kind of glory at end of the long green tunnel. there ain't no glory, it's just a hike. and hey, if you are having fun the whole way, and you do it make it end to end, well that is cool too.

[lloyd528]

regardless of reason, most (not all) thru-hikers I have met (or heard from here) start with stars in their eyes and just end up sore, tired, and let down if and when they reach the end.

I guess the folks that write the books that line the shelves of Barnes and Noble about their experience hiking end to end have a more uplifting view of the trail. Maybe I should stay away from those books for a while.....all I remember is having an adrenalin rush everyday for the 3 1/2 months we hiked.

[Spokes]

March 11, 2009

[Tin Man]

regardless of reason, most (not all) thru-hikers I have met (or heard from here) start with stars in their eyes and just end up sore, tired, and let down if and when they reach the end.

I guess the folks that write the books that line the shelves of Barnes and Noble about their experience hiking end to end have a more uplifting view of the trail. Maybe I should stay away from those books for a while.....all I remember is having an adrenalin rush everyday for the 3 1/2 months we hiked.

Awesome...

[Tin Man]

Awesome...

and thanks for the selective quoting and leaving out the part where i say if you are having fun, that's cool

interesting that some can read whole shelves full of books, can't read read thru a short post

[Kel, the "Stickman"]

A lot of interesting, and valid, comments. The views of hiking, and how to hike, especially on the AT, are as varied as the number of hikers viewing it. It is akin to staring at Mt. Katahdin. Your perspective changes drastically, depending on your viewpoint. Yet, ALL the views have merit! As for me... my 2007 SOBO had an intended endpoint of Springer Mtn, GA. ...but when asked, "Are you a "thruhiker"?", I would reply, "Only if I make it to the end!". Having made it 800 miles, to Greymoor Friary in New York, I ended the year as an AT Hiker, not an AT Thruhiker. My hike was incredible, though, and I can't wait to get back to the trail. My next attempt will be NOBO, 2011. How far I'll hike? Don't know! I may become a thruhiker... or a section hiker... but, for sure, I will be a hiker.
Sorry for not answering the original question, directly. I THINK I would like to start out in late February/early March... but I'm still thinkin'!

God Bless all of your hikes!
Stickman

[Tin Man]

A lot of interesting, and valid, comments. The views of hiking, and how to hike, especially on the AT, are as varied as the number of hikers viewing it. It is akin to staring at Mt. Katahdin. Your perspective changes drastically, depending on your viewpoint. Yet, ALL the views have merit! As for me... my 2007 SOBO had an intended endpoint of Springer Mtn, GA. ...but when asked, "Are you a "thruhiker"?", I would reply, "Only if I make it to the end!". Having made it 800 miles, to Greymoor Friary in New York, I ended the year as an AT Hiker, not an AT Thruhiker. My hike was incredible, though, and I can't wait to get back to the trail. My next attempt will be NOBO, 2011. How far I'll hike? Don't know! I may become a thruhiker... or a section hiker... but, for sure, I will be a hiker.
Sorry for not answering the original question, directly. I THINK I would like to start out in late February/early March... but I'm still thinkin'!

God Bless all of your hikes!
Stickman

you get it

[lloyd528]

and thanks for the selective quoting and leaving out the part where i say if you are having fun, that's cool

interesting that some can read whole shelves full of books, can't read read thru a short post

I'll remember to keep the whole quote as is,,,my apologies

[Tin Man]

I'll remember to keep the whole quote as is,,,my apologies

no apologies needed... just trying to bring a little balance into the thru-hiking discussion... my intent is not to diminish anyone's accomplishment or spoil anyone's dream

[A-Train]

Sheesh. I haven't met any thru-hikers that were let down when they reached the end, and most of the people I've met and hiked with with in VT and NH were having a really good time.

But that's just been my experience.

Oh and for starting dates, any day is a good day to start on AT hike. March 1st was good for me, but I'd probably start between April 15th-May if doing it again

[Tin Man]

by let down i meant you can read in many forums, journals or books how folks who finished thought there would be more to it, they would change or be different some how or whatever, etc... and they would be 'let down' when they discovered it's just a hike.

[Chance09]

we had some pretty serious snows in the smokeys in march last year too. Waist deep drifts and 20 degree weather that was just downright cold. I remember walking 7 miles in 7 hours postholing the whole way and when we got to the next shelter there were not any tracks in the snow so we figured there was no one there. Turned out the 15 or so people just stayed in their sleeping bags all day. Some guy even died during it the week i was in the smokeys.

I started March 17th in 09 and I think if i hiked again i'd start later. I'd like a little warmer weather. I really enjoy carrying less, and not having weather and temps be such a concern. I'd probabbly wait until april first. I spent a lot of time in hotels and hostels the first few months because the weather was so crappy and cold it was great just being dry for a few hours. I never really enjoyed the stays (in motels or hostels) but being dry after an 18 day stretch of rain was great. Especially the early cold rains.

Don't let anything dictate the pace of your hike though. There were days i'd stop and read for an hour by a steam or pond because i thought it was a great place to sit. I'd get up and walk 15 min and end up stopping again because i found another cool place. Unfortunately I only started hiking like that during the last half of my thru but i wish I had done it from the start.

[Kel, the "Stickman"]

Hmmm... Ideal time to start from Springer... Well, if you are headed SOBO, out of Katahdin, then whenever you reach Springer would be a great time to start!

I'm only kinda joking, as there are hikers that will "tag a terminus" and keep hiking.

(It's late, sorry...)

When you get to Maine, look me up, I will do my best to help...

Stickman

[turtle fast]

The beginning of April is good...just don't start the 1st as a lot of folks were starting then. The weather was good in Georgia and when you get to the Smokies was not too terribly cold at night.

[Marta]

*Reasons for thru-hiking are many and varied, and some people may be okay with having quit. The original poster, however, has been wanting to finish the job for many, many years now and would probably be quite unhappy to get off the Trail having hiking anything less than all of it.

*If I were you and your wife, I'd start in Georgia around the beginning of April, hike north as slowly as you please, hopefully making Harper's Ferry by sometime in July. Then I'd flip up to Katahdin and hike back towards Harper's Ferry, arriving whenever. That schedule gives you 6-8 months of mostly-good weather hiking, with no race to reach Katahdin before the weather shuts you out.

[lloyd528]

*Reasons for thru-hiking are many and varied, and some people may be okay with having quit. The original poster, however, has been wanting to finish the job for many, many years now and would probably be quite unhappy to get off the Trail having hiking anything less than all of it.

*If I were you and your wife, I'd start in Georgia around the beginning of April, hike north as slowly as you please, hopefully making Harper's Ferry by sometime in July. Then I'd flip up to Katahdin and hike back towards Harper's Ferry, arriving whenever. That schedule gives you 6-8 months of mostly-good weather hiking, with no race to reach Katahdin before the weather shuts you out.

Marta, thanks for your insight. I appreciate the thought about changing direction and ending at Harper's Ferry. Do you know of hikers who have done that personally and were fulfilled? Somehow, after all that hiking, I pictured myself on top of a mountain after an uphill climb (like Katahdin). Ending it all in a town might seem anticlimatic after waiting 33 years to do it again. On the other hand, there may be something about ending it in Harper's Ferry that I am not seeing. Help me out if you can.

[10-K]

by let down i meant you can read in many forums, journals or books how folks who finished thought there would be more to it, they would change or be different some how or whatever, etc... and they would be 'let down' when they discovered it's just a hike.

This is how life in general is, metaphorically speaking.

Once you see this you can accept things as they are.