Why not SoBo?

[Lizzie123]

I'm toying with the idea of doing a SoBo thru-hike starting towards the beginning of June. Why do more people do a NoBo? It seems that you would have more consistent weather traveling from North to South as you would have slightly cooler weather through the hottest months in the North, and cooler weather when you get further South around October. Any input?

Thanks!

[fiddlehead]

More people go NOBO because they are out of shape, are anxious to get started and are sheep.
SOBO is better because there are way less people, and those are spread out a lot more.
SOBO is good if you are in shape as you have the hardest part first, like to be alone more, and think outside the box.
Have fun.

[Pommes]

Tradition. Maybe the finish is more dramatic. However, the studs go SOBO.

[DapperD]

I'm toying with the idea of doing a SoBo thru-hike starting towards the beginning of June. Why do more people do a NoBo? It seems that you would have more consistent weather traveling from North to South as you would have slightly cooler weather through the hottest months in the North, and cooler weather when you get further South around October. Any input?

Thanks!

I believe I read somewhere where only like 10% of the thru-hikers go Southbound. The start of a Southbound hike is where I think a lot of people would have difficulty as compared to beginning a Northbound thru-hike. Starting out right away by having to climb Mt. Katahdin the very first day would probably be an instant dealbreaker for those who are arriving directly from the sofa (not everybody plans their thru-hike by getting in to proper condition beforehand). Add to that the very rugged, more remote conditions found in Maine, and then less thru-hikers around for support, rapport, etc...and also ending your journey on Springer Mountain instead of climbing Mt. Katahdin as your grand finish, all adds up to a different hike, which, for many probably is not as desirable as starting early in the season with the masses and heading Northbound.

[Torch09]

I went sobo in '09. I loved it, but I felt like I missed out on part of the trail experience. Going nobo this year to meet more people and hit trail days

[endubyu]

Timing also has something to do with it. Folks want to get hiking early and can't go SoBo til June or later.

[wcgornto]

You are right about the weather. You can have lots of rain anywhere on the trail depending on the yea, season, etc. NOBOs can have blizzards in March causing great trouble in the Smokies. Then, they can have oppressive heat in PA, NJ, NY.

My experience going SOBO in 2009 was lots of rain in ME and NH, no oppressive heat anywhere (a few days of high 80s in VT and MA), and nut a lot of cold. I did have one very cold spot in Virginia in mid October and a few cold nights firther south in November.

NOBOs generally start with winder gear in GA, swap out to summer gear in VA and back to Winter gear further north. I knew a few SOBOs who started and finished with a 20 degree sleeping bag, never swapping out for warmer or colder weather.

[Ender]

For me, the decision for doing a nobo was simply that I wanted to end up in the north, and not the south. This was for two reasons... first, getting home from the north after the hike would be a lot easier. But second, and most importantly, I love hiking in the northern woods, and I wanted to finish my hike there and not down south.

Logistically, a sobo makes a lot of sense, but for me the nobo was the right choice.

Either way, there is no wrong way to hike the AT, so you'll have fun no matter what direction you hike.

[Rick500]

I haven't done either yet, but I'm planning on NoBo because I think it would be way more anticlimactic to end a 2000+ mile hike at Springer as opposed to Katahdin. (Not that there's anything wrong with GA; don't get me wrong.)

[TheChop]

I'm from Georgia. Who the hell wants to get to the end of their journey and be all "Well this **** again."

[Graywolf]

Not doing a SOBO but if time permits after my 2012 NOBO I just may do a YO-YO..

[WisconsinHiker2011]

Being a long time study of Myron Avery I know exactly why the majority of people go South to North.


Mt. Katahdin.

[rickb]

If you go SOBO and are like most hikers and quit early, you will have had the opportunity to get in some great hiking.

If you go NOBO and quite early, well...

[rickb]

In a more reflective moment I once posted this regarding going SOBO, and ending a hike on a less visually specatacular mountian:

_________________________

The main reason for this post is suggest that the draw of Springer can be every bit as powerful as Katahdin. As a southbounder you get to feel a series of accomplishments right off the bat that can help give you the confidence to make it all the way. First you get to climb the badest mountain on the whole AT and report on your triumph to the hardened northbounders you meet up with. Then, you get to do the 100 mile wilderness. After that you will know that the Trail is something that you REALLY can do. (SOBOs might consider blowing off the Whitehouse Landing).

Wow. You get to follow this up with moose and spruce grouse and the Bigalows. When you get to Gorham, you will KNOW what you are capable of and that the AT is amazing in so many dimensions. But you also have the Whites to look forward to in a matter of days. Its really cool not only to hike them, but put them behind you knowing you have met yet another challenge.

But it gets better. Walking through pastures and up fire towers and wonderful places that just keep on coming. By this time you have probably been asked about bears 20 times and have been forced to say, no I haven't seen one. You can't wait, but are confident that your day will come in NJ or VA. You wonder if you really want to see a rattlesnake, and if the Smokies are everything that the NOBOs said they were (they are). As you move on, you walk along ridges that commond a view not of an endless sea of trees but of farms that are every bit as beautiful. Perhaps more so. The better-known hostels and AYCE places become something to look forward to in a way that is hard to understand, and are a motivation in themselves.

Along the way you wonder about how beautiful the trees must have been in the spring, expecially the rhodadendron, but console yourself with the knowledge that only a SOBO can stop and check out Hawk Mountain during fall raptor migration, and are pleased that you started a conversation with the quiet birders because they were able to point out a couple bald eagles among scores and scores of hawks. You get to enjoy a mid-week Fall quiet along the trail that is magic, and realize how crowded the Whites and Maine really were.

And Springer calls as to you as loudly as Katahdin ever could. When you reach your first 4000 footer down south (is it the Priest?) you laugh at how easy hiking it was. In fact, you can't help but wonder if the Northbounders hiked a different trail than you find yourself walking every day. Tough mountains down south? Yea, right ;-). The only thing that takes you by surprise is the fact that days are becoming so dang short, at a time your body has never been stronger.

When you get to Springer you may be alone and the sky may be gray. Its hardly a spectacular place, but you walk over to the plaque and know how special it was getting there. No champagne and hoots, but a quiet satisfaction that will stay with you for a long time.

A fine place to end a hike.

Rickb
ME=>GA 19AT3

[fehchet]

Tradition. Maybe the finish is more dramatic. However, the studs go SOBO.

Lone Wolf is a stud! Well, we all know that.

[4shot]

Timing also has something to do with it. Folks want to get hiking early and can't go SoBo til June or later.

was tired of setting around waiting plus did not want to be hiking or risk being hiking during Thanksgiving/Christmas for family reasons. Some of the SOBO's I met were at the Inn at the Long Trail already trying to do the math to ensure that they would be home at Thanksgiving. Didn't want to fight that but again, that is just my opinion. The trail is good from either direction!!

[topshelf]

I'm going to go SOBO. My job finishes up every June, and resumes in August. In a few years I will leave in June and not return in August. Instead I will head north to ME. I will try and time it up so I can get to home at Thanksgiving and then get to GA by Christmas when I do it.

[Delta-Dawn]

Rickb--that was a great post!

We are doing SOBO because 1. We aren't in a hurry; 2. We want to see summer somewhere we've never experienced it; 3. We want to migrate south, like the birds; 4. Springer is home...we want to walk towards home, not away from it; 5. I am the kind of person who tackles the hardest things first; and 6. (once again) we are in no hurry.

[skeeter]

The sun is in your eyes

[takethisbread]

Katahdin is the reason. Springer sucks monster ass as a finishing mountain. I think the trail would be better to add a few miles in the Smokey's (Leconte would be nice) and finish on Blood Mountain. A nobo hike is an easier hike. I think.