Thru Hike in less than 90 days

[k2basecamp]

Okay i dont know where you teach but i teach to june 18 and have to be back to start on august 28.

All the teachers i know get about the same.

Anyways 2 summers would be the prudent thing to do. If you haven,t been doing a lot of backpacking or say running marathons you're asking for a stress fracture.

Good luck.

[hikerboy57]

will you enjoy yourself hiking 25 miles a day for 3 months?

[Papa D]

It's certainly possible - - I regularly hike 24 mile days and have done a couple of 200 mile weeks but this is truly unusually fast and I doubt that I could do 12 - 182 mile weeks in a row and you would be trekking at this pace. You will also miss a lot of the "culture" of the AT which is integral to the trail experience. Now, if you asked about a 4 MONTH thru-hike, I would suggest that that is STILL fast but much more of a reasonable idea - - that would be mostly 20-22 mile days but would still allowfor a few nero-days, a couple of restful town stops, etc. Truthfully, the answer is up to you: You'd need to start in excellent aerobic shape and have no problems including feet, water, etc., your re-supplies and gear change-outs would have to go smoothly and quickly - - obviously, you couldn't have any newbie nonsense going on (heavy stupid gear) - - the light side for sure. Check out Garlic's post - he did it in 106 days and has his routine down pat. My suggestion would be to Southbound - all of the speed records have been set in that direction and while it is regarded by most as a "harder way to go," for a fast person, the overall up/down grades probably net out a little easier - - see how far you get - - if you don't make it in 90 days, you might just have to come back for a couple of weeks and touch-up.

[max patch]

I think anyone who wants to say that a 90 day thru is easy needs to keep their mouth shut unless they have actually done it.

[map man]

Well, nbeaty64, if your progress is proportional to the way other hikers have done it before you would hit certain landmarks along the way like this if you took three months to NOBO thru-hike:

Georgia border: day 5
Fontana: day 9
Damascus: day 22
Waynesboro: day 38
Harpers Ferry: day 44
Delaware Water Gap: day 54
Kent: day 61
Glencliff: day 74
Gorham: day 79
Stratton: day 84
Katahdin: day 92

You might check yourself against this rate of progress if you're trying to figure out enroute if you're on pace to complete in the time you are hoping for. If not, I would say hiking for three months and just getting as far as you happen to get has plenty of appeal.

[stranger]

I think anyone who wants to say that a 90 day thru is easy needs to keep their mouth shut unless they have actually done it.

I don't believe a single person on this thread said a 90 day hike would be easy

[Bearpaw]

Unless you naturally enjoy endurance athletics, you probably wouldn't like the pace of a 92-day thru-hike. Hike to northern Virginia or maybe Pennsylvania. Hike on next summer.

BTW, I teach in the south where summer heat changes time off. Our summer runs from May 23 to August 1 this year. It seems 10 weeks is pretty standard.

[JAK]

I've only hiked overweight and obese, over the past 10 years. Curious what it might be like to hike as a lightweight.

Say over a 100 mile trail, with 5 miles of cummulative elevation loss and gain...

If at 230 pounds with 40 pounds of stuff I can do 14 miles per day,
and at 180 pounds with 30 pounds of stuff I can do 18 miles per day...

What might I expect to cover at 165# with 15# of stuff ? 21 miles per day ???

Theory being that effort is a product of total weight x distance per day? Incidentally, I found hiking lighter alot more pleasant, at the same total effort. Less pain. I think when alot of people say that the lightweights doing 25 miles per day aren't having fun they are at least partly mistaken, because they are probably basing it on what it might be like to hike 25 miles when overweight, rather that 25 miles per day at an ideal weight.