Weather april 1 from Harpers Ferry nobo??

[LIVEtough]

what is it like to hike from Harpers ferry north in early april weather? need to hike to NH

[Lauriep]

You'd be hiking on the edge of winter and spring. In Harpers Ferry in early April, it's spring in the valleys, but the ridge tops are mostly bare, and some years you might have a flurry or two. Spring will very slowly catch up with you as you head north, unless you're doing really big miles. When you start, temps some years can still drop below freezing, but not much, and not for long, and cold temps will alternate with warmer, very bright sunny days--remember there will be no leaf cover.

Mud season hits the Green Mountain of Vermont in April and May http://www.greenmountainclub.org/page.php?id=60.

It would be a lonely hike--there are almost no long-distance hikers out at that time, and not many people period on some parts of the trail during the week. Some hostels and services, especially in state parks, will be closed. Great views, though, with the lack of leaf cover, and eventually you'll see lots of wildflowers.

Once you reach the White Mountains of New Hampshire, it'll be as if you jumped hundreds of miles north. You could encounter snow well into May, some years June.

Others will jump in with more specifics.

[attroll]

Moved this thread/topic to the "General" forum.

[Slo-go'en]

Still too early to tell what kind of spring we'll have, but as Laurie says, April is still pretty marginal with April and Early May typically the monson season on that part of the trail.

I would wait until at least the end of April to start and miss the bulk of the nasty cold, rainy, raw, muddy missurable good for nothing spring weather.