Completing AT as a section hiker

[Slosteppin]

The North Country Trail is more than twice the challenge as the AT. You could easily count on your fingers the number of people who have completed the NCT in one year. Not many have completed section hikes over many years.

[wi11ow]

Long distance biking and kayaking trips, completing the 46 Adirondack High Peaks, and the PCT are a few things I hope to be doing during and after I've seen all the white blazes.
Helping with the upkeep of any trail/outdoor space as well as revisiting favorite spots are always great things to keep in mind no matter what "long term" adventure you're on.
Have fun!

[Berserker]

I've already started planning other stuff I want to do when I finish the AT...Foothills Trail, BMT, repeat some neat AT sections, Utah, the Sierras, etc. I actually took one year off of my normal long AT trip and did the JMT in 2013, and that was awesome. At any rate, I'm not done yet so I can't comment on what it's going to feel like when I finish.

[fudgefoot]

I finished the AT in July after almost 2 decades of section hiking and, like Gambit anticipated, am feeling a bit of a void now that I don't have another section to look forward to. I spent a month or two after I finished completing my journal and putting together a slide show of all my sections complete with music, etc. When I get wistful, I watch the slide show and am transported back to the trail. It's a nice surrogate.

I joined a local hiking club which maintains a small section of the AT near the Water Gap. I hope to help with that and maybe sign up for some trail crew volunteer work next year. For 2016 I'm planning a relatively easy hike of the Laurel Highlands Trail. After that, maybe the Long Trail, the New England Trail, Colorado Trail and PCT (after I retire). Hopefully my legs will hold out to allow me to keep hiking. I'm sure I'll return to the AT again in the future.

Good luck to all the other section hikers out there!

[FarmerChef]

Gambit - I completed the AT this summer along with my wife and two of my children, this over 5 years. I'll admit that it was a bit emotional for me to reach the sign and I was thrilled for my kids not just for completing the trail but for all the wonderful experiences they had in the process. That said, there is a void that's left and I try to fill it with getting back out there and rehiking sections with my youngest. There were so many blue blazes, hotels, hostels, towns, side trails, waterfalls, and more that we didn't visit because it was the wrong time of day, we had to make miles, whatever. Even doing the same section over again is like hiking it new - we are different hikers now than we were when we started the first sections. We'd do things much differently now if we started over again and...that's exactly what we're doing. But, we'll also starting working on the other long trails and hit some other spots like the Grand Canyon, Camino de Santiago, Bob Marshall, etc. And, like you, we're giving back as much as we can as we have more free weekends since we're not trying to hit 500 miles a year.

Either way, enjoy the rest of your hike and savor the new and different experiences. When it's over, I'm sure you'll find something else trail-related to fill the void

[redseal]

My wife and I completed the AT this past September after about 5 years. The ending was kind of anti-climatic atop Katahdin. The tough part now is figuring out what to do with vacation time!

[Patrickjd9]

I'm just a few miles shy of halfway on my section hike, but haven't able to add any miles since late August because life (mostly work) got in the way.

Pretty frustrating right now.

As for completion, it is looking like a random road crossing somewhere between Pennsylvania and Connecticut between 2018 and 2020. If I had my way, it would be a long southbound section from Maine in 2018.

[mountainman]

I finished the AT this Sept after 8 yrs. I miss not having my next section to look forward to. I learned that doing the trail was better than finishing the trail.
My advise is to start looking for another long trail to do, and you will get the joy back.
I have started on the Pinhoti Trail which is and extention of the AT

[rtfi]

Consider volunteering your planning and hiking skills to a Boy Scout or Girl Scout Troop to pass along your love of the trail to the next generation. I was delighted to read in the thank you note from the Girl Scout Troop I led last spring on an overnight trip in the Roan Highlands the message from one Scout who said she wants to be a thu hiker one day. All the Scouts enjoyed meeting a female thu hiker, and at least one was inspired to dream of following in her foot steps. I should finish my 20 year section hike next July, but plan to continue to volunteer with the Girl Scouts in the spring and the Boy Scouts in the fall.

[Gambit McCrae]

Consider volunteering your planning and hiking skills to a Boy Scout or Girl Scout Troop to pass along your love of the trail to the next generation. I was delighted to read in the thank you note from the Girl Scout Troop I led last spring on an overnight trip in the Roan Highlands the message from one Scout who said she wants to be a thu hiker one day. All the Scouts enjoyed meeting a female thu hiker, and at least one was inspired to dream of following in her foot steps. I should finish my 20 year section hike next July, but plan to continue to volunteer with the Girl Scouts in the spring and the Boy Scouts in the fall.

Im an eagle scout, OA, 3 palms; Eh...Ran the GAMBIT on scouts, I was a unit commissioner for 1.5 years in around 2012-2013, gave it up due to politics and stubborn scoutmasters that are 100 years old.. I will probably just broaden my horizon on trails I hike. The Sheltowee Trace is the closest long trailt o me only being about 1.5 hours away, Ive done about 70 miles of it but have been side tracked.

[Grampie]

During my thru-hike in 2001 I discovered a true love for the AT. I decided in order to stay close, to what I was so fond of, I would become a volunteer caretaker at the AT cabin on Upper Goose Pond in Mass. Since my thru I have been doing this for the past 14 years. Now that I am growing older, and doing this becomes more and more of a task, I dread the day when I will have to give it up.

[Gambit McCrae]

During my thru-hike in 2001 I discovered a true love for the AT. I decided in order to stay close, to what I was so fond of, I would become a volunteer caretaker at the AT cabin on Upper Goose Pond in Mass. Since my thru I have been doing this for the past 14 years. Now that I am growing older, and doing this becomes more and more of a task, I dread the day when I will have to give it up.

Grampie I was supposed to hang with ya this September but stopped a few miles south at good road with a virus. Didn't want to get others sick so I dumped