Appalachian Travel Time

imported
#1

If I’m leaving from Georgia in mid may, going at the least 25mi per day, how long would it take to reach maine? just looking for a good idea

Birds

#2

You’re going to miss a lot of the trail! Are you up against a calendar? Slow down and enjoy the views, shelters, towns and spending time with other hikers. I would guess it takes most thru hikers 6 months. About, 30 or 40 hikers we hiked with in GA/TN/NC we hiked with in ME. It took us 6 months and we had a blast. Can’t wait to do it again. GA>ME '02

Papa Smurf

#3

im on a three month calendar…but cant do much about that…:oh

Birds

#4

Knowing what I do after completing a thru-hike, if I had to do it over again with only 3 months, I would make it a section hike. I completed my thru-hike in 6 months, and I still often regretted not having time to enjoy where I was instead of having to make miles.

Everybody is different. Some people enjoy the challenge of power-hiking, and the accomplishment of averaging something like 25 miles a day. Others enjoy the cameraderie and freedom of a “slower” hike (it’s the journey, not the destination). If you are the latter, I would seriously consider making it a section hike instead of a thru.

Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy it. Good luck.

FrogLog

#5

If you started on May 15th, hiked 25 miles per day and took only five zero days, you’d finish exactly on August 15th. That is an extremely fast hike. You might find Andrew Skurka’s reflections useful, as he hiked at a similar pace in 2002:

http://www.andrewskurka.com/AT02/index.asp

I found the Springer-to-Damascus and Hanover-to-Katahdin sections of the trail to be the most worthwhile on my thru-hike, so you may consider skipping some of miles in the middle. I think that would be a more realistic approach.

Pacer

#6

You may also want to look at Puppy Power’s trail journal from 05 (along with his friend’s), who easily kept that average. Their bags were fairly light, 10 pounds base, and they pretty much ran every section they could. Good guys, too, though I obviously only met them once.

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