Best Sobo Start Date

imported
#1

Last year I have thruhiked the PCT and got addicted to long distance hiking. My goal is to do the whole triple crown and I am still missing the AT and the CDT. Because I am a little bit afraid of the “big” crowds on the AT, I am considering a sobo thruhike. Question is: When is the best start date for a sobo thruhike? I know that there is no chance to start before mid-May and that there are the blackflies. But I also don’t want to reach Springer in deep snow with only 8 hours of daylight. I thruhiked the PCT in 5 months and plan to spend the same amount on the AT.
What would be the perfect start date?
Thank you for your help!
German Tourist

German Tourist

#2

Even if you start at the traditional late May/early June start you will not see many going SOBO until the Whites in NH. Once there you will hit the weekend backpackers no matter when you come through and start of NOBOS. Your going to hit the black flies into July. An alternative is to do a flip. Either start in Pennsylvania early may going NOBO then flip SOBO after reaching Katahdin or start in April at the northern end of SNP in northern Virginia going SOBO and flip NOBO after Springer.

Big B

#3

I also am not sure how you are going to avoid the early darkness. Pretty much your last month will have days that get dark between 5:30 and 6:00pm. If you did start in early June you could probably finish before the time change and early sunsets.

Also (and this is just what I’ve experienced) there will be less snow from SMNP on to Springer during November, compared to December or January.

jaws

#4

I definitely don’t want to do a flip-flop! I was more thinking of a start in early July: Would that help me to avoid the blackflies? I would arrive at Springer at the end of November - still enough daylight, no snow and a lot of fall colours?!
What would be the latest sensible start date? I read at trailjournals that hikers have finished end of December at Springer…

German Tourist

#5

I started July 15th, the bugs/flies were not that evident.

I’ve heard that the latest you should start is around Labor Day. The important thing to consider is that you get through the Whites before weather conditions get bad. A guideline is to allow yourself one month from start until through the Whites.

Thru-hikers have finished south bound well into January and February. You could still have snow in November down south.

jaws

#6

Likely you’re determined to go southbound, however…
One way to avoid big crowds going north is to not camp at shelters. You’ll have lots of elbow room, as most folks cling to the shelters the first month or so. Many, many drop off by Damascus.

Jan

#7

we finished our NOBO hike July 3, so we were hiking what most would call “prime” black fly season. in 2004 in our case at least, we never really were bothered by many black flies. certainly nothing like people talk about. after hiking in alaska and the deep south, maine has nothing to compare as far as insects go. we found that massachusetts was by far the worse place for insects along the AT.

the solemates

#8

I went SOBO in '03 and started July 12. No black flies at all, just some mosquitoes for a week or so. I never camped alone until southern VT, but all in all it was much quiter than a NOBO hike. I had a slow start (Maine was tough!), but finished Dec. 19 with a few weeks of significant snow at the end. My last month I was usually alone. You could probably finish quicker, but even people who go into Jan. enjoy the hike.

John Galt

#9

I’m w/ Jan. Aside from a few popular spots along the trail, you can avoid a lot of the crowds by camping away from the shelters and avoiding an April 1st start. Given your desire for a slower pace, I would recommend starting in early March. That way you can avoid the huge crowds and by the time the huge wave of April fools does catch up to you, it will be severely depleted. In the end, I found I liked to have a few familiar faces to bump into now and then.:boy

jalan

#10

i proposed to my girlfriend on katahdin on june 30th. there were still black flys out, but not near as bad as the soboers that started late may and early june. we started the hunt trail in mist and clouds and i only put deet on my legs b/c i had on my winddhirt. but later when i took it off, my arms got eaten up.

and, when we drove into the park we had to roll the window down to pay the entry fee, the flys swarmed into the car. i spent the drive to katahdin stream campground smashing them against the window. man were they bloody, must have had lots of soboers to feed on. i also heard they were really bad this year.

little bump and flounder went sobo in 2004 and started the last week of june and had no problems with the flys. but Gills and Samoa in 2005 got eaten up.

jerm

#11

My wife and I started July 2 and that was perfect. We finished December 13th. We are not the fastest hikers. We really enjoyed it. We missed most of the black flys (compared to what others before us stated). Good Luck.

Michael Sanwald (FatCat)

#12

Wish I could have finished by December 13th. I had promised my girlfriend I’d be back by Christmas. Missed that date by about 2 weeks. She was furious. I had considered quitting early - for all of about 5 minutes. Glad I didn’t.

jaws

#13

Check out sobohobos.com.

For a different take on sobo starts,
Squeaky started Oct. 14th 2005 and reportedly had to body surf (no snow shoes for a while) through the chest high snow in the notches ( a.k.a. cols/passes/gaps) through the record snows in western Maine and New Hampshire. So, an October 14th start may be little late for mere mortals.

sobohobos.com

#14

Blackflies or snow? Your answer will determine your starting date. I started SOBO on 6/28 and had only one day of blackflies in ME. Reading the registers, it looked like the flies were pretty fierce in May.

On the other hand, you’ll probably see snow in the Smokies and GA by December.


Good luck.

Goggles