How accurate is it to estimate the end date of a thru-hike? I ask because I’ll have to purchase a multi-destination plane ticket from London to Atlanta then Bangor to London, but need to know when I’m likely to finish. American Airlines (who seem to be cheapest) don’t offer very flexible tickets and I don’t really want to shell out hundreds more for a restrictionless ticket.
Tom
Tom, I’m also flying in from London to ATL. I booked with BA and got a return price of £399. The outward flight is set in stone but the return (from Boston) is flexible. To change the flight back to a later or earlier date will cost 50 quid. I’ve banked on exactly 6 months but expect that will change. BA were the cheapest I found from ringing around. Internet searching won’t get you the deal you’re after (it took me 3 weeks to find this out). Best to ring them direct and book a midweek flight. Good luck and I hope to see you out there.
Ross from London:cheers
Ross
The six month plan is a good idea, if you can get a visa for that long. (Karl Busby (www.earthtrek.net) had a problem with that and could only get a 3 month visa, then he had to leave the country and reapply for another 3 month visa - which messed up his walk around the world by delaying him for about 6 months.) Finishing an AT hike in six months is very feasible. If you want to stretch things out, taking your time, you can, and if you finish early, you can always go traveling to other places as long as you’re here. If you are a strong hiker, you could pick a lesser amount of time, but then you might find that you are pushing yourself harder than you like. If you’re an experienced hiker, you’ll have some idea of your capabilities. Can you do 12 miles a day? Then finishing in 5 1/2 months is no problem. If you have no experience, then plan on six months. If you have money enough to play tourist for a while, pick a later date. When we did the PCT, we wanted to attend the ALDHA-West Gathering in early October. We found that we were hiking faster than expected, so made a point of stopping to swim at lakes in the afternoon, spending an extra day in town, etc. Still we finished a week early. So we rented a car and visited Olympic National Park and Mt. Rainier. We were really glad we did. If money is tight, you can always go visit some of your trail buddies - chances are, they’ll be glad to have you stay a day or three.
Spirit Walker
How hard is it to plan your end date? I’d say very hard. But, if you need to pick a date for your return flight, I’d suggest being conservative, and then plan on using the extra time to enjoy some sites off the trail. Going northbound? Then go to Acadia National Park afterwards for example.
Peaks
Ah, just done a bit of ringing and relised flights are cheaper and much more flexible if your fly return from Boston rather than Bangor.
Thanks.
Tom
You’ve got it spot on, and Peaks. 6 months is a rough guess. I hope to take as long as possible and make the most out of it. If I finish with time to spare…I’ll either turn around and walk south or check out some other shorter trails.
Ross
P.S You’re right about Rainer and Olympic National park. I checked out both after hiking the JMT. Ahhh…the JMT. Just the letters J, M and T make me shiver.:cheers
Ross