and take time to enjoy the trail, take a side trip here and there, stop when I want to toke a joint and zone out on the trippy views and shiny stars, how long do you think a thru-hike might last at the most? I keep hearing 6 months for slo hikerz.
Hippie hiker
Going slow is a talent which I have perfected. I enjoy it and for me at least tend to have more fun. There is nothing like stopping to toke on a fatty.
:pimp
GoSlo
It is merely a matter of math. Say 3 miles a day divided into 2168 miles equals 723 days. In short almost exactly 2 years to hike the trail at 3 miles a day. I believe most people start off way too fast to push to meet their mail drop points at certain times and to push to finish their thru hike by a certain time of the year. Go slow, enjoy, and hike your own hike. If you don’t, the AT will get you either physically or mentally or both. Enjoy the experience.
Maintain
To finish the AT in one year, you have to do some miles. To get 10 miles in some sections you have to walk from day light to dark. In others you can do 20+ and be in camp by 2 or 3. The trial will tell you when you can take time and when you can’t. If you shoot for 14 to 15 mile a day average (minus sick days, town duty days and just some zeros) it will take you 6 to 7 months to finish. We averaged about 15 miles a day when we hiked, but with zeros we averaged 12.7 miles.
Papa Smurf
I’m all for a pace that’s slow enough for you to enjoy the wonders of the trail. But for me, taking 10 or 12 months (or longer) would mean a decrease in enjoyment.
Part of the thru-hiking experience is HIKING. Putting one foot in front of the other and moving through the woods. Sure, some days it’s great to sit on the ridge for hours on end, but if you want to do that every day, why bother calling it a thru-hike? Why not just hit the beautiful views in all of America’s state & national parks & forests, without trying to do GA>ME?
And what about the natural urge to compete? Okay, the trail isn’t about speed or beating others. But don’t you ever feel the need to push yourself? Just like it’s nice to take the occasional zero day, it’s also exhilarating to try a 25- or 35-mile day. I’d never want to do the AT in sub-4 months, but I’m a fan of the Maryland Challenge. You’re competing against the clock, trying to push yourself to a new achievement.
And finally, almost every hiker has the big concern: moola. For me, a six-month thru-hike required me to save for over two years. Stretching the hike to a year or more would mean I’d have to plan ahead by five-plus years.
Just my two cents. HYOH.
Bachelor
I might break my hike into two parts, Kathadin to Harper’s Ferry one year and Harper’s Ferry to Springer the next. Or just keep walking through the trippy snow grooving down out of the sky in the southern mountains. The sky is the superconscious, and the snowflakes are the purified souls of the dead.
As to the urge to compete and push myself, I compete and push every day in the city. It’s no way for a longhair to live. I gotta hit the trail to “get back to my inner hippie” and away from that insanity.
:boy :pimp
Hippie Hiker
It took me from Mar 20- Nov 5 to do the whole thing. Even managed to canoe 70 miles of the Shenandoahs, go to D.C. twice, NYC twice, and two theme parks in PA, THEN hike from Harpers Ferry to Waynesboro. Sure it got friggin cold, but what the hell… it’s all good
Macgyver
2167 divided by 10 is 216.7 daze…less than 7 months…if this was a race there would be numbers on everyones’ back…there are alot of roses to smell between springer and ‘k’…lots of ‘phat’ safety issues to discuss and contemplate…take care brothers and sisters and enjoy the freedom…you will blink your eyes and it will be back to babylon…:cheers:smokin :cheers
fausa