Thru hikers planner

imported
#1

i just finished planning my miles each day for my 2005 thru hike based on the thru hikers planner. i don’t know if anyone is familiar with it, but does anyone out there know the answer to my question? okay, i will try to explain this, if you have the book it shows miles from the last shelter for shelters and towns in between. where i think i messed up is i counted the miles to the town AND the miles to the shelter from there, but i think i added extra miles by doing this, i think i maybe should have counted the miles from the last shelter only…i don’t know if this is confusing or if anyone out there can help me. please only reply if you can explain this to me.

amy treneff

#2

I don’t know what a planner is but all you need is the AT Data Book sold through the ATC.It has all the mileages between shelters, roads, towns, etc. and what you plan and what you’ll actually do when you hit the trail ain’t gonna be the same. Guaranteed.

Lone Wolf

#3

I don’t know that I will answer your question since I am unfamiliar with the thru-hiker planner you mention but I used a spreadsheet for my hike in 2002. I used Wingfoot’s book and the Data Book to get distances from shelter to shelter and also distances to towns and such at road crossings. I used maildrops and planned to go into towns for the drops so I chose towns in what I considered hiking distance from the trail. I planned my hiking distance for the day relative to the town stop. Including the town walk I tried to kept the daily miles down to twelve or so in the beginning and increased mileage as I got further up the trail but I never planned anything over twenty miles. Of course the spreadsheet did not define my hike as it was just to plan the maildrops. But on the spreadsheet I averaged around eleven miles a day and in actuality on the trail I averaged around twelve miles a day. I carried a tent so I also tentatively picked campsites and put them on the spreadsheet too. It was all to make me feel I could logistically accomplish the hike. I’m also sort of a planning freak about stuff. I worked out a maildrop routine with my brother who mailed them and I emailed or called him if I needed to adjust a couple of weeks. I only adjusted once and it was because of dislocated shoulder which put me off trail for two weeks. But as far as the hike I was in no hurry. I spent the night in a little over half of the locations I planned.

Before someone starts in with “Don’t plan the details of your hike”, some of us need to do it. It didn’t control my hike but it gave a structure to it that I needed. I planned to make it to the end and I did. For me if I had not planned it, I think quitting would have been easier for me. I accomplish things as planned goals and it is just how my mind works. Each maildrop was a little goal and so the trail was a bunch of little goals. Yes you can thru-hike without a lot of planning and over planning can overwhelm you but for some it helps.

Two Scoops

#4

this is a little off topic, but you folks sound like you might be able to answer my question(s):

how soon is too soon to start planning logistics for a 06 hike? how late is too late?

amy, when did you start planning your logistics?

I don’t want to fall into a trap of “overplanning,” but I don’t want to run out of time either…

msg

#5

I started from scratch in June of the previous year. At that time I had little of the gear I planned on taking. I was also planning the quitting of my job and putting everything I owned into storage.

Two Scoops

#6

when did you leave your job?

msg

#7

i have had to start planning a little earlier since i am doing it as a fund raiser. i would say i have been really planning out my miles/maildrops since December, but started researching/planning/testing my gear/reading books/for about 2 years now. i just like to know as much as i can, i took a couple months off whenever i lost steam, it is just whatever you are comfortable with. i started training with my pack about 5 months ago. i know that i could NEVER predict what can happen on the trail, but if i have the time now to train and plan…why not? i am looking forward to all the suprises, i am sure that is what makes each hike different.
-amy

amy

#8

HI, I thru-hiked in 2002 and based all of my mail drops on the info in the planner. It backfired. The mileage is confusing in there, if I were you or I could go back in time, I’d just use the data book, possibly less user friendly in appearance, but it won’t steer you wrong. Good luck.

Pippi

#9

Another option for planning your thru-hike is to attend the Appalachian Trail Institute. There are two sessions in 2005 - Feb. 11-14 and Dec. 16-19. They are four-days long (Friday-Monday) and held on the campus of Lees-McRae College outside Boone, NC and near the trail over the Roan Highlands. For more info, see my website: www.warrendoyle.com

Warren Doyle

#10

Buy the Thru-Hikers Handbook by Dan Wingfoot
2005 edition

Go to http://trailplace.com/portal/index.php
Dont need to count miles into town
Also good idea to have some sort of plan It can snow in Katadin in early Oct hate to get at the end and can’t finish cause of snow. its just a guide line you will not by any means be able to stick to it
I can email you my Plan if you like email let me know. Good luck

john Castell

#11

Now I remember…In '02 I had found Trailjournals on the internet. Two Scoops was one of the first thru-hikers I followed. I was fascintated with the idea of backpacking the AT and loved his way of describing the daily account of his goings on…it was better than reading a book. From him I got the idea to do a spreadsheet. I did it on excel and used the mileage from the AT Data Book and added a “comments” column.

Using a journal from another guy closer to my age (Blaze), I planned the daily stops for the whole hike. Now, many say this does not work because obviously, no two persons will ever hike exactly the same distances and make the same stops. But that doesn’t matter, it did, as Two Scoops said, “made me feel I could logistically accomplish the hike.” I kept it handy for easy reference. If it was 3 in the afternoon and I was wondering if I could make it to the next sheler or town before dark, I used it as a guesstimate and it always worked. It’s also kind of fun to do when you can’t be out there hiking.

Amy, the towns, shelters, water, etc., in the guide books are points on the Trail. When they are not directly on the AT, you will notice the books tell you how far they are off of the Trail.

Skeemer

#12

it is acutually the thru hikers handbook that i have. thanks everyone for the input. i just wanted some more tips and you have all helped a great deal. thanks!-amy

amy

#13

msg I quit my job five weeks before I left Springer. The month off helped a lot particularly since I was moving everything into storage.

Skeemer it is good to know I played a part in you planning your thru-hike.

The comments on my sheet had such stuff as whether a shower was available in town, whether an ATM was or how much I needed as far as cash for the hostels and such. It was basically the data book on a spreadsheet. I tentatively estimated the miles I could hike. But the logistics of the maildrops and all helped me complete the hike. The post office will hold a general delivery package for a month but I gave myself two weeks of padding and if I accumulated a delay of two weeks I had my brother adjust the drops. I did it once due to injury. I didn’t follow my itinerary and I don’t think anyone would want to but I did end up finishing the hike a couple of days over two weeks from when I had planned. It just worked out that way.

But yes all you need reference wise is the data book to do a thru-hike if only to aid in finding water. I did use Wingfoot’s book although I disagree with some of his doings.

Two Scoops

#14

For my first thruhike, I planned extensively, with masses of maildrops, etc. I needed the plan in order figure out how much food to put in each of my boxes. So I did what you did, looked at shelters and campsites and figured an approximate itinerary. Even though I no longer do food drops, I still will plan out my hikes before I go. However, I do it now with some knowledge I didn’t have before I went -

My actual schedule bears little resemblence to my preplanned schedule - it doesn’t have to. I plan conservatively and generally hike faster than my itinerary. That way I never run out of food. I assume short mileage at the beginning, gradually increasing along the way. On most of my hikes I’ve been able to do better mileage than expected. But I also hike to mood, terrain and physical ability rather than to a set schedule. If the day is easy, I’ll hike farther than planned. If the weather is awful or I’m in pain or the terrain is really tough, or alternately, if the weather is beautiful and I spend an hour at a view or swimming in a pond, I’ll hike fewer miles than planned. Often I’ve gone into towns I didn’t expect to visit. It doesn’t matter. I don’t need to prove what a good planner I am, just enjoy my hike. Because I begin by planning conservatively, I don’t have to worry about being behind schedule. The other thing I learned is that on the AT you don’t have to hike from shelter to shelter. There are a lot of places to camp in between. I’d much rather camp than shelter; I sleep much better. So, if I reach a shelter at 3 o’clock, I can get water and keep on hiking until I’m ready to stop. On most of the other long trails there are no shelters, everyone hikes until just before dark. Not being restricted to shelters makes it easier to be ahead of schedule. You’ll soon figure out what kind of pace is comfortable for you. Before you go it can be hard to tell, even with experience or someone telling you where the trail is harder or easier. I knew I would slow down in New England, I had no idea how much I would be forced to slow down by bad knees. But I figured it out before I left town, so I was able to supplement my food boxes.

Ginny

#15

It’s interesting how it varies from person to person – It’s like a microcosm of your strategy on life. Do you plan, or are you just spontaneous… or what.

I think it’s cool – Why not plan? That makes sense. It makes it easier for your mind to absorb what you are about to do.

russ

#16

One of my favorite things to do on the trail was to change my mind about where i wanted to end-up that night, two nights ahead, etc. One day i would say, that ok i am going to be at thomas knob shelter tomorrow and then hike 10 and camp the next night. I would change my mind 3-4 times and always come out fine in the end.
Have fun planning its a lot of fun, and theres no reason to stop planning once you start your hike.

Homey