When is it too late to start a SOBO Thru Hike

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#1

I am plannin on doing a SOBO thru-hike…I will deffinatly be starting July 10th and hopefully ending mid January…is this to late to start a SOBO thru hike…? Has anyone gone on this schedule before…?

Thanks for taking the time to reply
~sETH

Seth

#2

It’s never to late to start south. In fact you’ll get to hike a fair long ways in my grand New England colours. You’d be past the bugs, in the leaf peeper crowds but so what. You do get in some winter hiking so ready up some polar gear for the south. Christmas on the AT, ah, what a day dream.

Bushwhack

#3

Actually, that is probably just about right for a SOBO. Depending on how much you like winter hiking, you can start anytime from the end of June to the end of September. You will probably have some cold wet weather, but also some very nice hiking weather. You’re not likely to get a lot of snow except at the higher elevations until Thanksgiving. In 1998 there were several who ended their hikes in January - they were lucky until mid-November, then had off and on serious cold for the next two months. Just switch to a good 5 or 0 degree bag in mid-October. Don’t forget to wear orange during hunting season.

Ginny

#4

Meet two guys on the AT hiking SOBO in southern Virginia last February, so they started in Maine in October/November or thereabouts. In fact these two hardy fellows, English chaps they were, passed Rocket and the Flying Scotsman heading north around the Bland, Virginia area in February. Both groups were hiking in plenty snow and cold temps, but seemed to be surviving it okay.:cheers

Maintain

#5

As Bushwack states, it’s never too late to start a SOBO. After all, Springer never closes. However, get a good sleeping bag. As you get into late fall, the days get very short, so you will be spending more time in your sleeping bag. With less daylight, your mileage will probably also drop. And it will get cold, and be prepared for snow. Also, seasonal businesses will be closed.

Peaks

#6

It’s best to start Sobo during the summer. Hikers will start all the way to the closing of Katahdin. However, if you start in early fall in Maine you will be hitting winter weather all the way down the east coast. July seems like a good time to start but the bugs never end. The black flies aren’t as bad but you still have mosquitos, deer flies and horse flies to contend with along the way. Good luck!
I started May 19, 1999 and finished at springer on Nov. 20, 1999. I was luck it had been a dry winter in Maine and the bugs where not bad at all.

Darth PAcman

#7

…‘it’s never too late to start a southbound thruhike’? I think you need to be south of Mt Washington in NH by mid October at the latest.

TJ

#8

I agree with TJ. You don’t want to be in the whites when wniter storms hit. They are bad enough in the summer so I can only imagine fall is very unpredictable.

Darth Pacman

#9

I know that the mileage is the same (Duh) but on the ascents and descents is there any difference? To clarify: Is an uphill climb when heading south more difficult than an uphill climb heading north? I know that the altitude does not change but does the incline/decline angle differ?

Just curious!

Jack

#10

Some climbs are easier Sobo and some are easier Nobo so they all equal out. I don’t think you can make a comparison of the terrain Nobo vs. Sobo. The Trail in maine is not grade as nicely as the trail in georgia. In Maine it tends to go strait up, strait down and over as much rock as possible. Georgia has switch backs and isn’t as hard overall. If any Nobo’s disagree I suggest you hike GA again after your hike. That said it all works out in the end.

Darth Pacman

#11

Jack raised a good point. Going south on the A.T. is easier because you’re assisted by the force of gravity, not stuggling against it. Going north you’re not only fighting gravity vertically (going up a mountain) but horizontally (longitudally) as well as you climb the earth’s surface toward the North Pole. Especially in the summer when the earth is tilted so far down toward the south, it’s much easier to go downhill than the other way around.

E.N. Stein

#12

That is also why it is so hard to hike at night because you are fighting not only the gravity of the earth but also the residual gravity of the Sun. Althought in that case NOBO or SOBO does not matter because you are both upside down.

Blue Jay

#13

I am not so sure about gravational effects, but the AT does travel northeast from Georgia to Maine. Since the earth rotates west to east and weather fronts generally move west to east or in that general direction, there is a slight tail wind effect. The airline industry is well aware of this effect. So this means that hiking NOBO would be slightly easier for this reason, i.e. the tail wind effect, than hiking SOBO. But there may be other factors that offset this advantage, and I am not sure that this advantage is really much of an advantage. LOL. Keep on hiking (and thinking). :cheers

Maintain