Hey everyone - I just wanted to ask the general “expert” community about the direction that the hike, Dave “Humper” and I, will be doing this coming year.
Due to time constraints we can’t start until at the earliest the first week of June (that’s the target date). We are really interested in doing a northbound hike but aren’t sure if that’s the best idea.
Any comments or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Jill
You can hike the trail in 4-5 months. Plenty of people have. It depends on the kind of hike you want, though.
If you’re rushing to the finish line the whole time, it may take the experience out of it.
You could always start out, and flip-flop toward the end…or even leap frog and make up the section you skipped after hitting Katahdin.
If you want to the whole thing straight through without jumping around, and want to honestly enjoy it, I would suggest a SOBO hike. I think the majority of the SOBO’s start in early June.
BearBait
Jill - if you start at Springer in June, you’ll have to really push hard to finish in Maine. I would also suggest you think about a flip-flop. Start at Harpers Ferry in June and go North. You’ll have the advantage of some easy terrain to get started with. You’ll also be with Northbounders. After you summit Katahdin, flip back down to Harpers and go South. You’ll pickup with Southbounders then.
Moose
Like Moose says, do the Flip-Flop. In addition to the reasons cited, you will be hiking with others. As the music of Takoma Ted says, the people are the trail. Most thru-hikers agree that the people are the best part of their hike, and you would miss so much of it if you didn’t go with the flow.
Also, Katahdin is a kick a** goal that builds all the way through Maine. Going south away from Katahdin just doesn’t cut it.
Peaks
Are you in luck. There are at least 5 flowering shrubs in GA in June. Two azalias (including the blazing Flame), two Rhodadendrons and the peak of Mountain Laurel. Most thrus never get to see this life changing display. When you get up early the mist is diffusing the rays of sunlight thru the Rodadendron Tunnels into beams of majic light. You are even walking on flower petals. Flip north at the Partnership shelter just after the amazing Grayson Highlands. DO NOT miss GA/TN/Carolina in June.
Blue Jay
A SOBO hike is just fine. Peaks hasn’t done one and to say “going south doesn’t cut it” is ridiculous. I’ve done 4 NOBOs And 1 SOBO and enjoyed the SOBO the best.
Wolf
Hey Wolf, Roland Message says only .00000000000032% of hikers in 1856 went SOBO. Plus all of them were wearing coon skin caps.
Blue Jay Peaks
You can still make it by going northbound from Springer Mt leaving around June 1. I started my northbound hike last year in late May and made it to Katahdin by September 20. Like everyone else says, though, you’re going to have to do alot of long days to finish the trail in approximately 4 months. Maybe a flip-flop would be a good idea. I don’t recommend hiking in Maine in June… black fly season is DEFINITELY not enjoyable.
Superfeet
How about hiking the trail East-West? In most places, that’s only about 20 inches or so, which should be more doable than 2168 miles. Also, if you run behind schedule and get a fall snowstorm, then you can still probably power through to complete your thru-hike. Just keep in mind that image of yourself standing triumphant on the left side of the trail! (And, in a pinch, one big step should do it, after all.)
Eric
I think you should read up on lightweight hiking, like “Beyond Backpacking” by Ray Jardine, etc, if you are going to try to hike a straight NOBO in June. Have either of you long-distance hiked before? What kind of physical shape are you in? How much do you want to hike with other thru’s? How many days off will you need? Are you going to want to sleep in shelters everynight or can you be flexible? I think you would need to do about 16 miles per day without taking any days off to make it NOBO by October 15th. Definitely possible, but that is pretty fast.
Superfeet, how many other hikers are there that start that late? Did you have company?
jitterbug
if you are indeed gonna take on the challenge of a june start thru-hike making sure you know what you get yourself into is good. I suspect the heat can and will be pretty unbearable in the south in june and july. Just factor that in. Overcourse it translates to longer days too, which is in your favor.
Personally i’d go south. Seems there are a lot of SOBOS now a day. When I was passing them in July there were clustered up and seemed to be enjoying the social aspect of the trail. In fact leaving early or late on a NOBO is probably very socially similar to a prime time SOBO (starting early june).
A-Train
I would definitely recommend a Southbound hike. June would be the right time to start SOBO. I just completed my Southbound hike in October this year and I loved it. I am glad I chose southbound because it isn’t near as crowded. I did not have to worry about the shelters being full except when I was passing all of the northbounders. The only bad part about southbounding is the black flies in Maine. Just take lots of Deet!
Dixiebound
OK, I so I haven’t do a SOBO yet. But crowds? About the only time I felt crowded was at Trail Days. And sometimes on the weekend. I don’t recall being overly concerned about shelters being full, except on occasional Friday and Saturday nights.
Like the music of Takoma Ted says, The people are the trail. And hiking along in an ever changing pod of people was the best part of my hike. Are there enough of a mass of Southbound hikers to have a good group?
Peaks
Not everybody wants or needs a group a group to hike with. Not everybody thinks Katahdin is Mecca either.
Wolf
If one is going to hike the trail either east to west or west to east they should at least except the challenge of
going between the most westerly and easterly parts of the AT, but why stop there! why not hike verticley from the lowest point to the highest point through the air (LOBOs and HIBOs (not to be confused with wolves and pot heads!(well maybe you should confuse them with pot heads. I believe there were HIBOs on the trail this year, except it was their minds that hiked to the highest point L))( you could also call them DOBOs and UPBOs ). The really lazy hiker, however, could just lay down on the trail in the Spring and not get up again till the Fall. ( This would be a FUBO hiking from the past to the future.) Now even the renowned physicist Stephen Hawkins can hike the AT with the most challenging hike of all - the PABO, this requires the
opening up of a worm hole from the future too the past L. Now if you believe in string theory their are 14 more directions you can hike!
Rick The Lone Wolf
Thank you Rick, I love your idea. I’m going to do a HIBO next year, The Hudson River to Clingmans Dome.
Blue Jay
Hey everyone, thanks for giving your input. Dave and I have discussed this issue a ton after reading everyone’s posts. We still haven’t completely decided on our direction though we’re leaning toward a southbound now. We really liked the idea of flip-flopping but figure that in comparison to uni-directional hiking, flip-flopping means needing extra funds. (More transportation needs)
We are both young and in good shape so we could in theory northbound and finish but that would mean doing some crazy mileage and, more importantly, not getting to go on some of the cooler side hikes. (Dave keeps talking about a fire tower or something 
) So, right now, we think that southbounding would be a good idea. The only concern is having to deal with the 100-mile wilderness right off the bat. I’m a brand new backpacker, complete novice, so I don’t know what to expect but Dave’s trail sense has him worried about it. No biggie, we’re gonna hike it one way or another! Thanks again for all your advice.
Jill
The hundred mile wilderness aka: the hundred mile inconvient resupply is not any more difficult than north Ga. I reccomend sending a package to Whitehouse Landing Wilderness Camp. This effectively breaks up the wilderness into half. If you are youn and in shape six to seven days will be no problem. I did the wilderness in 5 and a quater days…but I prepped for it by walking a couple of mile before starting it! Y0-YO GAME IN 2003
Yo-YO