We had a cut man on our framing crew. He was in his 60s-maybe early 70s.
He had done it 3-4 times inside of 15 years.
Retired Marine, little skinny fugger probably only weighed 125 lbs. had to have knees of steel
Just picking his brain off and on, he told me heād mail himself ācare packagesā every 50-80-100 miles just whatever. Also said he would take an entire loaf of bread and make it all up into peanut butter sandwiches and eat that chit for a week straight. Had a Sweetwater purification pump for drinking out of the creeks and mud puddles.
Donāt forget it rains a lot up in those elevations.
Would start out in April, Iām thinking he said something 3-4 months.
Fouck that
*Iāve done about 20-25 miles of the AT inside the GSMNP, 5 days without beer and a shower and Iām ready to to be done.
I have read every book I could find on Kindle on hiking the Appalachian Trail. If I was younger and could leave home for months, I would do it in heartbeat. Then the next year or so I would do the Pacific Crest Trail and finish up with the Continental Divide Trail the next!
I backpacked all over the Beartooth Mountains here in Montana and Wyoming until I had too many commitments at home ( marriage, kids, and job which paid insurance)
If I would have know about the AT, when I got out of the AF in 71, I probably would have never gotten married for several years and then started my life.
I have forgotten what % of hikers who plan to through hike make the whole trip; it's pretty small IIRC. For the ones who make it it tends to be a kind of "vision quest" experience. If you do this you might come back not being as concerned about muscle mass.
I've only done a few week-long trips on the AT. Met a number of thru-hikers on the trail, and I'll tell you, they are some kind of driven and committed! They'd come into camp at or near sundown, set up a simple, basic camp (often just a hammock), and be up and gone with the sun. Just too intense for me.
There is a % with the ultra marathon out look I forget what the record is..... some of them use a chase crew to meet them at road crossings for resupply. A bigger % end up enjoying the "trail family" bonds that develop with other hikers from all "walks" of life....
In 300 zeros (older guy hiking to honor the memory of his brother who died in a war They had planned to do it together) there was a young woman who was really into Yoga. She could just fly along the trail but kept missing the friends she had made so she hiked miles back to be able to camp with them.
A friend and I did it many yeas ago. We started March 30 and Finished August 1. Most people take six months. Remember that Baxter State Park closes around September 15th every year (Depending on weather) so please plan to finish before then. We were 18 and had to finish prior to college starting so we hiked 20 plus miles a day. (Graduated early so we could take off in March.) You will find that it gets easier as you move north...until you get to the White Mountains. Then you will be glad you hiked the rest of the trail to get ready for them. From the Whites until just before Baxter, will be fun, but testing. Georgia is rough, but only because you are not really used to hiking in the mountains in cold and rain. Then Va. is full of rocks and ticks and bears. Oh, it is also hot. We bathed and washed clothes in streams along the way, but that is not necessary today. Back then, it cost us around $1,000 each to complete it. Today, if you have the equipment needed, you can do it for around $1,000 a month. According to the ATC, only 25% of those that start the trail finish. 25% drop out in the first 40 miles. After that, the number one reason for dropping out is running out of funds.After that is injury. If you make it to Harpers Ferry in WV almost 95% of those hikers make to Baxter. Those from that group that don't, fail because of injury.
BTW, if I can get my knee rehabilitated by March, I plan to hike it one more time. This time at 74. I plan to take seven months and the total cost will be around $10,000. Including all the new equipment I will need. (Almost none of my hunting equipment will work on a through hike.)Also, the guys out there this year are saying that there are many hikers over 65 out there. One guy I follow is DerDieDas, he is 72. Very few of the hikers this year are showing the difficult parts so don't be confused.
The best advice I can give to anyone trying to hike this trail is to hike your own hike and hike it one day at a time. Forget about yesterday when you wake up. Except the beauty. Best wishes and good hiking.
I grew up in Virginia close to the trail. Hunted and trout fished along it. I think Iād go out of my mind. For most of it Iāve been on its thick, view doesnāt change. Just a tunnel through the mountain Laurel .
I have done most of the AT, but never at a single time. Longest I was ever able to squeeze in was two weeks. I have been on the AT since I was a kid, as the AT runs through what was our family's property in Virginia, now in the Jefferson National Forest.
Local guy here had done the parts of the AT a few times & finally made the time to do it complete.
I met him at a party one night & he told me it taxed his mind as much as his body. So much in fact that he cut the handle off his tooth brush to shave the weight of his cargo. Said he realized after the hike that it wasn't affective at all, but at the time it seemed the thing to do. Sounded like mental & physical torture to me.
Him? He was saving up to try to hike the Rocky Mtn. Trail next. I haven't heard any reports about him since & now that I think of him, I'd like to find out what he's been up to. An interesting individual, not jut the hiking, but other life choices as well.
My neice hiked all but about 60 miles of it over a couple year period. She did a lot of it with a group of "trail friends" she met along the way. VERY leisurely pace. They would hike along and find a little town they liked and hang around for up to a week just enjoying the whole experience. Her mother thought she should be hiking 20 miles a day so she flew up from Florida to try to speed her up. She lasted ONE DAY on the trail and quit because her friggin" toe nails fell off! I laughed my ass off over tht. One thing I know, of you go into a store or restaurant with a bunch of backpacks out front, hold your nose! Personal hygeine diesn't seem to be real high on the priority list of the hikers. Good luck to you, I hope you can do it.
I'd walked over 1000 miles of the AT before I turned 17. I did a 650 mile/2 mo's walk on it in 1977 with a friend on my summer HS break. I turned 16 on GA/NC border on the 21st of June that year. Tough summer as there was a heat wave and drought.
It's gotten easier due to lighter gear, the relocation of the trail (thanks to Jimmy Carter), and more re-supply points than when I was on it - we were typically 12-14 days between re-supply.
I'm still an active backpacker, and would have no problem doing it at my age (60 in June). PM me if you need any specifics.
But what I can say is, "there is no try, only do." Either you know you can do it, or you shouldn't bother. First, do a 2 week backpack and see how that goes. If you've never done more than a week's backpack you're out of your depth.
I have a friend hiking it right now. Not sure how many times he's done it before, but if he pulls this one off, he'll have the record for age upon completion. He is 83!
A friend and I did it many yeas ago. We started March 30 and Finished August 1. Most people take six months. Remember that Baxter State Park closes around September 15th every year (Depending on weather) so please plan to finish before then. We were 18 and had to finish prior to college starting so we hiked 20 plus miles a day. (Graduated early so we could take off in March.) You will find that it gets easier as you move north...until you get to the White Mountains. Then you will be glad you hiked the rest of the trail to get ready for them. From the Whites until just before Baxter, will be fun, but testing. Georgia is rough, but only because you are not really used to hiking in the mountains in cold and rain. Then Va. is full of rocks and ticks and bears. Oh, it is also hot. We bathed and washed clothes in streams along the way, but that is not necessary today. Back then, it cost us around $1,000 each to complete it. Today, if you have the equipment needed, you can do it for around $1,000 a month. According to the ATC, only 25% of those that start the trail finish. 25% drop out in the first 40 miles. After that, the number one reason for dropping out is running out of funds.After that is injury. If you make it to Harpers Ferry in WV almost 95% of those hikers make to Baxter. Those from that group that don't, fail because of injury.
BTW, if I can get my knee rehabilitated by March, I plan to hike it one more time. This time at 74. I plan to take seven months and the total cost will be around $10,000. Including all the new equipment I will need. (Almost none of my hunting equipment will work on a through hike.)Also, the guys out there this year are saying that there are many hikers over 65 out there. One guy I follow is DerDieDas, he is 72. Very few of the hikers this year are showing the difficult parts so don't be confused.
The best advice I can give to anyone trying to hike this trail is to hike your own hike and hike it one day at a time. Forget about yesterday when you wake up. Except the beauty. Best wishes and good hiking.
I have done most of the AT, but never at a single time. Longest I was ever able to squeeze in was two weeks. I have been on the AT since I was a kid, as the AT runs through what was our family's property in Virginia, now in the Jefferson National Forest.
Iām guessing we grew up close by. I spent slot of time in Dismal in Jefferson NF
That's a great book. He has a very sarcastic sense of humor. The best way that I've seen it described is that it's a "job". Your job is to get up every morning and walk at least 15 miles. The weather may suck, but you have to be out there in it. Like others have said, the new gear makes things much easier. Lighter pack, tent, sleeping bag, GTX jacket, etc. I wanted to do it 20+ years ago when I first got into backpacking until I realized very quickly that I just liked doing 3-5 day trips.
I have a friend hiking it right now. Not sure how many times he's done it before, but if he pulls this one off, he'll have the record for age upon completion. He is 83!
I'm from Virginia, and I have hiked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail, but over a batch of years...
When my family came back from Europe in 1966, my dad was stationed at Pope AFB on Ft Bragg. I was in Scouts and then an Explorer post. Ended up hiking all of North Carolina, and some of South Carolina from 66 to 68.
Then my dad was sent to Vietnam, we came home to Northern Va, and I was still in the Explorers, and our post ended up hiking it across VA, part of it in WVA, Western Maryland and then up thru PA... that was in 1969 and 1970..
Went to Massachusetts to go to college and then worked two summers in North Georgia 1971 and 72... Graduated college in 1975,
During that period, hiked it thru New England, NY and NJ... also in the summers of 71 and 72, hiked it in Georgia and the parts of SC I hadn't done.. closer to the GA state line...wrapping up what I hadn't done in Tennessee...summer of 72.
Our advisors of our Explorer Post at Pope AFB were a group of Green Berets.. young guys who had Nam experience and also had been Eagle Scouts and Explorers in their high school days....they taught us how to cover ground, travel light.. I've always did it, either in a group or at least with someone on two else with me...we'd drop off one car at the pick up site, and take the other to the drop in spot.... we'd be on the trail anywhere from 2 to 4 days...
My "tent" was an orange tube tent, it always came with me, even if we were camping at CCC hunts on the trail...Food was always high calorie and high energy ( probably full of sugar in those days)....We broke camp at 6 am and hit the trail, and hike 4 hours or so... then we'd stop and have breakfast at around 10 to 10:30 AM, 30 minutes for that...and a little rest, wash your feet, change your socks.. which were always wool...with a polypropylene insert sock.
hike from there until around 2 or 2:30.. stop and make a quick lunch...that was usually one pot of boiling water, and heat up a freeze dried pouch.. change socks back to the ones we started the day off with, that had been hung on the pack with clothes pins from a rope dangling off the pack...replenish any water we needed, often changed into clean underwear also....do a crotch wash sponge bath...wash you feet again, check for blisters.. if your footwear was tight, there usually went any.. if there were, apply moleskin... bug spray as needed
hit the trail again...after an hour stop... then hike until 6 to 7 pm, when we stopped for the night, had a boiled dinner again of freeze dried food...
in my youth, and depending upon the difficulty of the terrain, we could make anywhere from as low as 20 miles in a day easily, to sometimes as high as 30.. 20 to 25 miles per day was more like the average....we ate high protein stuff traveling light, we could carry easily 4 days worth of what was needed..
traveled light on clothing but changed it at each stop as needed, always near water, so we would wash what we had worn.. and always carried just one change of clothes, 3 pairs of socks, with the inserts, a pair of tennis shoes when not hiking.. hiking boots when were... burnt all of our trash in the nightly camp fire.
August of 1969, the Explorer post went to Montana to Glacier and Waterton Peace Park. we were on the trail for 14 days and hiked 292 miles, in Montana and Alberta. We were at no supply points on the entire trip.. my pack weighed 55 lbs when we hit the trail.. and that was covering food for 4 man cook groups, for the entire 14 days...mine was the lightest pack, from what I had learned from the Green Beret guys in North Carolina...
In college I also hiked the 200 Miles of the Long Trail in Vermont. In the Army at Ft Lewis/ Madigan AMC in 1977 and 1978, I've hiked the Pacific Crest Trail from the Canadian border in Washington, down as far south as Bend Oregon... Got married in Sept of 1979, and that pretty much got my back pack and hiking shoes hung up in the closet or the garage...
Went thru Scouting with my son, as a parent. He made Eagle Scout... at 14 he did go to Philmont with a group from Southern Oregon, Crater Lake Council. Dad supervised him packing for the trip... on the shake down night were they inventoried everyone's pack, my son was both the only one of 24 kids that had everything they were told to bring with them, he also had the lightest pack, they were told to keep it under 50 pounds.. none of the boys did so, except Jonathan.. his pack weighed 40 pounds....for two weeks at Philmont. He enjoyed the trip... but swore he's never do that again, once he got home..
he isn't the hiking fool his dad was... I'd do it again in a heart beat, as I met so many great and interesting people on those trails...
and for you guys from New York, I don't know if you have a clue what the 46'ers Club was.. but I just missed that by two peaks, which I still climbed after they closed the club down, as it was sent to do so after the first thousand people to do so... also did that from 1971 thru 1975...
and yeah, on the Appalachian Trail, I've hiked that in 100 degree weather, with 150% humidity, and use bathed in Bug juice, while getting attacked by Mosquitoes the size of a small plane...incessantly .. I've been on the trail, in knee deep snow, with and without sleet at 10 degrees, with and without 30 to 40 mph winds... that weren't on the forecast by the weatherman, but that is what we woke up to....Thank God for being able to camp in the old CCC huts... are those things still maintained? in the 60s and early 70s, they were only like 30 to 40 years old... but that was 50 plus years ago...
Wouldn't trade a minute of it, all the time I spent doing that things... in those days, we got off our asses and did things... kids nowadays... its all about video games.... I have never been able to get the kids in scouts around here to get motivated to do any of that stuff.... then one adult, a retired Navy guy got out and hiked some of the Pacific Crest Trail with his two sons, who were already beyond Scouts, but they had both got out as Eagles.... that inspired the hell out of them, and their replies were " I sure wished we would have listened to you back then! that was stupendous!"
I did at least got about half a dozen of the boys finally interested in the Cycling Merit Badge. Once they started getting off the couch and riding bikes on 10 and 20 miles rides for the merit badges, they pretty live on their bicycles now... but all their Video Game friends think they are nuts...
Probably a good reason, most of the people found on those hiking trails nowadays are old folks.. the average millennial is probably too damn lazy, which is probably a good thing... because most of them would be pretty damn clueless of what to do out there nowadays... especially if they got in some sort of trouble or danger...
I've hiked a couple small sections here in Maine. This summer I'd like to do the entire Maine section from the Whites to Baxter. The Mahossuc section is a hell hole from what I understand, one of the hardest sections of the entire trail. The Bigelow Range is my favorite section I've done so far.
I'm from Virginia, and I have hiked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail, but over a batch of years...
When my family came back from Europe in 1966, my dad was stationed at Pope AFB on Ft Bragg. I was in Scouts and then an Explorer post. Ended up hiking all of North Carolina, and some of South Carolina from 66 to 68.
Then my dad was sent to Vietnam, we came home to Northern Va, and I was still in the Explorers, and our post ended up hiking it across VA, part of it in WVA, Western Maryland and then up thru PA... that was in 1969 and 1970..
Went to Massachusetts to go to college and then worked two summers in North Georgia 1971 and 72... Graduated college in 1975,
During that period, hiked it thru New England, NY and NJ... also in the summers of 71 and 72, hiked it in Georgia and the parts of SC I hadn't done.. closer to the GA state line...wrapping up what I hadn't done in Tennessee...summer of 72.
Our advisors of our Explorer Post at Pope AFB were a group of Green Berets.. young guys who had Nam experience and also had been Eagle Scouts and Explorers in their high school days....they taught us how to cover ground, travel light.. I've always did it, either in a group or at least with someone on two else with me...we'd drop off one car at the pick up site, and take the other to the drop in spot.... we'd be on the trail anywhere from 2 to 4 days...
My "tent" was an orange tube tent, it always came with me, even if we were camping at CCC hunts on the trail...Food was always high calorie and high energy ( probably full of sugar in those days)....We broke camp at 6 am and hit the trail, and hike 4 hours or so... then we'd stop and have breakfast at around 10 to 10:30 AM, 30 minutes for that...and a little rest, wash your feet, change your socks.. which were always wool...with a polypropylene insert sock.
hike from there until around 2 or 2:30.. stop and make a quick lunch...that was usually one pot of boiling water, and heat up a freeze dried pouch.. change socks back to the ones we started the day off with, that had been hung on the pack with clothes pins from a rope dangling off the pack...replenish any water we needed, often changed into clean underwear also....do a crotch wash sponge bath...wash you feet again, check for blisters.. if your footwear was tight, there usually went any.. if there were, apply moleskin... bug spray as needed
hit the trail again...after an hour stop... then hike until 6 to 7 pm, when we stopped for the night, had a boiled dinner again of freeze dried food...
in my youth, and depending upon the difficulty of the terrain, we could make anywhere from as low as 20 miles in a day easily, to sometimes as high as 30.. 20 to 25 miles per day was more like the average....we ate high protein stuff traveling light, we could carry easily 4 days worth of what was needed..
traveled light on clothing but changed it at each stop as needed, always near water, so we would wash what we had worn.. and always carried just one change of clothes, 3 pairs of socks, with the inserts, a pair of tennis shoes when not hiking.. hiking boots when were... burnt all of our trash in the nightly camp fire.
August of 1969, the Explorer post went to Montana to Glacier and Waterton Peace Park. we were on the trail for 14 days and hiked 292 miles, in Montana and Alberta. We were at no supply points on the entire trip.. my pack weighed 55 lbs when we hit the trail.. and that was covering food for 4 man cook groups, for the entire 14 days...mine was the lightest pack, from what I had learned from the Green Beret guys in North Carolina...
In college I also hiked the 200 Miles of the Long Trail in Vermont. In the Army at Ft Lewis/ Madigan AMC in 1977 and 1978, I've hiked the Pacific Crest Trail from the Canadian border in Washington, down as far south as Bend Oregon... Got married in Sept of 1979, and that pretty much got my back pack and hiking shoes hung up in the closet or the garage...
Went thru Scouting with my son, as a parent. He made Eagle Scout... at 14 he did go to Philmont with a group from Southern Oregon, Crater Lake Council. Dad supervised him packing for the trip... on the shake down night were they inventoried everyone's pack, my son was both the only one of 24 kids that had everything they were told to bring with them, he also had the lightest pack, they were told to keep it under 50 pounds.. none of the boys did so, except Jonathan.. his pack weighed 40 pounds....for two weeks at Philmont. He enjoyed the trip... but swore he's never do that again, once he got home..
he isn't the hiking fool his dad was... I'd do it again in a heart beat, as I met so many great and interesting people on those trails...
and for you guys from New York, I don't know if you have a clue what the 46'ers Club was.. but I just missed that by two peaks, which I still climbed after they closed the club down, as it was sent to do so after the first thousand people to do so... also did that from 1971 thru 1975...
and yeah, on the Appalachian Trail, I've hiked that in 100 degree weather, with 150% humidity, and use bathed in Bug juice, while getting attacked by Mosquitoes the size of a small plane...incessantly .. I've been on the trail, in knee deep snow, with and without sleet at 10 degrees, with and without 30 to 40 mph winds... that weren't on the forecast by the weatherman, but that is what we woke up to....Thank God for being able to camp in the old CCC huts... are those things still maintained? in the 60s and early 70s, they were only like 30 to 40 years old... but that was 50 plus years ago...
Wouldn't trade a minute of it, all the time I spent doing that things... in those days, we got off our asses and did things... kids nowadays... its all about video games.... I have never been able to get the kids in scouts around here to get motivated to do any of that stuff.... then one adult, a retired Navy guy got out and hiked some of the Pacific Crest Trail with his two sons, who were already beyond Scouts, but they had both got out as Eagles.... that inspired the hell out of them, and their replies were " I sure wished we would have listened to you back then! that was stupendous!"
I did at least got about half a dozen of the boys finally interested in the Cycling Merit Badge. Once they started getting off the couch and riding bikes on 10 and 20 miles rides for the merit badges, they pretty live on their bicycles now... but all their Video Game friends think they are nuts...
Probably a good reason, most of the people found on those hiking trails nowadays are old folks.. the average millennial is probably too damn lazy, which is probably a good thing... because most of them would be pretty damn clueless of what to do out there nowadays... especially if they got in some sort of trouble or danger...
Scanning the thread...read your post with interest Seafire, without knowing who had posted it until I looked back. Extremely interesting and informative.
I can't stress enough how folks go missing on the trail. Carry a personal locator beacon and a gun. If possible, travel with another person and a dog.
When I was in my twenties I hiked parts of the AT in NY, NJ, PA and ME, three to four days at a time was the most time spent hiking. It was always an ambition to hike the entire trail but now nearing age 72 don't think that will ever happen. I still like to read about the adventures of those who have hiked the entire trail. I remember the cold and rain from some of my trail hikes including waking up on Easter Sunday morning with everything snow covered on a part of the trail in NJ. Also getting drenched with heavy rain while hiking in the Delaware Water Gap near the NJ-PA border.
I have done most of the AT, but never at a single time. Longest I was ever able to squeeze in was two weeks. I have been on the AT since I was a kid, as the AT runs through what was our family's property in Virginia, now in the Jefferson National Forest.
Iām guessing we grew up close by. I spent slot of time in Dismal in Jefferson NF
' Wythe, Bland Counties. Family homesteaded the area around Reedy Creek back in the 1700's
I wager there are a good many people who would pay good money to learn from SF.
several Boy Scout Merit Badge booklets or books can provide a lot of information... Like Wilderness Survival. Emergency Prep. Wilderness 1st Aid
Took a Wilderness First Aid Course by Red Cross, via the local County Search and Rescue, a $450 course. It was essentially 4 Scout Merit Badge booklets that cost $5,00 each... instructor didn't believe me until I showed him the credits in small print, and brought him the 4 Merit Badge books to look at. Blew his mind.. he'd been teaching it for10 years...
Interesting topic. 2190 miles. 14 states. Takes 5 to 7 months to complete. A lot of rugged terrain. A person would have to be in top notch shape.
Was looking on line about the Appalachian Trail recently. evidently the fastest it has ever been done was 45 days... that is someone in 'top notch shape'.. proper planning goes further than anything else... there use to be plenty of books that explained about every inch of the Trail... there were booklets available that would go thru a 50 to 100 mile stretch.. know where water sources were, CCC shelters etc.
I am sure there are even more nowadays. At Sportsman's Warehouse, I have found plenty of trail books on the Pacific Crest Trail for the local area.
20 miles in a day is not that hard, after a couple days of getting use to it...but that also is planning and not pushing yourself., especially if you are doing it in 3 or 4 day stretches each day. Aspirin or NSAIDs help to relax your muscles, when they lock up.. along with planning and keeping yourself hydrated, keeps your legs from locking up. know where water sources are... and/or have water filtration kit.. there are plenty on the market.
Scanning the thread...read your post with interest Seafire, without knowing who had posted it until I looked back. Extremely interesting and informative.
I can't stress enough how folks go missing on the trail. Carry a personal locator beacon and a gun. If possible, travel with another person and a dog. [/quote]
Ethan, the trail was well marked 50 years ago... I can't imagine it has gotten worse.. People have GPS systems that we didn't have back in those days. plus cell phones... we would stick together as a group... but if we got stretched out, we had those in the leads, have a specific time to stop and have a meal, rest and do hygiene... we would carry walky talkys.. there is plenty of nearby civilization not far away....
Never carried a gun on any of the trail in those days, but at the same time, NEVER did it alone.. and a dog along always helped out a lot ...
Biggest danger was bears, but multiple people, it wasn't that hard to chase them away.. the world was safer in those days from humans...
I read about a guy that hiked the trail with his cat riding on his pack the whole way. The cat became something of a legend due to his mouse killing/eating abilities.
I did Springer to Harpers ferry in 99. My knees gave out. They seem to have recovered and I have given some thought to finishing when I retire, but I have come to the conclusion I rather prefer hiking more remote trails particularly in the off seasons when I can be alone.
The AT is sort of weird because besides a big hike its also a social event. Unless you very fast or very slow, your going to be walking with and sharing shelters with the same folks over a periods of days or weeks at a time. There are a lot of hikers on the trail especially if you do a mid march to April start on a NB hike,
Its not a wilderness backpack. To give an example how not a wilderness hike it is, when I started I carried the state guides and maps, but by the time I got to Virginia I just had one guide, mostly to shelters and off trail resources and a map on a bandana. There were so many people to ask questions of I probably would have ditched wingfoots guide and just used the mapdana.
Suggestions
Once you have done your research and followed blogs, whiteblaze etc and figured out a plan ( several ways to walk the trail S-N or N-S or a flipflop and thought out resupply etc, Find some 150-250 mile trail and walk it. and see what works and what doesn't. Then do two weeks on the AT in peak season and see if its what you want to do.
I had a neighbor in Texas that did. He was gone all summer (if you knew his wife, a fun nazi) . He came back with a full beard and 40 pounds lighter.
My one concern is losing muscle mass and strength due to not lifting for 5-6 months.
Your one concern with hiking the entire AT is that you would get out of shape?
Originally Posted by ro1459
A friend and I did it many yeas ago. We started March 30 and Finished August 1. Most people take six months. Remember that Baxter State Park closes around September 15th every year (Depending on weather) so please plan to finish before then. We were 18 and had to finish prior to college starting so we hiked 20 plus miles a day. (Graduated early so we could take off in March.) You will find that it gets easier as you move north...until you get to the White Mountains. Then you will be glad you hiked the rest of the trail to get ready for them. From the Whites until just before Baxter, will be fun, but testing. Georgia is rough, but only because you are not really used to hiking in the mountains in cold and rain. Then Va. is full of rocks and ticks and bears. Oh, it is also hot. We bathed and washed clothes in streams along the way, but that is not necessary today. Back then, it cost us around $1,000 each to complete it. Today, if you have the equipment needed, you can do it for around $1,000 a month. According to the ATC, only 25% of those that start the trail finish. 25% drop out in the first 40 miles. After that, the number one reason for dropping out is running out of funds.After that is injury. If you make it to Harpers Ferry in WV almost 95% of those hikers make to Baxter. Those from that group that don't, fail because of injury.
BTW, if I can get my knee rehabilitated by March, I plan to hike it one more time. This time at 74. I plan to take seven months and the total cost will be around $10,000. Including all the new equipment I will need. (Almost none of my hunting equipment will work on a through hike.)Also, the guys out there this year are saying that there are many hikers over 65 out there. One guy I follow is DerDieDas, he is 72. Very few of the hikers this year are showing the difficult parts so don't be confused.
The best advice I can give to anyone trying to hike this trail is to hike your own hike and hike it one day at a time. Forget about yesterday when you wake up. Except the beauty. Best wishes and good hiking.
Great information. I would never have guessed it would cost $1k a month to hike the trail, it just seems high. Can you explain some of the costs. Thanks,.
I need to try this when I get my ass back in shape.
Lots of people start the trail way out of shape. Maybe talk with you doc before you start but then just plan to go slow.... do it before you knees or back give out. I can drive up a forest service trail to "The Scales" where cattle used to be sold. It's about a mile from the top of Mt Rogers. Drop me a PM if you decide to do it and I'll drive up with a bunch of steaks fresh fruit and vegetables to cheer you on with
I need to try this when I get my ass back in shape.
Roger, convert the weight of your daily beer consumption in your planning. You could do it if they make freeze dried beer. Strap a pack on your girlfriend and have her walk in front to keep you motivated.
I just found this guys channel. His video audio quality isn't as amazing as some hiking channels are but his determined curmudgeon that still likes some people but tends to prefer his own company more attitude is something that I related to.
I have a friend hiking it right now. Not sure how many times he's done it before, but if he pulls this one off, he'll have the record for age upon completion. He is 83!
Sonny is the caretaker of the old CCC camp at Flagg Mountain, AL, now used mostly as a hiker's destination. I got to know him about 3 years ago when I volunteered to help them with some onsite sewage systems and a new well location. He is a 100% bona fide character who's life has been dedicated to hiking for several decades. He's one of the most genuine, down to earth, nice guys that you will ever meet. For those interested, here is his website: https://nimblewillnomad.com/odyssey-2021-journals-1/ It contains diaries of some or most of what he calls his 'Odysseys' over the last couple of decades. Note that one of his hikes was along the original path of Route 66, from downtown Chicago to the Pacific Ocean!
You can click on each date to see his blog entry for that date. He is presently at mile 280 or so. His pictures are worth the effort to go through his blogs.
Dixie (Jessica Mills) is a knowledgable source for the AT, as well as the CDT& PCT. i have watched everyone of her videos. As a subscriber to her YT channel I am very impressed.
Her YT channel is Homemade Wanderlust. Her website is DixieAZ.com
