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For shorter trips, I think losing weight is inevitable. Your metabolism just doesn't catch up to the fact that 20-30 miles is the new "normal," so you won't be hungry enough to eat enough calories. I...

Figure I should chime in since I did something similar to this on the AT. I was 25 at the time (2009), and did a 75-day SOBO thru, with almost zero backpacking experience.

I totally agree on the...

I agree with most of the discussion here. It's amazing what the body can do, but you need to ramp up. I did the smokies in two days as part of my sobo thru in 2009, but I was almost 2000 miles in at...

A couple things:

(1) I totally agree with the consistency thing. I did a 75-day AT SOBO a few years ago (~29/day, ~32/day south of NH), and minimizing zeros and small days is the key to averaging...

Going to bump this thread because I'm thinking about doing something similar but possibly a bit more aggressive. I'm kicking around the idea of doing a fast NOBO thru in 2016, probably in the 80-90...

Just wanted to say thanks for the great advice. I bit the bullet and paid for the shuttle. Price is down a bit but still high at $133. They picked me up at the airport in Tucson and I was on the...

Awesome. Thanks for the excellent rundown. I did some hitches on the AT when I did it a few years back, and didn't mind it since it was absolutely necessary in some places such as Maine. I was...

Thanks for all the advice. Yes, I understand that it will be hot. That's actually a section that I have a question about. I'm plotting out resupplies (which will obviously change due to how the...

I have an Exos 34 that I bought back in 2009. I did a fast (mostly 30+ miles / day) thru on the AT with it back then and it held up really nicely. I haven't really had any issues with the belt. I...

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll probably just have to bite the bullet and take the shuttle. I'm a really fast hiker, so I'm sure I'll do more like 20 the first day.

The ride from the airport is...

I'm planning to start a roughly four-week NOBO AZT thru hike sometime during the first week of May, and I'm curious if anyone has any info about how to get to Coronado Monument to start things out. ...

Thanks a lot for this in-depth explanation. Getting a lot of good advice here.

I don't tend to do zeros, as I would rather be on the trail than spend days in town. I'm thinking that I may take a...

Is that true even in the first half of July? My impression from reading this and other forums is that the rains are biggest from mid-July to mid-August. I was trying to avoid that by starting a bit...

I think I can get 3 weeks off this summer, so I'm looking at doing a fast-ish CT thru hike. I did a pretty fast AT thru a few years ago -- I'm obviously not in that kind of shape, but I'm a distance...

Interesting. I'm a grad student at U of M and also thinking about doing the CT this summer. Probably starting late June to early July. I did an AT thru a few years back, and I'm a pretty fast...

No offense taken. I'm probably going to run a marathon 6-8 weeks before that, so easing from that into 30-40 mile weekend hikes shouldn't be any issue. The daily mileage won't be an issue for me --...

I understand the challenges. I started my AT SOBO thru around 25 mpd and averaged 32 south of N.H., taking only one zero (which was unplanned due to tendonitis). I could have done a lot more than...

Thought I'd bump this up. Lots of good advice from a couple years ago. Alas, 2012 and 2013 didn't happen, but I'm planning to do this next year.

Given academic time constraints, I'd like to aim...

No, I didn't keep an online journal. Here's what I remember off the top of my head:

Started July 31 at Katahdin, did 20ish miles the first day.
After 5 days I was at Monson
After 13 I was at...

OK. I feel like I should throw out my 2 cents...

I had a very similar experience in 2009. I had 85 days between the bar exam and starting a new job, and I decided to try to hike the trail. I...

Been awhile since I've been on WB, but I thought I'd solicit some discussion.

I'm an '09 SOBO thru-hiker, finishing in 74-75 days. This was my first distance hike, so I was fairly surprised at...

So the unsupported men's record supposedly is 61 days. Is this just a rumor or can someone confirm this?

I did a SOBO thru hike (my first long-distance hike of any kind) a couple years ago in...

So I'm actually going back to grad school this fall, which is good and bad for the hiking schedule. Good in that I'll have summers off (mostly), bad in that I'll have set times I have to be at...

Going to bump this thread back up. I'm thinking about start dates, and I have a couple in mind:

(1) first half of May -- but worried about hitting snow if I move too quick

(2) early June.
...

(I posted this in the shuttles/trail heads forum, but I thought I'd also post it here)

This may be a little bit late for people who like to plan things ahead (unlike myself). However, after...