Is starting the trail at Springer Mountain cheating?

[D2maine]

Given that I had to climb up Katahdin (note not hike up) before I could even start the AT SOBO (no road to the top), why should you NOBOs get an easy pass. At least you HAVE a trail you can hike up on. The center part of the climb on Katahdin where you gain most of your elevation can't be called a trail by any stretch of the imagination. "I'm going to hike 2180 miles, but hiking 8 miles to start sounds hard so I don't want to do it." I hate to break it to you, but a lot of the AT is hard and gets much harder then the approach trail. The ATC may recognize your achievement, but I never will. And clearly what I think, as an anonymous poster on the internet, should bother you much more then the opinion of the official governing agency of the trail.

And I'm in no way jealous of your stupid road to the top of Springer! Not in any way! I enjoyed falling off a rock 4ft onto my back during my climb of Katahdin and having to go back to Millinocket so I could ice my knee so I could continue my hike. I'm not, in any way, bitter about the whole lack of road.

to do the equivalent you should have gone up helon taylor across knifes edge and continued south from there...oh and make sure its with full pack and not the baxter loaner packs...

[Greenlight]

Okay, you have a point. But think about it. It's only 8 miles. And if you get there the night before, you can spend your last night in a real bed, get a really nice breakfast, and feel like you have actually started FROM somewhere, instead of at the end of a bumpy forest service road that may or may not tear the muffler off the car you're in. When I do my thru, I'm starting from the approach trail. Just because. Once I've triple-crowned, when someone asks me if I did the approach, I'll just make a little Tim the Toolman Taylor grunt and give the asker a noogie.

[foodbag]

I skipped it in 1999 when I made my thru-hike attempt. I didn't lose a minute's thought over it.

[KCNC]

ok, for the record, i was commenting sarcastically... my most sincere apologies to anyone offended by my feeble attempt at humor

Ten demerits.

You have to hike the approach trail backwards as atonement.

[Uncle Joe]

They should probably just white blaze it and be done with it. If I were doing a thru, I'd skip as long as it's blue. Mainly because I've already done it.

[LDog]

They should probably just white blaze it and be done with it.

Yeah! Then just keep going and finally put the southern terminus on Mt Oglethorp's summit! As it should be.

Of course then it would need an approach trail, so this annual thread will continue indefinitely ...


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[MuddyWaters]

Yeah! Then just keep going and finally put the southern terminus on Mt Oglethorp's summit! As it should be.

Of course then it would need an approach trail, so this annual thread will continue indefinitely ...


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Southern terminus belongs on flagg mtn in alabama, if anywhere else.

The original north terminus proposed was mt washington, with spur trail to.katahdin, and spur from n. Alabama to georgia. The katahdin spur was finished in 1940. Alabama spur was never blazed. The pihoti was started in 1970, finished 2008. Would add 300 miles to AT. People been petitioning congress for years.

[TTT]

If you're a SOBO and you start your hike from Springer Mountain then it's cheating

[LDog]

Southern terminus belongs on flagg mtn in alabama, if anywhere else.

Better yet.

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[Gambit McCrae]

I did the Approach SoBo bc I did all of Fontana - Springer SoBo. I also did the approach trail because the shuttle waws $10 cheaper then then getting picked up at base of springer lol

I also did the approach because I wanted to see the falls, the stairs, and the arch.

[Last Call]

For the life of me I can't fathom why anyone would skip the Approach Trail....It's part of the A.T., in fact the first A.T. shelter is right behind the visitor's center at Amicalola.

[Deacon]

For the life of me I can't fathom why anyone would skip the Approach Trail....It's part of the A.T., in fact the first A.T. shelter is right behind the visitor's center at Amicalola.

I’m with you. Seems like folks on Whiteblaze have a love/hate relationship with the approach trail.


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[LDog]

For the life of me I can't fathom why anyone would skip the Approach Trail....It's part of the A.T., in fact the first A.T. shelter is right behind the visitor's center at Amicalola.

Ditto. I departed Amicalola the day before Spring, and stayed at Black Gap AT shelter with the intention of being the first to summit Springer, and so title myself "first hiker of the spring! An act I pulled off.

My register entry

3/20 *We Walk With Spring

Today at 1:14 the Sun was at the point on our celestial sphere where its ecliptic intersected our equator within the constellation of Pisces. Hence, today is the first day of spring. At this point in time night and day stand in balance, but the days of long nights are behind us. Our days are becoming longer, and the earth warmer. As we begin our journey north along the spine of the Appalachians, we'll bear intimate witness to the earth's renewal. And to our own.

LDog GA=>ME

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[One Half]

For the life of me I can't fathom why anyone would skip the Approach Trail....It's part of the A.T., in fact the first A.T. shelter is right behind the visitor's center at Amicalola.

Ah. No it is not.

[Lone Wolf]

For the life of me I can't fathom why anyone would skip the Approach Trail....It's part of the A.T., in fact the first A.T. shelter is right behind the visitor's center at Amicalola.

sure it is

[EuroPacker]

And pretty much everything else...

I’m with you. Seems like folks on Whiteblaze have a love/hate relationship with the approach trail.


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[DBOW!]

It is no different in the north

[peakbagger]

Southern terminus belongs on flagg mtn in alabama, if anywhere else.

The original north terminus proposed was mt washington, with spur trail to.katahdin, and spur from n. Alabama to georgia. The katahdin spur was finished in 1940. Alabama spur was never blazed. The pihoti was started in 1970, finished 2008. Would add 300 miles to AT. People been petitioning congress for years.

Actually the AT in Maine was officially completed on August 4th 1937. . There were two previous guides to Maine but they had missing sections called out. The 1934 edition specifically refers to Katahdin as the northern terminus so it appears to have been recognized as more than a spur path prior to the completion. Of course Myron Avery wrote the guides at that time so he may have elected to treat Katahdin as the terminus so that it would be self fulfilling prophecy.

[Coffee]

I just realized that I took a cut-off trail from a privy once in SNP so I need to redo that entire section.

[dudeijuststarted]

I did the approach trail to Springer Mountain last, about 350 days after the start of my thru hike, when I returned to help some friends get started on their journey. IMO Amicalola is worth it. It's challenging but if you start early, take your time, and don't freak out, you'll have a great first day. This way you won't finish wishing you had done approach trail. Be sure to hydrate like a mofo before you start.