I'm looking at a number of possible options for a fall hike and the Long Trail is pretty high on the list especially because I have never been in New England before during the peak fall color. With the limited knowledge of the trail that I have so far, I feel like I could complete the end-to-end hike in 10-14 days. I'm going to plan on giving myself 14 days on trail just in case. I have two potential windows of opportunity: September 12-26 and October 14-28.
I'm thinking that by mid October most if not all leaves will be down at the northern terminus but would there be anything at the southern end? Even if there is any foliage in the south, hiking northbound into late October is counter-intuitive to me. I would think that hiking south makes more sense. But then I'd be sure to see no foliage at all, right?
With the mid September start, I would hike southbound hoping for some foliage at some point during the hike ... but I'm not sure that there would be much at all.
I'm not sure that I'd want to hike the Long Trail this fall unless there is a good chance of hitting some peak foliage at some point along the way...
My other option, which I know is going to yield plenty of fall color, would be to hike for a couple of weeks closer to home, like SNP/Front Royal southbound, where I know that color reliably peaks toward the end of October but is pretty good even in mid October. But I've done SNP and would like something a bit different. The Long Trail seems very different (and harder, which is good).
Another option is to thru hike Bartram Trail connecting to the AT at Wayah Bald and then hiking southbound to Springer which I think would also be excellent for foliage in mid-late October. This would be all new territory for me. From what I saw of the southeast on the Foothills Trail this past February it is an area I want to explore more.
I haven't ordered the guidebooks and maps yet and thought I'd see what folks think about this before I invest the money to get the guidebooks. Thanks.