Mid February-Early March thru hike

[Boots and Backpacks]

I am intrigued by a couple of points regarding starting early:

Boots, can you comment on the following?

1)The trail conditions in northern MA, VT, and southern NH, being that you finished early July? Typically that would mean you hiked through at least part of mud season, and the trail in VT is often a mess up until late May, enough so that the Green Mountain Club and State of VT typically request that hikers stay off the trail until after Memorial Day.

2) George noted that an early start has the advantage of less bugs. While that would certainly hold true for the southern mountains, hiking in New England in May and June is at the height of black fly season. What was your experience like regarding black flies and what measures did you take to help survive hiking through the hatch? Very curious, as I have hiked in VT and NH that time of year, and sometimes they are so thick it's all you can do not to breathe them in. Even with long sleeves and a head net they were sometimes barely tolerable.

Gladly

1. The trail was fantastic through MA, and VT. We did have a little mud around Manchester Center Vt, but it wasn't anything like what we were expecting. We were quite surprised since there was snow in VT only 2 weeks before we got there. There was a lot of mud in the White's, but there were also boardwalks over a lot of it. We didn't have any real issues with mud, but more so water. With being early you're still dealing with snow melt. The first real taste of this was climbing up Kinsman. There was several boardwalks that were submerged in the water. We dealt with a lot of water on the trail from that point on, and into 100 Mile. Of course that also means high water crossings, and a couple of those were difficult.

2. The bugs were awful from MA through ME, and even in sections of NY and PA. We hiked in shorts and t-shirts then entire time, no matter how bad they were. We saw several people that were bit up pretty nicely from the black flies, but they didn't seem to bother us all that bad. We picked up some Black Fly cream in the White's, and I'll see if I can dig up the container when I get home. It worked pretty good, but you needed to apply it about 4 times a day. It was all natural, and smelled like citronella. Deet didn't work all for us, or maybe it did just not 100%. Around 7 PM or so the bugs got better, and weren't as bad. We met some trail crew in VT that swore by washing their clothes in permethrin, and they didn't have any bugs on them. We also wore Sea-to-Summit head nets some of the time when the bugs were bad. After hiking 1700 miles the bugs were the last thing I was worried about. We hiked through prime bug season, it sucked, but it's tolerable.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Gladly

1. The trail was fantastic through MA, and VT. We did have a little mud around Manchester Center Vt, but it wasn't anything like what we were expecting. We were quite surprised since there was snow in VT only 2 weeks before we got there. There was a lot of mud in the White's, but there were also boardwalks over a lot of it. We didn't have any real issues with mud, but more so water. With being early you're still dealing with snow melt. The first real taste of this was climbing up Kinsman. There was several boardwalks that were submerged in the water. We dealt with a lot of water on the trail from that point on, and into 100 Mile. Of course that also means high water crossings, and a couple of those were difficult.

2. The bugs were awful from MA through ME, and even in sections of NY and PA. We hiked in shorts and t-shirts then entire time, no matter how bad they were. We saw several people that were bit up pretty nicely from the black flies, but they didn't seem to bother us all that bad. We picked up some Black Fly cream in the White's, and I'll see if I can dig up the container when I get home. It worked pretty good, but you needed to apply it about 4 times a day. It was all natural, and smelled like citronella. Deet didn't work all for us, or maybe it did just not 100%. Around 7 PM or so the bugs got better, and weren't as bad. We met some trail crew in VT that swore by washing their clothes in permethrin, and they didn't have any bugs on them. We also wore Sea-to-Summit head nets some of the time when the bugs were bad. After hiking 1700 miles the bugs were the last thing I was worried about. We hiked through prime bug season, it sucked, but it's tolerable.

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully other really early starters will read this thread and your reply to get an idea of what to expect.

[Goatgas]

Planning on starting last week of Feb.(23-25). I have winter camped while living in Minnesota and Tennessee so cold camping is nothing new. Im starting with a 0deg bag. Better to be warm at night and waste less energy staying warm. I'm willing to meet up if your going around that timeframe.

[George]

Planning on starting last week of Feb.(23-25). I have winter camped while living in Minnesota and Tennessee so cold camping is nothing new. Im starting with a 0deg bag. Better to be warm at night and waste less energy staying warm. I'm willing to meet up if your going around that timeframe.

0 F setup will be a good choice if you are now living in FL - does not take long to get more sensitive to cold

[George]

2. The bugs were awful from MA through ME, and even in sections of NY and PA. We hiked in shorts and t-shirts then entire time, no matter how bad they were. We saw several people that were bit up pretty nicely from the black flies, but they didn't seem to bother us all that bad. We picked up some Black Fly cream in the White's, and I'll see if I can dig up the container when I get home. It worked pretty good, but you needed to apply it about 4 times a day. It was all natural, and smelled like citronella. Deet didn't work all for us, or maybe it did just not 100%. Around 7 PM or so the bugs got better, and weren't as bad. We met some trail crew in VT that swore by washing their clothes in permethrin, and they didn't have any bugs on them. We also wore Sea-to-Summit head nets some of the time when the bugs were bad. After hiking 1700 miles the bugs were the last thing I was worried about. We hiked through prime bug season, it sucked, but it's tolerable.

yeah the less bugs thing will only be till may

[Rigo]

Mid to late February for me. Definitely not waiting until March.

[lwhikerchris]

Also planning a late Feb. start.

[pflii]

Planning on mid to late feb, quitting my job in early feb, hoping to get as far as possible by august 1st when ill have to leave and move to start school again.

[ryjohnson09]

I just purchased my flight to Atlanta for the 25th of Feb...will be staying with friends and will pick a nice day that weekend to start (probably Feb. 27 or 28)...see you guys out there!

[bemental]

Late February start for me as well. PM sent.

[Dogwood]

for end of Feb, a 10F setup would still be about right - another 10 days later for a 20F set up

Southern Appalachian Mountains don't warm up that fast nor is the weather that reliably predictable in Feb. March is in a radically unpredictable weather pattern from day to day week to week for the southern Appalachians. With mid Feb NOBO starts AT thru-hikers on an about avg daily pace for that time of yr will be going through GSMNP during March some the highest sustained elevation stretches of the entire AT! Temps well below 20* can occur in March through April. *I'd count on it! Historical weather avgs are just that avgs. Factor into those temps type of shelter, individual comfort zones, wind chill factors, wetness, and known lows and highs rather than limiting your weather assessments to temp avgs. Although the 10* set up worked for with your Springer Mt to HP hike, IMO, it serves a greater number to hold onto that 10* sleeping set up at least through April 1. Boots and Backpacks account is typical.

We spent a total of 28 days off the trail. During February, more specifically 2/14-2/28 we were off the trail due to weather. However the weather was not bad enough to keep us from hiking, but where we were staying was the difficult part. We were up a .6 gravel road that we could travel down for about 7 days, and the roads getting back to the trail kept icing over at night. I think maybe 7 of those nights were truly times that we should not have been on trail. Several nights were around -12 to -17 at night, and that was without windshield. The rest of the time we were busy helping the person were staying with, and got caught up in that for a few days. The other days we were off the trail was to visit family, travel to other areas, several zero's, and to slackpack.

We hiked from Hot Springs to just north of Grayson Highlands before we were out of snow. I think that's around 350 miles, maybe? If we had to it again we'd still leave at the same time. Having the trail completely to yourself, and the shelters was something most thru-hikers won't experience. Blazing a trail through fresh snow was great as well. Starting early takes a certain kind of person, and isn't for everyone. You're going to carry more weight to help deal with the cold, and that sucks. There's an upside to carrying more weight early on though. You'll... be able to drop a lot of that weight once the cold is gone. We carried our cold weather gear until Harper's Ferry, and still had a couple cold nights after that.

Like your group's attitude and itinerary Boots and Backpacks!

[Dogwood]

My overall plan is to leave earlier to beat out the mass amount of people who will be arriving in March. As this is my first major hike outside of the military I figured I would give this website a try. I am looking for someone who would like to leave around that same time frame and just experience the first week or so together while we get used to the AT. I plan on leaving with or without someone but would feel more comfortable obviously starting with a familiar face.
I have read multiple books and articles about the AT experience but the information seems to be repeating its self at this point. If you were considering this time frame too please let me know and we can touch base. If not any extra infromation/tips would be greatly appreciated. I have been thinking of doing this trip forever and after saving a comfortable amount of money over the last year I finally told my job I will be leaving in february. Family and friends support me even though they think it is a bit crazy.
Thoughts/questions I might not have thought about would be awesome. Thanks

You will NOT be alone out there as a NOBO AT thru-hiker as this thread indicates. Just here on WB alone, what do you have 5-6 anticipating Feb early starts? There's a link here on WB or the ATC site that follows self declared AT NOBO start dates or other AT hiking other itineraries. You might use that to your advantage in planning your own itinerary and contacting like minded AT hikers with Feb starts.

Sounds like you're a reasonably intelligent person so you likely already know this but I'll comment: you'll create bonds and relationships on as well off the trail on an AT journey. Experiences and relationships will be forged off trail that will assist evolving your hiking prowess too. That's one of the most wonderful aspects of the AT/for AT hikers...the support it gets from those not hiking!

[Mtsman]

I am starting mid feb as well. I am quitting my job Feb 15th and I will probably be out in GA 2-3 days after at the latest.

[George]

Southern Appalachian Mountains don't warm up that fast nor is the weather that reliably predictable in Feb. March is in a radically unpredictable weather pattern from day to day week to week for the southern Appalachians. With mid Feb NOBO starts AT thru-hikers on an about avg daily pace for that time of yr will be going through GSMNP during March some the highest sustained elevation stretches of the entire AT! Temps well below 20* can occur in March through April. *I'd count on it! Historical weather avgs are just that avgs. Factor into those temps type of shelter, individual comfort zones, wind chill factors, wetness, and known lows and highs rather than limiting your weather assessments to temp avgs. Although the 10* set up worked for with your Springer Mt to HP hike, IMO, it serves a greater number to hold onto that 10* sleeping set up at least through April 1. Boots and Backpacks account is typical.
!

when I say a 10F setup, that means personally tested by me for comfort at that temp without doing anything extra (i.e. middle of the night eating/ exercise) this setup would keep me alive ( although less than comfortable ) below zero

I carried this same gear (less the extra food toward the end) till Harpers Ferry

for a start 7-10 days into march a 20F setup (consider synthetic vs down) is not unreasonable/ irresponsible seeing as most will not hit the smokies until early April and constant rain will be more of an issue than cold temps

what is seldom discussed on these "early start threads" :

I have done a lot of Jan / Feb hiking in the southern Appalachians with an average of 1 day in 3 wearing T shirt and shorts - everyone concentrates on the negative when there is a lot of (to me) ideal hiking weather early season

come July there are less than 1 day in 10 that I consider ideal hiking weather

[Lifersol]

I'm headed out around that time frame as well. I might see you out there! Good luck and Happy Trails!!

[George]

You will NOT be alone out there as a NOBO AT thru-hiker as this thread indicates. Just here on WB alone, what do you have 5-6 anticipating Feb early starts?
!

I concur with the not alone - starting mid Feb 2014, I encountered a total of 40 - 50 nobos by HF, only a few hiked in a "void" for as much as a week

IMO, a 75% solitary hike would start before mid Jan and be on Pace to finnish by mid June

[HooKooDooKu]

As long as you are prepared for the cold weather, there's nothing wrong with a February start date.

But I can say that I've gone hiking in the lower elevations of the Smokies and been cold inside a tent with a 20 degree bag and a layer of fleece (NeoAir Xlite for pad). I've also been just fine with the same setup that time of year, and I've seen deep snow that time of.

[HooKooDooKu]

Duplicate (why don't we have a delete button?)

[dbright]

I am planning on starting on Feb 28 on the approach trail. Will start the AT on Monday Feb 29th. Good luck to all and I hope to see you on the trail

[life scout]

Good to get past blood mountain before the bear canister rule kicks in march 1st. Have a great hike to you all.