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  1. #1

    Default Summer Section Hike

    Hi all!

    I'm a college student planning on doing a 2.5-3 month section hike with my girlfriend this summer. We have from mid-May to late August off school (total of 104 days), but want to be home for a few weeks towards the end. We both have hiking/camping experience– she grew up hiking in the Whites near her home in New Hampshire, and I did a NOLS course (30 days) in Wyoming a few years back. We plan to hike northbound, and want to make it to Katahdin by the end of the summer. We were wondering:

    Where would be a good place to start? Some ideas we had were:
    - near McAfee Knob, starting around Catawba, VA (too far to make it all the way?)
    - near Harper's Ferry (would we be starting with a less-amazing part of the trail?)
    - somewhere in between?

    For those of you who have thru-hiked the PCT as well– is there any reason you recommend we do that instead? AT is logistically easier for us, being on the East Coast, but we realize that the PCT has perhaps more dramatic views and nicer weather, and we would be really excited to do that as well.

    What would y'all recommend for food planning? We would love to cook nutritious meals– should we plan on mailing ourselves a bunch of stuff, or on buying bulk staples every week (grains/cheese/veggies)? We also have access to a dehydrator.

    Gear questions: Trail runners or boots? Tent, 2 person bivy, or hammocks? Do we need puffy/down jackets, or will a simple mid-weight insulated jacket+layers underneath suffice? Can I bring my Whisperlite Universal (I like flame control for frying/baking) or should we go for a different stove? Is there any other gear you LOVED that we might not have thought of beforehand?

    Thanks so much for answering whatever you can we are so excited for this experience and to join this amazing community of people!

  2. #2
    Registered User
    Join Date
    07-21-2014
    Location
    Bar Harbor, Maine
    Posts
    620

    Default

    Looks like all of your questions could be answered in this site in various threads. There are many possible answers to your questions. Some people have hiked the whole trail in 3 months. Consider researching the lightest gear that fits your style and train hard. Hiking half of the trail should keep the fun factor intact. My approach is tarp/quilt/light pack/simple gear with a base weight around 10 lbs. I like to move and make miles without carrying a beast on my back.

    Have a great trip!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  3. #3

    Default

    Thank you so much for your advice! We'll definitely continue to do our research. Out of curiosity, where would you personally recommend as a starting point if we wanted to hike for 10-12 weeks and reach Katahdin at a reasonable pace?

  4. #4

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by atronc View Post
    Thank you so much for your advice! We'll definitely continue to do our research. Out of curiosity, where would you personally recommend as a starting point if we wanted to hike for 10-12 weeks and reach Katahdin at a reasonable pace?
    If going for 10 weeks, start at the Delaware Water gap. That's 890 miles in 70 days or about 13 miles a day over all average.
    Follow slogoen on Instagram.

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