Section Hiking

[dmorrison]

I live in Charlotte, NC and would love to do a thru hike but I am a school teacher and time just does not permit it. My "penciled in" plan is to start a hike near Bland, VA and hike as far north as I can beginning the end of May ending July 31st. Then I will pick up as much of the southern part of the trail as i can in long weekends and vacations in the fall. The following summer I will head back north and attempt to complete the northern section. Does this make sense to those of you in the know? Thanks for your help?

[Rmcpeak]

I'm a teacher too and have been using a lot of my time off over the last two years to section hike the AT with the intent of section hiking MD/PA line to Springer and then thru hiking MD/PA line to Katahdin at some point in the future. Here's my blog: http://hikingbob.blogspot.com.

Last summer I did Damascus to Pearisburg (and a couple of shorter sections too), which includes Bland. You might consider starting in Damascus as there are good hostels and outfitters there. Then hike north and see how much of VA you can get done in the time allotted.

I've hiked about 600 miles now. I should finish VA over spring break (Daleville to Waynesboro) and then I'll have MD/PA line to Damascus (almost Tennessee) hike, plus about 40 miles around Roan Mtn. in NC. The more I hike the more I want to start/stop where I last left the trail. That is, I'm now taking a more systematic approach, rather than just hiking whatever section looks good next.

There's no wrong way to go about it. Go for it!

[dmorrison]

Good info! Thanks for that and I will check out your blog!

[Gambit McCrae]

I have been completing the AT by section hikes most of which average 30 mile sections. Smart by leaving trail closest to home to do in small sections, my completion is organized, but not tactful until not I can no longer drive to the AT (small section of VA left), and there for am starting over for a second completion in march just to have something to do.

[dmorrison]

Excellent! Thanks for the reply! I am excited to get going. I have done day hikes in several areas of the AT. I will be doing overnights this summer to prep and begin the long hike May of 2018.

[illabelle]

Makes great sense! Our sections are shorter, but that's the exact strategy we use. Sounds like you'll finish much quicker than we will on the 10-year-plan. One part that may be difficult for you is dealing with the heat during the summer. It is what it is.

I live in Charlotte, NC and would love to do a thru hike but I am a school teacher and time just does not permit it. My "penciled in" plan is to start a hike near Bland, VA and hike as far north as I can beginning the end of May ending July 31st. Then I will pick up as much of the southern part of the trail as i can in long weekends and vacations in the fall. The following summer I will head back north and attempt to complete the northern section. Does this make sense to those of you in the know? Thanks for your help?

[chknfngrs]

I call myself SASHer (opposite LASHer) doing as few as 5 miles at a time. It's what I have to do to get my fix.

[dmorrison]

Yes, that heat is a concern but I would rather hike in hot than cold! That is just me. I am hoping to finish the trail in 4 years. Thanks for the reply!

[dmorrison]

i totally get that! Hike on!

[hikernutcasey]

If you are a teacher with summers off you should have no problem completing the trail. With that kind of time you might be able to get it knocked out in 3 or 4 years.

I like your idea of starting your longer hike further north and leaving the southern sections to do as weekend trips. That's a really good plan and you may want to start even further north than Bland since you can shoot right up I-77 and I-81 to the Roanoke area in 2 to 3 hours time from Charlotte.

I live just up the road from you in Elkin, NC and have been section hiking for 7 years now, completing 1,260 miles so far. It started out with 3 and 4 day weekend trips ranging from 30 to 60 miles all in the south. Now we are almost through Pennsylvania with plans to do weeklong trips each time we go up north, knocking out anywhere from 100 to 120 miles each trip.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Yes, that heat is a concern but I would rather hike in hot than cold! That is just me. I am hoping to finish the trail in 4 years. Thanks for the reply!

I have a lot of trouble hiking in the heat. The trick I've found is to get up early and hike for several hours before it gets hot. Then take a break for a few hours during the worst of the heat and the hike again until dusk.

The plan in your original post sounds great by the way.

[dmorrison]

That makes a lot of sense about hiking in the heat. Be great to find a little pond for a swim and siesta! Thanks for the input!

[dmorrison]

That is a good thought about starting a little further north. I would be open to suggestions about that. Obviously the further north I start the further north I end. Then less to do in the north the following summer. Does anyone have a suggestion of where I would have to start to get to the 100 Mile Wilderness? Assuming I travel average miles in 60 days.

[Kerosene]

Check out the AT Distance Calculator at http://www.atdist.com/ which will allow you to calculate your own averages and start/end times.

For example, the southern end of the 100 Mile Wilderness is Monson, Maine. Delaware Water Gap is just about 780 trail miles south. If you average 100 miles per week and have about 8 weeks of hiking, then that might be a good starting point. Of course, average miles hiked per week can vary quite a bit by person. Plus, you should probably start out a bit slower than average and ramp it up as you go along (those 56-year old legs and heart aren't as strong as they once were!). Also, note that you will be hiking about 1.0 mph slower than your typical average once you get to the White Mountains, so your total miles in a day tends to drop by 30-40% versus the "smoother" sections to the south.

Note that there are fewer easy-to-access bail out points once you reach New Hampshire, so you may want to be a bit more conservative on your average mileage if it is critical that you end in Monson. Alternatively, start a bit further south and recognize that you may not reach Monson this trip, but you can adjust your stopping point as you get closer to the end of July.

Have fun. It only took me 41 elapsed years to complete the AT, mostly in 100-mile sections. Of course, I didn't do much backpacking in the 80's or 90's as I was focusing on career and family and had relocated to Michigan.

[Alligator]

Along the lines of what Kerosene said, if you have a reasonable estimate of your daily hiking miles, you can divide that into the length of the trail you want to section in shorter hikes. Springer to Bland is roughly 600 miles. At 10 miles per day, that is about 60 days or at 15 mpd, 40 days. I lanned my weekend hikes as 30-50 mile chunks, often around a holiday/day off work. Then you will have your summer hiking time to consider as well. Maybe 70-100 miles a week. As another poster mentioned, you aren't too far from other accesssible weekend trips. That midpoint divide between long and short hikes could therefore be shifted further north, depending on your schedule. Consider how far you might drive to do a weekend hike. At some point, the driving and transportation costs tend to make a short section infeasible.

As a teacher, you will be able to knock out large chunks over the summers. In just three summers you could have 1500+ miles done easily in 5-6 week periods. Think about how many weekends you might realistically hike, plus winter and spring breaks. Depends a lot on your other social commitments.

[rafe]

OP's plan makes sense to me. At least in the sense of: short sections close to home, sections getting longer as the endpoints get farther from home. Getting to and from each section takes time and costs money. Youi're trying to maximize the ratio of hiking time to getting-to-the-trail time.

You'll know after your first few longish hikes what to expect for average daily mileage. Bearing in mind, the central (mid-Atlantic) part of the trail is the easier part. The two ends are the hardest, particularly the north end. Figure 10-20% few miles per day at the ends.

In the resources section of Whiteblaze you'll find some nice articles by mapman discussing average hiking rates over the trail, state by state. Some interesting and surprising results, eg. Georgia is almost as hard as New Hampshire in terms of vertical change per mile of trail.

[theinfamousj]

I am a former high school teacher and I made a plan to section hike the AT. I would do two, one week sections a year: one during spring break and one during summer break. That way I still had time to work on my CEUs and just sleep.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[dmorrison]

Thanks for the info! Lots of good stuff here. I appreciate it very much!

[dudeijuststarted]

I think its a great idea, go for it!

[Puddlefish]

I ended my hike in Bland VA this year, and plan to head back there again in the spring. It's not the easiest place to get to by public transportation. I'm Flying into Roanoke and taking a shuttle to the trail. Bubba runs a local shuttle, nice guy, reasonable rates, punctual.