NOBO Springer to Davenport Advice

[RambleOn]

Start 5/15 and end 6/1.

Planning my "tentative" daily mileage. Need some help relating Guthooks and NG maps Elevations to reality, in terms of difficult sections.

I know the Approach Trail is tough - no worries first day, 9 miles and have a very similar hike here in ATX that i have used as a training base.

But then tough areas appear to be

Climb up Blood Mountain
Dicks Creek to Standing Indian
Franklin, NC back up to
Nantahala to Sassafras looks killer and then
Fontana Damn all the way to Clingmans, then it gets easy.

What am i missing? I can handle long low grades all day long. just trying to gauge the sections/miles with the 8% and higher grades.

Also, in terms of resupply - looks tricky in getting into Franklin and then after Nantahala, i don't see any more resupply points for the roughly 100 miles i have to get to Davenport to finish my last 5 days.

Thoughts, suggestions and counsel appreciated in advance.

Many thanks!

Todd from Austin

[MuddyWaters]

I wouldn't characterize any of that as tough.
Just normal. Normal southern AT.
So a climb is 3000 foot instead of 2000 foot, so what? Its just time.

The approach is not hard, piece o cake.
Blood Mountain is not hard
Standing Indian is not hard
The climb out of NOC to cheoah is not hard
The climb out of Fontana is not hard


You really cannot gauge how tough hiking is just by looking at vertical.
Except that it's tougher than walking on level ground.

I promise you as soon as you cross in the North Carolina the trail gets much smoother and better graded and you won't even notice it compared to nothern ga section you just left. The climb to Standing Indian is nothing.

The most difficult part of Georgia is between Unicoi Gap and NC. The trail is Rocky with small ups and downs as get closer to nc.

The toughest part of the Smokies is between Rocky Top and Siler . Several small steep Rocky up and downs. Forget about what looks like a big climb that ain't whats hard. Is the uneven footing and rocks that slow you down and make it hard.



Resupply?
Did you miss Fontana? Gatlinburg? Cherokee?

You're planning 5 days/ 100 mi from NOC to Davenport? And you worried about the approach Trail being hard?
You better plan more time. And if you can do that in that terrain, there's no reason to worry about anything being hard.

Don't forget gsmnp limits You by staying in shelters as well. And you got a couple of days lost to resupplying too.

If you haven't done it before you might be in for a bit of a shock. If you have, no worries.

It's always better to plan conservatively mileage you know you can make, than to plan mileage you cannot make.

[RambleOn]

Thanks for the feedback. At first I was thinking what a great guy, then you got a bit preachy with me about the time you started to school me on Resupply. I did not miss Fontana. That comes AFTER resupplies at Nantahala and Franklin, Fontana being at the 164 mile mark. Right? To this point, I don't see how I can lose a day due to resupply since they are all on the trail. Am i missing something on that? I see Gatlinburg on the 205 mark past Clingmans. I realize I can hitch there.

But the purpose of my post was to gain some education about the specifics of the area of the AT. I did LeConte last July and it was a breeze, albeit just a day pack in and out. I'm confused by your 5 day/100 mile comment. I count 74 miles from Fontana to Pigeon River at I40. I have that as 15, 16, 13, 12 and 18, espectively. So stocking up at Fontana is only 1 more day of food than i'd like to carry, but it would keep me from a hitch into Gatti. and it is a consumable.

I have not done a Section Hike before. But I have done a lot of full day backpacking and multi-day cycling trips. I did RAGBRAI (7 days on a bike going the 500 miles across Iowa) from 2012 to 2017, including 2012 where i had to ride 4 days straight at 90+ miles in 104 real/112 heat index and did fine. I am training now and this weekend did back to back 10 days with 32 pounds and nothing but rocks and double digit grades for most of the trail in and out, up and down.

But no, I have no idea if i can pull this off or not. I have my daily mileage estimated. And I know that will change on the first day. You cannot plan these things. Beauty is, I have no agenda. Anytime I get tired and want to pull off, I'll just Uber to my second home in Burnsville, or if my wife is there, if I did bail, would get her to come get me, and go trout fishing and drinking instead.

Like I said in the beginning, you sound like you have the kind of knowledge about the section that I am looking for and could be of great benefit to a person like me looking for knowledge. And i understand about expectations versus reality. Have my whole life. Was mainly just looking for information which I very much appreciate the specificity in highlighting the sections as you did.

I've got 16 days allocated from the top of Springer and heading North. If i make it to I-40 great. If not, I don't care. I'm going to enjoy my days.

Thanks again for the feedback, and I would appreciate anymore advice you have for me in terms of best resupply points as wells as days where a person can really make hay on mileage and days to pull back.

All best to you.

Ramble On from Austin