Wanting to start section hiking the AT

[DanglingModifier]

I recommend the AT Guide by AWOL

+1 on this. Great guide. A map or compass are optional because of the great guides, well marked trails, and amount of traffic on the trail.

Just because you are considering section hiking, don't rule out reading all the info, web pages, and gear lists dedicated to thru hiking. Most of the stuff is still applicable to section hiking.

Best advice is to pack as light as you can and take very proactive care of your feet. As noted, Mountain Crossings will happily tear apart your pack while tsk'ing at you for including a solar boom box radio and machete.

If your goal is to eventually finish the AT then taking only a week at a time will eventually make for a long and expensive time. You'll lose a day or more on each end just getting to/from trailheads, especially as they get further from home and more remote. After cutting your teeth on a couple one week long outings near home and deciding you like doing it, I would suggest targeting two week trips (or more) whenever possible to actually get some mileage done. A week on the trail is definitely long enough to identify major problems with your gear (boot fit for instance), but it isn't really long enough to get yourself broken in to hiking every day.

Since Amacalola and Springer Mtn are the closest part of the trail to you it probably makes sense to start there. Drop your car off in Hiawassee, GA and get a lift back to Springer. The hike back to your car from Springer will be anywhere from 54 to 80 miles depending on how you get to Springer (Approach Trail vs Big Stamp Gap/USFS 42) and where you pull out for Hiawassee (via Unicoi Gap/GA75 or further at D I C K's Creek Gap/US76). Lots of options and many places to get aid or pull off the trail if you need it.

Starting in March means you'll have a lot of colorful thru hiker company on the trail and you may have inclement weather. It will also mean you have a lot more competition for shelter space and camp sites around the shelters. If pretty foliage and forest solitude is your goal start somewhere/somewhen else on the trail.

[WesArnold]

Going to be following this thread / idea. It is unrealistic at this time to think that I could take off for 6 months or so, but one to three weeks at a time would seem to work. The problem as I see it is that you will just be getting into the hiking "zone" physically and mentally when you hang it up for the year.

True - but right now, a week seems like a lot to me as I've only ever done 1 and 2-night trips. Right now I get 3 weeks vacation per year - but I'm sure I'll get more as I advance w/ my company - so might could do more than 1 week per year.

[WesArnold]

You will go right through Mountain Crossings at Neels Gap on Hwy 129 at about mile 30. They are known for helping hikers "dump" excess gear. You might want to give them a call and even make that a pre-trip stop on your way to the trail head. Here is their site, http://www.mountaincrossings.com/default.asp.

Yes! I remember seeing a documentary on National Geographic about the AT and that place was on it. The guy was naming off all kinds of stuff that people have shipped back home: extra boots, books, extra tents, etc. I was like, "wow, people really break extra TENTS?" - I definitely plan on stopping there for sure!

[WesArnold]

My dad has done about 85% of the AT. He did training weekends in SW Va, covering 100+ miles then went to GA for his thru attempt in 2013. He made it to Harper's Ferry by July, flipped and went to Maine . Unfortunately he took an impromptu swim on his 3rd day out, screwed up his knee and lost his tent poles. After a month of recovery, he went back to Harper's Ferry and made it to the 1/2 way point by late October. This year he tried to finish, starting at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in April and made it to the Massachusetts/Vermont border, before calling it quits in early July.

He started doing 8-10 miles a day, though he went nuts his first day out from Springer and did 15! By the time he was in Wva, he was regularly doing 12-15. He's planning on finishing with my son by doing a section or 2 each summer. In Boy Scouts I did a 50 miler every winter break and I think that'd be a good starting point, depending on fitness level, maybe budget 10 mile days? Mountain Crossings is a really cool place.

I'm thinking 8-10 is what I'm going to use as the guideline for this first trip. I usually do that much on my local trips around here so - I hope I can do it for 3 or 4 days more in a row. lol

[WesArnold]

Good thing about doing a 6-7 day trip in Ga is that you have Mountain Crossings at Neel Gap right in the middle of it. So, you take 3 days of food to start out with, and buy 3 days worth there.

Are you married to northbound? Personally, Amicalola is a great place to finish. Great safe place to leave your car and get shuttled, coke machines at the finish, the arch to go through to cap the moment you finish (seems a bit blah for a start), and of course - its downhill the last 4 miles of the hike in. Could even stay at the Lodge and enjoy dinner and the bar there at the end of your hike before you head home. Just a thought.

If you go Sobo, I'd start at Dicks Creek Gap. That's about 76 miles from there to Amicalola, or a little less than 13 miles per day for 6 full days. Very doable, especially if you've got 1 or 2 half days in there as well. The next paved road trailhead is Unicoi Gap 16 miles AT south and would be only 59 miles to Amicalola - less than 10m per day.

To me, Springer Mt might be where I would start a thru hike, but not a section hike. Nor would I care to end a hike there where I then had to hike back the way I came to the car or shuttle. And that's another thing, I'd rather have my car waiting for me at the end of the hike and get shuttled to the starting point, and Amicalola is a much better place to do that, even if there is a fee for it. My 2 cents.

I've hiked Ga both ways, so let me know if you need any details as you get closer to making them.

Yeah I'm pretty set on going Northbound. I'm a bit OCD and want to start at one end, end at the other. Don't want to re-hike different sections. The idea was that next time I go back - I start at the last ending point.

I am planning on leaving my car where I plan to come out - and be shuttled to the starting point before the hike. The first section or two - the wife and my mother may come and be our shuttle so they can go shopping that weekend and stay in a hotel wherever that is. lol.

[WesArnold]

So I've read that a lot of people call ahead and register at shelters ahead of time. What happens when they're full? What options do you have then?

[eagleJ]

Just finished that section again the end of last month. The elevation gain/loss on the AT in Ga. is 307' per mile second highest on the AT. I did Springer Mt to Deep Gap NC 6 days which is about 14 miles per day. Which was tough for the 2 newbies that I accompanied, 1 bailed at Neel's Gap. Being 1st trip you should probably aim for Unicoi Gap.

[eagleJ]

Only place you register for shelters is in the Smokies. If there full you tent or hang which is my preference any way.

[Rain Man]

I've section hiked the AT since 2003. I've hiked as little as 1.5 miles one day. I've done one-day section hikes. I've done two-week hikes. Main thing I learned is to be flexible, to "chill," and not to get too caught up in gear, etc., but to figure out what works okay for me. Every trip is a bit of a evolution. So far I've hiked every step from Amicalola to the Hudson River in NY, plus all of NH and a small portion of Maine.

Have fun.

Rain Man

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[dakotaross]

So I've read that a lot of people call ahead and register at shelters ahead of time. What happens when they're full? What options do you have then?

And why would you want to stay at a shelter?