Hiking the Appalachian Trail

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Joey D

Joey D

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One of my life long goals is to hike at least some part of the Appalachian Trail and it looks like I am going to be able to do just that this summer, probably around the first week of July or so. A buddy of mine wants to do it as well. We aren't looking at really doing anything more then a couple of day hikes since we are bother very inexperienced and I don't really know if my knee is up to walking from Georgia to Maine.

We are thinking of driving out to Vermont and hiking through there, parts of New Hampshire and Maine. We'd be taking the Cooper since it would get pretty good fuel mileage and I got to imagine there are some awesome driving roads through the mountains.

I've only ever been out that way once and that was a long time ago when I was a kid. So is there anything I should know about the north east? What sort of weather in summer? Potential cost for lodging and food? Any sites I really need to see? Any places I should avoid? Awesome roads I just can not miss? Stuff like that.

Also any information or tips you can give on either hiking the trail or just hiking in general would be appreciated since like I said I don't have much experience. I already have a pretty nice backpack that I took to Europe with me so I don't really need any suggestions on that but anything else would be helpful.
 
I love Bill Bryson and his account in A Walk in the Woods only confirmed my wants to go and hike the trail. I can some how foresee my buddy and myself being two misfit hikers like they were.
 
Pack light. You don't need a change of clothes for every day. Don't haul marshmallows, a lantern and RISK up a mountain like I did with my buddies. Also, if you KNOW it's going to be dry, you could try just bringing the ground cloth and rain fly of your tent. I wouldn't recommend that for a long hike though.

Use freeze-dried food. And if the Appalachian trail is like the Pacific Crest Trail, they will have stations all around it so you can drop off your stuff there and swap out your trash with fresh food every few days to keep the pack light.

Cotton kills. It takes forever to dry out.

Be ready for anything.

And when you actually do the whole trail, are you going to do it in sections over a few years or would you try to bust it out and go for the whole summer?
 
My dream is to do it in one shot leaving sometime in April. I don't think that will happen unless I become wealthy. I'd be content with section hiking though.
 
2175 miles at 15 miles a day (20 on a flat day) will leave you between 100 and 150 days. it would be a load of fun but a lot of hard work and some dead feet.

Have you done lots of hiking before? You might want to try doing a few 50 milers first.
 
No I'm pretty novice when it comes to hiking which is why I want to go this summer and do a couple day hikes to get a sense of it.
 
I would also try a few overnighters, and maybe even a several day one. And you might want to take some rocks along to give you the feel of a full pack.

I can't say that you can't do it but those trails are for experienced hikers and I'm thinking you might want to have a little more experienced before you go for one of the longest trails in the country.

Is it pretty flat? I know the Appalachians can get pretty hilly but I don't know if this is something in the hills or just running through the farms in the flatter coastal plain.
 
It gets pretty mountainous where we are going. I have done some rocking climbing before so I do know about that. I just want to be able to say I hiked a small portion of one of the biggest trails in the country. The whole trail is just a dream, right now I'm just focused on a 4-5 mile day hike up a mountain or something.
 
Ah OK. That sounds like it would be a lot of fun though! I might be doing a part of the Pacific Crest Trail on a loop near/around Mt. Ranier sometime in the next few summers.
 

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