When to start appalachian trail
Why you should NOT start your thru hike in March | Appalachian Trail
one of the many things to consider when
planning an Appalachian Trail thru-hike
is when to start and where to start
speaking of starting March is the
beginning the start of thru-hikers
season it is incredibly busy coming out
of a McCullough falls on top of Springer
Mountain heading northbound on your 18th
through hike today I am going to discuss
reasons that you may not want to start
your through hike in March so if you're
planning your 18 through hike and you're
thinking about starting at March here
are some things to consider
[Music]
hey welcome back hikers and I hope
future through hikers to follow a
Bigfoot where knowledge is our niche to
hiking the outdoors
special video here today this is
actually a video that you guys chose I
did a little bit of a poll on my channel
here this last week on four different
video topics which one would you like
for me to start with first now I have
the intention of doing all these videos
but what you guys wanted to hear from
first is reasons why you should not
start your thru-hike in March all right
well before we get into this I want to
do a very brief disclosure I am NOT
against starting your thru-hike on the
Appalachian Trail in March heading
northbound as a matter of fact I think
for many people it makes sense I know
there's probably hikers right now that
are probably sitting at the amical Falls
Lodge starting to throw out tomorrow
watching this video and thinking crap
did I make a mistake alright so don't
freak out I am going to discuss all the
reasons but for some hikers there are
things that you need to consider before
you land on starting in March now when I
was thinking about this video and the
content I came up with a list of things
that I felt were valid reasons oh why
you might not want to start you through
hiking March I did not start my through
hiking March as a matter of fact my
through hiked the Appalachian Trail I
started my hike in April April 23rd
although I did go back to Georgia the
following year in March and did the
entire Georgia section and so I do have
experience hiking in Georgia in March
but what I decided to do gather
information opinions from some of the
folks out there that deal with this
stuff every single day and the folks
that came first to mind are the folks
right there on the 80 that deal with
hikers every single March I had an
opportunity to talk to four different
people from plasini read off some of my
notes just so I can stay organized the
first one the visitor center at amiable
defaults I talked to a gentleman there
his name is hunter he's been working at
Amicalola Falls visitor center for a
little bit and I also talked to a Ridge
Runner that his area is somewhere in
that a McCullough Falls area but he was
at the Visitor Center when I spoke to
him his name is Nick his trail name is
Master Splinter and then I
maaan crossings which is at Neal's gap
which is the first major landmark they
hit on the 80 heading northbound from
Springer is also notoriously the place
where a lot of people hang it up
actually literally they hang up their
boots in a tree and they call it quits
matter of fact about one out of every
five hikers will quit at mountain
crossings but I spoke to a gentleman
there named Ryan his trail name is one
speed he threw out the Appalachian Trail
in 2015 along with the long trail and
then last year he did the PCT I decided
to call top of Georgia hostile I talked
to Bob Sir packs a lot so I got a
variety of perspective outside of just
my own on this subject after gathering
all this information from these four
experienced dudes and myself I came up
with five different reasons why you
might want to reconsider starting it
through hike in March but here's some
numbers first and then we'll get into
the reasons for the hikers out there
that start in January which is about 75
to 100 every year almost 100% of those
hikers quit I know we're talking about
March but I just thought that was
interesting
I mentioned 20 percent of the hikers
quit at mountain crossings one in five
twenty five percent of the hikers quit
at Dick's Creek gap which is mile
markers 69 and then half half quit at
Hot Springs which is mile marker two
seventy four point five now the busiest
30 day stretch in Georgia on the trail
is mid-march to mid-april
with weather conditions in March every
year they have to rescue hikers that are
stranded or stuck in the mountains of
Georgia now at the time of my discussion
with the visitor center and Amoco Falls
which was on Friday March 8th
there have been 695 hikers that have
registered at Amicalola Falls State Park
visitor center for their thru-hike
northbound now the last week they were
getting somewhere between 40 maybe even
upwards to 50 hikers starting each day
there are a lot more hikers that start
there through hike and don't register
highly recommended to register so we can
get an accurate number on how many folks
are actually on the trail and try to
manage the trail conditions a little bit
the actual number of hikers is about
doubled
what checks in through the ATC and an
amicable falls visitor center now for
those of you that aren't familiar with
ATC stands for Appalachian Trail
Conservancy that is the organization
that manages the 80 I did reach out to
them my friend Laurie Potter we did a
video actually together you might have
seen it last February when I did the
winners for state challenge we did a
tour of the ATC but she was out of the
office unfortunately and I didn't get a
chance to connect with Lori I would love
to have her opinion on this matter as
well but didn't get that opportunity all
right so that's enough about the numbers
let's go ahead and go in to reason
number one which is weather weather in
Georgia I think a lot of hikers think
that it's gonna be sunshine rainbows and
butterflies and that's just not the case
actually in Georgia and March it's their
rainy season they also sometimes have
extended weather from winter that's
bleeding right into March last week it
got down into these single digits and
then if you factor in the wind it
actually fell below zero negative
temperatures so you need to be prepared
for this so that's the first thing and
whether it's it's gonna be cold and I
remember actually I think it was in 2017
maybe it was yeah 2017 there was a leak
that it got very very cold I mean I
think it was a whole entire week that it
was in the single digits it might even
crept below zero and the negatives bunch
of hikers had to get off the trail
because they weren't prepared
those temperatures which everything
filled up really really quick I also
heard that some hikers had to be rescued
in the Smokies during this stretch of
March now temperatures aren't the only
thing that you have to worry about with
weather in March it is not uncommon for
to snow in Georgia in March and then
when you get into the Smokies it
intensifies 2013 there was four feet of
snow that was dumped in the Smokies so
much that Newfound Gap collapsed there
was a hiker very experienced I was told
he decided to push through go into the
Smokies got stranded no one could get to
him and unfortunately he paid the
ultimate price and ended up dying which
is something that I think everyone needs
to consider is this not just Georgia
that you're starting when you're
starting so early you
have to think about what weather's gonna
be like in the Smokies it is really
unpredictable
as a matter of fact you really aren't
clear of possible weather conditions and
the Smokies until the end of May I'm not
saying that you need to start on like
June first because you wouldn't have
time to be able to get through the
entire 80 it's just not uncommon for it
to snow and have winter conditions in
the Smokies really late so starting it
through hike in March you got to worry
about the temperatures we got to worry
about the possibility of snow and then
rain like I said earlier it is the rainy
season in March rain and cold conditions
are really serious for any through hiker
in March when a lot of inexperienced
hikers are just starting and learning
everything they don't have a lot of
skill sets and this just adds to that
list of things that you need to worry
about number two when weather hits it
shortens the learning curve for in
experienced hikers so with all these
things going on first off hikers are not
equipped to handle these kind of
conditions a lot of them are but many of
them are not so they get into these
situations sometimes survival situations
so I was talking to bobster packs a lot
every single year both him and mountain
crossings get calls for support on
trying to rescue these hikers they get
stranded they get stuck they call 9-1-1
and sometimes they ask for their
guidance and their help to try to get
these hikers to safety now specifically
to equipment a lot of inexperienced
hikers don't have the right clothing to
handle these conditions the number one
thing that you need to do is stay dry
and stay warm they handle these
conditions and do very very well in cold
and wet conditions is wool and fleece so
make sure you do your research have the
right clothing have the right materials
for the worst possible conditions that
you can experience now speaking of this
learning curve the next thing is money a
lot of hikers that are out there don't
have unlimited funds they're in between
jobs are in between schooling they just
got done graduating they don't have a
lot of money when they end up getting on
trail and they're not equipped to handle
these conditions they and
dropping a ton of money at places like
mountain crossings to get the gear that
they need in these conditions now one
thing that one speed which is the guy
that I spoke to at Mon crossing said you
can't buy your way out of this there was
actually a guy that came in just the
other day and dropped $1,000 on all
kinds of new different gear because he
didn't have the right gear to start off
with only ended up making it one day
more you just can't buy your way out of
it but for many of you out there you
don't have the money to do this anyways
so what ends up happening you buy all
this gear and even if it works and you
are able to stay on trail a lot of times
folks have to get off trail because they
ran out of money and they can't afford
to keep on hiking so I'll just say this
again when and where you start you
through like make sure that you do your
research and you are prepared for the
absolute worst possible conditions so
that you don't land into the worst
possible outcomes of those conditions
moving on to my third reason if you're
starting your through hike and early
through hiking season March or earlier
you have to bring more gear or the gear
that you bring is gonna be heavier
because you need to have the right gear
to handle the conditions that you might
experience now stating the obvious here
you're bringing more gear heavier gear
your pack weight is gonna go up which
means you're gonna hike less miles
you're going to spend more money because
you're on the trail longer you are
spending more money on this gear that
you have to upgrade to reason number
four the trail is overcrowded I
mentioned earlier that hunter from
Amicalola Falls State Park visitor
center said that 690 folks have
registered so far this year half of
those are probably in the first seven or
eight days of March because they're
getting forty to fifty a day double that
and that's probably close to a more
accurate number of hikers probably
somewhere around 14 to 1500 hikers that
are on the trail right now now I spoke
to one speed among crossings about this
overcrowding thing and he looked at it
as hiking through a city he said it's
very common for that Hockman shelter
which is the first major shelter on the
80 to have 50 to 60 hikers stay in there
in March if your intention to throw in
the Appalachian Trail is to seek
solitude then this is
probably a bit of a problem starting at
March in Georgia now finding solitude in
March isn't impossible to do this if you
want to stay at a place that no one's
staying at you're gonna have to find the
Stealth campsite that probably means
that you're gonna have to end your hike
early for the day or you're gonna have
to hike more miles to find the spot now
with over Carney of hikers this also
poses a major problem for the trail
itself the conditions of the trail when
I spoke to hunter he wouldn't a little
bit deeper with us there are so many
hikers you have so many hikers out there
a lot of them aren't digging the proper
cat holes proper cat hole should be six
to eight inches deep in four to six
inches wide a lot of hikers out there
aren't even digging there is pooping in
the woods and they're leaving it right
there remember it's rainy season the
rain washes that away and where do you
think that goes it goes into your
nearest water source not just to mention
that but you have people peeing
everywhere so the combination of the pee
and the feces the rainy season and all
this overcrowding gives the higher risk
of very unsanitary waters in these areas
now hunter recommended that you have two
different ways to be able to purify your
water first your filter he recommends a
Sawyer to squeeze second that you bring
something to help purify that after you
filter it like aqua mara or some sort of
tablet the more people that we have on
the trail the worse that it gets I
strongly empower all of you to be his
trail advocates when you see people that
aren't following proper trail etiquette
I did a video on trail headed kid and
I'll link it above here if you haven't
seen it yet you see something say
something
the behavior of these very few
individuals never change and sometimes
they encourage others to do the same
when you see something say something my
fifth and final reason due to the
overcrowding you just have a greater
chance of no vacancy where you would
like to stay whether it's in town or at
a hostel during this busy season
especially during the month of March
now speaking with bobster packs a lot on
his hostile topic georgia every single
day by noon they fill up in the month of
March plan ahead but not
a head sometimes Bob we get calls from
people that were at Neal's gap which is
mile-marker like 32 or something trying
to book their stay at Dix Creek gap for
a week later when there's a lot of
things that can happen in a week but Bob
recommends is call the night before or
the morning of typically if you call in
the a.m. or the p.m. the night before
you'll be able to get a spot reserved at
his hostel so that wraps up my five
reasons or five things to consider
before you are set to start your
thru-hike in March but I have some
advice all the guys I talked to we ended
our conversation with me asking them
what advice do you have for through
hikers
for through hikers that might want to
start in March or other times a year or
just advice in general first piece of
advice which was from Master Splinter
that bridge runner in Georgia he says
flip-flop flip-flop is highly encouraged
and I know it's something that the ATC
highly encourages starting somewhere
like Harpers Ferry and heading
southbound and then you can flip around
and then go back to Harpers Ferry and
head northbound or even going southbound
second piece of advice and this one is
from Sir packs a lot to avoid most of
the severe weather conditions that
you're gonna see in Georgia try to plan
starting your thru-hike no earlier than
March 21st so March 21st is the first
official day of spring typically most of
the severe weather is passed in Georgia
at that point now you still have to
worry about the Smokies but by the time
you get up in the Smokies you are
probably sitting somewhere in April and
again the chances of likelihood are less
you can get severe weather conditions in
the Smokies as I said earlier as late as
late May one-speed had a couple of
pieces of advice first and I think this
is fantastic know your self attributes
to help in your decision on your start
date now if you know that you're gonna
have a much slower pace and you're gonna
be on trail for seven months then yeah
maybe you you do need to start March so
that's okay but make sure that you are
prepared knowing your self attributes is
going to really help make a lot of
any decisions for you when you're
planning your through like especially
like when you need to start the second
thing that one speed said is make sure
that you set achievable goals for
yourself to strive for I think that's
really important and that's something
that drove me every single day I had
some sort of goal maybe it was a goal of
how many miles I wanted to get in today
maybe it was a goal of how much water
that I wanted to drink to make sure that
I'm staying hydrated maybe it was a
certain mileage of where I wanted to be
at noon I think you need to have some
sort of goals and it helps keep things
real and it tricks yourself your mind a
little bit or else things start to
become like Groundhog Day it's the same
thing day after day after day and this
just changes things up a little bit does
some good things for mind now this next
piece of advice every single person I
spoke to gave this piece of advice and
this is one of the number one things
that I tell everyone dial in your gear
and get out on the trail and hike in a
variety of conditions if you have the
ability to get out there on the trail
when you know what the conditions are
going to be really wet all weekend what
a great way to not just test that all
you get it works but to get you the
experience of using this gear in those
conditions but also what I think is
extremely important is to get experience
so you know what to expect this is the
mental side of things what box our pack
alots recommended is booked a plane
ticket and fly into Atlanta the airport
is so big you can get really great deals
on tickets and then range some
transportation to get up to Springer
Mountain and do a section hike in
Georgia my own opinion here I can't
think of a better section hike to get
ready for an 80 through Ike then doing
Springer Mountain to kneel gap I think
that is a perfect way to get accustomed
to what life is going to be on the trail
now contrary to this video being about
reasons why you should not start your
through I can March Master Splinter that
Ridge Runner actually recommended to
start your through hike in March for
most people again if it makes sense he
thinks from a timing standpoint
most folks are going to take six months
to do their thru-hike and for them to be
able to get to Katahdin safely before
you get really bad conditions up there
which is mid-october and on you're gonna
need to start earlier in the year and
you don't want to be pressed for time
now one thing that hunter said a
positive thing about hiking in March in
Georgia is typically Bears aren't active
at that time so there is obviously
positives and a lot more than just that
- also hiking in March and lastly
bobster packs a lot gave this piece of
advice and I think this is spot-on
because I saw this a lot on the trail
don't allow pride to camouflage good
decision-making so many times we are so
prideful and hard-headed because we told
everyone we're gonna through hike dat
and then the last thing that we want to
do is come home with our tail between
our legs so instead we push we make poor
choices poor decisions and that can lead
to some of these stories I said earlier
about people in survival situations or
just overdoing it and getting injured
so don't let pride get in the way of
making good solid decisions now I'm
gonna wrap up the content of this video
with the four most common reasons why
people quit their thru-hike their
northbound thru-hike at Neal's gap at
bone crossings I got this from one speed
one speed has been working among
crossings I think this is third or maybe
fourth season among crossings so he
talks and sees a lot of hikers and I
said earlier about one in five hikers
will quit here number one reason why
hikers quit Neal's gap is it's not what
they thought it would be the second
reason whether they just can't take the
cold the rain the conditions the third
reason no views remember what I said
about March being a very rainy season
lots of overcast in Georgia and I
actually added a number four in here why
we get to number four but I feel like in
my opinion that the fourth reason is
some sort of injury or just body
discomfort in general they're they're
just
not happy with how they're feeling
they're in pain and they can't go on
well that wraps up the content of this
video if you found this video to be of
any help or you learn something new
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