Welcome to the AppalachianTrailCafe.net!
Take a moment and register and then join the conversation

Hiking plan for 2024

    This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy.

    • Hiking plan for 2024

      Even though my leg isn't fully healed yet I can't help but think about our plan to hike the southern half of the A.T. in 2024. We're thinking to start either in Harper's Ferry or Washington DC and hike to Springer Mt. In the past I've always used the AT Companion to plan our section hikes and the one I have now is from 2021 so I need a new, updated guide. Are there any trail guides set up specifically for people going SOBO on the AT ?

    • LIHikers, most hikers seem to be using the Apps now. Not me, so I cannot tell you if they are any tailored to SOBOs or not.

      Have you picked out start date yet? I'm thinking SOBO southern half, end of August might be a good start time. Hopefully you would miss the worst of the summer mugginess, and still be home before Thanksgiving.

      Scott
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”

      John Greenleaf Whittier

    • theatguide.com/

      I have bought the AT Companion multiple times because I know it is nonprofit and supports ALDHA. But I never took it with me after my first section in 2010. The AWOL Guide "to me" is so much better. You can buy it now in either bound or unbound, and in either NoBo or SoBo.

      In my last few years on the AT I would buy a bound copy for planning and leave it with my wife, and an unbound version so I could take just the pages I needed.

      The last couple of years I also used Guthooks (now FarOut) on my phone. I would like to do a thru a few years from now, and I plan to take both the unbound AWOL and FarOut on my phone.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

    • Astro wrote:

      theatguide.com/

      I have bought the AT Companion multiple times because I know it is nonprofit and supports ALDHA. But I never took it with me after my first section in 2010. The AWOL Guide "to me" is so much better. You can buy it now in either bound or unbound, and in either NoBo or SoBo.

      In my last few years on the AT I would buy a bound copy for planning and leave it with my wife, and an unbound version so I could take just the pages I needed.

      The last couple of years I also used Guthooks (now FarOut) on my phone. I would like to do a thru a few years from now, and I plan to take both the unbound AWOL and FarOut on my phone.
      I do the same. Buy both bound for home/planning and unbound to take with you. Take notes into the book that you can remember or glean off of trip reports. I have a lot of notes that I then transfer when I get a new edition. "This Hostel is known as a party place" "Owner can be rude". "Watch for the side trail to the waterfall". "stop by for a free beer".
      The Unbound will include a few HD zip lock type bags to take just the pages you need. However I can stuff both the bound and unbound into it, it just won't zip. Keeps them together as I set them on the book shelf, sign and say "maybe....".

      I bought the 2024 guides in the Pre-Sale but when I did, the PDF (phone version) wasn't shown. Now they have a bundle of the guide plus the PDF version. Oh well. IIRC they seem to have issues getting the PDF version out there every year. I opened my ATGUIDE on my phone, checked "Library" and the 2024 version shows! I clicked it....it is the 2021 version...or at least it says 2021 on the first page. There are online comments about issues, about which PDF reader is best. I don't know how I did it, but in my Phone, Hiking folder, then ATGUIDE and when I click it, it just opens the PDF auto-magically. It is nice because the stuff like the phone numbers to places are actually Hot Links. Got Signal? Want to call that Shuttler? Tough the number and the phone goes "You want to call?". Maybe call the place to stay first and make sure you have that arranged.
      Pirating – Corporate Takeover without the paperwork

    • The AT guides for each state list the landmark mileage in both S->N and N->S directions. For 20 years now, I have summarized the guidebook data in spreadsheets for each section so I'm only carrying one or two sheets per hike. That would be a bit cumbersome for a 1000-mile section. But I like having the guidebooks and the maps.

      I also do a lot of research on each section (trail journals, hiking forums, Google Maps, etc.) and add notes in my spreadsheet for services at road crossings, epic camping spots, dry sections, etc. I also have the Farout app on my phone but use it sparingly.

      My hiking partner Smoking Sox needs reading glasses so he's not a fan of my spreadsheets unless he blows them up to billboard size. :P He is the poster-child for NOT relying on Farout as he has drained his phone battery at least three times by accidentally leaving it on.
      Trudgin' along the AT since 2003. Completed Sections: Springer Mountain to Clingmans Dome and Max Patch NC to Gorham NH

      "The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations...those are pretty good days." Ray Wylie Hubbard

    • LIhikers wrote:

      Even though my leg isn't fully healed yet I can't help but think about our plan to hike the southern half of the A.T. in 2024. We're thinking to start either in Harper's Ferry or Washington DC and hike to Springer Mt. In the past I've always used the AT Companion to plan our section hikes and the one I have now is from 2021 so I need a new, updated guide. Are there any trail guides set up specifically for people going SOBO on the AT ?
      Yes, AWOL makes a southbound version. You can get it bound or looseleaf. I always buy the bound and if I want to remove pages I just microwave it for 30 seconds or so to soften the glue and pull out the section I want.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference

    • Big hike for 2024 is Colorado Trail Denver to Durango (485 miles) in July. Probably stretch into first week in August.

      Was hoping to do Mt Fujii when we are visiting my son (and wife) in Japan. But June is too early, so will have to wait to perhaps 2025.

      Probably a lot of local hikes to get ready for CT. Bought new house we will move into in March. By downsizing house and more importantly yard and pool, should make it easier on my wife for me to take off in the summer. :)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Astro ().

    • My 2024 Hiking Plan depends on how well Sox's ACL repair is progressing. At the least, we are planning on knocking off Clingmans Dome to Newfound Gap as a day hike, then Davenport Gap to Max Patch as a second day hike. If his ACL is ready to go, we'll switch gears and just hike our remaining 54.5 miles in / around the GSMNP in ~5 days.

      I will be hiking sections 4 and 5 of the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) in July. Kind of an amazing set of circumstances.

      My wife and I will be visiting my sister in Siena, Italy in late June / early July. We're attending the July 2nd Palio horse race in the town square on July 2nd, then heading for the Alps on the 3rd. Our Airbnb has an extra bedroom so I asked my daughter if she would want to visit and see her Aunt. Turns out that she and her boyfriend were already planning to fly to Geneva to hike the TMB this summer. And our schedules meshed perfectly.

      We will arrive in Courmayeur, Italy on the afternoon of July 3rd. DOT (Daughter Of Tortoise) and her boyfriend will be staying at the Rifugio Elisabetta that night. On the 4th, my wife, my sister and I will take a tourist bus up into the mountains in the morning and hike ~1 hour to the Cabane du Combal. DOT and her boyfriend will have a ~1 hour hike to meet us so we will have a family reunion at 1968m. Then we hike back to Courmayeur for a celebratory feast.

      On July 5th, we'll all take a different tourist bus to the northeast and hike to Rifugio Walter Bonatti then back to Courmayeur. I'd feel guilty about ruining the TMB by hiking back to our apartment both days but EVERYONE hikes rifugio to rifugio on the TMB. It's already ruined. We'll be cheesing our way through, but it will be some damn good cheese. :P
      Trudgin' along the AT since 2003. Completed Sections: Springer Mountain to Clingmans Dome and Max Patch NC to Gorham NH

      "The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations...those are pretty good days." Ray Wylie Hubbard

    • Yesterday I saw the doctor about that cracked bone in my leg and he's happy with how it's healing. He gave me the OK to start easy walking and bicycling on level surfaces. He thinks in another 6 weeks trails will be OK. That gives me hope for us doing the southern half of the AT this year. Since our son is the one who looks after our house, mail and other affairs we'll need to be finished by the time he plans to go away later in the year. To do that we'll start sometime in the spring months. Maybe April. We'll see how it all works out.

    • LIhikers wrote:

      Yesterday I saw the doctor about that cracked bone in my leg and he's happy with how it's healing. He gave me the OK to start easy walking and bicycling on level surfaces. He thinks in another 6 weeks trails will be OK. That gives me hope for us doing the southern half of the AT this year. Since our son is the one who looks after our house, mail and other affairs we'll need to be finished by the time he plans to go away later in the year. To do that we'll start sometime in the spring months. Maybe April. We'll see how it all works out.
      That is great news! :thumbup:
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

    • I have finalized plans for an August hike in ME. Unfortunately I had to cut back to a one week trip which will not be enough to do the whole HMW. So I will fly to BGR, shuttle to Shaws for the night, after the famous breakfast I will have them shuttle me to a trail head about half way to BSP, probably Johnston Rd? Hike 5 days to katahdin Stream CG (got a shelter reservation.) Up the AT to Baxter Peak, down Abol Trail, shuttle to Millinocket for the night. Shuttle to Medway, bus to BGR, fly home. Whew.

    • odd man out wrote:

      I have finalized plans for an August hike in ME. Unfortunately I had to cut back to a one week trip which will not be enough to do the whole HMW. So I will fly to BGR, shuttle to Shaws for the night, after the famous breakfast I will have them shuttle me to a trail head about half way to BSP, probably Johnston Rd? Hike 5 days to katahdin Stream CG (got a shelter reservation.) Up the AT to Baxter Peak, down Abol Trail, shuttle to Millinocket for the night. Shuttle to Medway, bus to BGR, fly home. Whew.
      That sounds awesome.

      I only will be able to do day hiking this year due to some family health issues. Hiked in Hoffmaster on Sun, Apr 8. Fun time.