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

Southbounders

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

    • Hello LIHikers,

      You may be interested in data compiled by 'MapMan' of TOS fame. I don't know if he is still on there much, but he always posted the most useful information...

      whiteblaze.net/forum/content.p…outhbound-AT-Hiking-Rates

      And perhaps an even more interesting thread can be found on our own dear Cafe. OMO made an interesting graph of when NOBOs and SOBOs should intersect under the thread "Where's the Party?"...

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


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • LIhikers wrote:

      I'm wondering when do most southbounders finish their thru hikes ? The reason I ask is because when Kathy and I hike the south half of the AT we plan to do it in the fall, maybe starting in September. We're curious as to how much company we might have.

      It just depends on when they started but most southbounders will try and be done by either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Those are target dates they want to be home for.

      Most of them will be cruising at 100-120 mi a week. You can just back it up from Springer @ thanksgiving to figure out where many will likely be. That puts many about Damascus mid oct. Shenandoah mid Sept. , Etc.

      But nowadays you got a lot of flip-floppers too. There's more southbounders than there used to be but it ain't nothing like the spring. There's still many times you've got shelters completely to yourself, and other times you got 5 to 10 sobo and section hikers there. Rain events start to make them hole up in towns and and then leave same day so they end up traveling in small groups.

      Depending on what day you start on the trail where you may go a day and not see anybody, or maybe even only one or two people. Next day you cross paths with a dozen.

      The post was edited 6 times, last by Muddywaters ().

    • IMScotty wrote:

      Hello LIHikers,

      You may be interested in data compiled by 'MapMan' of TOS fame. I don't know if he is still on there much, but he always posted the most useful information...

      whiteblaze.net/forum/content.p…outhbound-AT-Hiking-Rates

      And perhaps an even more interesting thread can be found on our own dear Cafe. OMO made an interesting graph of when NOBOs and SOBOs should intersect under the thread "Where's the Party?"...

      Where's the Party?
      That second post is awesome. Wait - It's mine! I forgot all about that. I'm amazed someone else remembered. But we are all in debt to the amazing work by MapMan. As I recall, he also determined the net elevation gain and loss of the AT by counting map contour lines crossed for the whole length of the trail. I looked him up on TOS and he has posted earlier this year.
    • I can tell you that when I hiked Georgia during the last week of September, Smoking Sox and I had the trail and the shelters pretty much to ourselves from Sunday - Thursday.
      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
    • max.patch wrote:

      Don't quote me on this, but I think I remember him writing that he used trailjournals.com

      Emphasis on "think"
      I do believe that is correct. But that was back when this was the preferred place to post thru hike journals, where the data was comprehensive and could be easily extracted. With the emergence of so many other social media outlets (TwitSpace, You Tock, Twick Tube, Faceplant, Instabook, SnapApp, WhatChat, Redtrest, Pinnit, YouAreInspiredByMe.com, etc...), that type of study would be harder to reproduce today. One nice addition to our online "brain" from The Trek webpage that does an annual survey of AT thru and LASH hikers. They don't collect day-by-day progress data, but there is lots of other interesting info there, especially WRT demographics and gear. It's the kind of page that makes us data wonks happy.

      thetrek.co/appalachian-trail/2…rvey-general-information/
    • LIhikers wrote:

      I'll have to look at that again when I have more time.
      When are you planning your SoBo from Harpers Ferry to Springer?

      Currently thinking about 2023 on AT first 100 or so miles in March at Spring Break (maybe further if decent weather in early January before school starts). Then start early May at HF to Katahdin. Next flip back to HF and SoBo to where I left off to finish in NC.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • odd man out wrote:

      I do believe that is correct. But that was back when this was the preferred place to post thru hike journals, where the data was comprehensive and could be easily extracted. With the emergence of so many other social media outlets (TwitSpace, You Tock, Twick Tube, Faceplant, Instabook, SnapApp, WhatChat, Redtrest, Pinnit, YouAreInspiredByMe.com, etc...), that type of study would be harder to reproduce today.
      Looks like someone was having way too much fun with names in this post ;)
    • BillyGr wrote:

      odd man out wrote:

      I do believe that is correct. But that was back when this was the preferred place to post thru hike journals, where the data was comprehensive and could be easily extracted. With the emergence of so many other social media outlets (TwitSpace, You Tock, Twick Tube, Faceplant, Instabook, SnapApp, WhatChat, Redtrest, Pinnit, YouAreInspiredByMe.com, etc...), that type of study would be harder to reproduce today.
      Looks like someone was having way too much fun with names in this post ;)
      More like making light of my own ignorance and indifference toward social media.
    • odd man out wrote:

      BillyGr wrote:

      odd man out wrote:

      I do believe that is correct. But that was back when this was the preferred place to post thru hike journals, where the data was comprehensive and could be easily extracted. With the emergence of so many other social media outlets (TwitSpace, You Tock, Twick Tube, Faceplant, Instabook, SnapApp, WhatChat, Redtrest, Pinnit, YouAreInspiredByMe.com, etc...), that type of study would be harder to reproduce today.
      Looks like someone was having way too much fun with names in this post ;)
      More like making light of my own ignorance and indifference toward social media.
      What's social media ?
      The cafe is as close as I come to social media