Hi all—my brother is hitting the AT in March. He’s given us a list of things for the holidays in preparation, but I want to show some creativity for this holiday’s gifts too. For instance, he’s an outdoor (esp given what we live), college sports and Euro league fan. Is there a sticker/patch/item that I could get him to personalize it and remind him of ‘home’? Or is it just extra weight?

Any advice welcome! Hopefully it’ll help others too.

I’m planning on starting around mid April from springer to hot springs and I don’t know if I should pick a day and say “that’s it, this is the day” or do I just show up and go. I know I don’t necessarily have to register, but I don’t want to show up and get told I need to wait because I planned it poorly.

Rt. 16

Rt. 16

Wildcat Ridge Trail

Wildcat Ridge Trail

Mt.Washington

Lost Pond Trail

https://preview.redd.it/e21wvth8664e1.jpg?width=5472&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9098e0451ea0439c5695f4225c56bb38b0006fb8

Ellis River

https://preview.redd.it/3ujfd8zg664e1.jpg?width=5472&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9dbb6c878cf03c3de8b24554b09b6aeb3f3d3bbb

https://preview.redd.it/egit8hei664e1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=83f295fc203c673a7c7f1c853875e8b4546388c8

If you hiked in NH in the winter, I need your advice.

I'm planning to do winter hiking in NH this season. Is there a site that lists which trailheads are maintained during winter vs. not? Or their accessibility status during the winter season?

If not, I'm looking for local perspective on the below. For context, I've a front wheel drive sedan, hence my concern for accessibility.

For trailheads in the white mountains, do they plow them? If yes, do they only maintain roadside trailheads (like Franconia Notch) or do they also do the ones deeper in (like Garfield)?

For the southern mountains, are trailheads to summits like Monadnock or Kearsarge maintained during winter?

Thanks very much.

I am visiting a through hiking family member, and want to pass out some trail magic. What’s the best trail magic you’ve ever received or some good ideas to pass out.

It's a beautiful day on the trail today! We're so lucky to live close by.

Next year I’m doing the north half, starting in May in PA. I’m planning on a synthetic quilt purchase - opinions on 40 degree vs 50 degree? This hike will likely take place May, July, and August (skipping early June due to personal commitments)

I’ve done the lower half of AT, all in late fall. This was done with a 10 degree down quilt, which would be overkill. I have a 30 degree down quilt I can use, and would likely carry thru the whites and Maine if necessary.

Hear me out, I’m thru-hiking SOBO in 2027, looking for best possible footwear. I’ve seen it done in flip flops and hiking boots, has anyone done it in crocs? They are lightweight, can be dried with a towel, breathable and have 4-wheel drive mode if needed, grippy and comfortable. Anyone have thoughts, opinions or recommendations?

What books did you read in preparation for your Thru-Hike?

I'm feeling a bit glum after having planned a 6 day hike NOBO from Springer last week but coming off the trail after only 3 days.

Waking up on day 4 the heel blisters I had gained on day 1 were showing signs of infection and I made the decision to come off the trail and spend the rest of the week in a hotel in order to treat them and let them heal.

I'm feeling gutted as I only did half the distance I wanted to do. Heel blisters have never been a problem for me before, even after many years of hiking.

I guess I'm asking whether or not I did the right thing by coming off the trail to look after my feet. I came from Europe to hike the AT and I was worried about ending up in a US hospital and having to invoke insurance in order to not get bankrupted.

Is there anything I could have done differently or something I could try for when I come back? I had double socks and bandaged the blisters as soon as they cropped up, in line with common advice, but on the uphill stretches my boots were so intent on shearing off all my skin on the heels.

Is hunting allowed along the Appalachian Trail between NoBo miles 1152 and 1154, just trail north of the Clark's Ferry Bridge? This area, AFAIK, is not State Game Lands. Planning a hike early tomorrow morning, the first day of rifle deer season. Will be wearing blaze orange.

I’m considering an April 15th start date for a northbound hike. I’ve been trying to get a better feel for the temperature range that I most likely will encounter over the course of the first month starting at Springer and heading northbound.

Ideally it would be nice to start with my typical 3 season kit, which I’ve used and tested often enough and would work fine for daytime highs no lower than the 40s and nighttime lows no lower than 30 degrees. While I would ideally not like to swap out gear early on, I also know that I can’t really push my 3 season gear much lower than that and remain comfortable.

I feel like the general temperature ranges I’m finding online would work with my layering and sleep system. However, I know outlier temps can be a real issue, especially in the Smokies. If your started close to this date, what were your experiences with both daytime and nighttime temps?

I can make different gear choices if needed. I just don’t want to start with warmer gear and pack more if it’s really not needed. Thanks all.

Roanoke Cement owns the land around the Andy Lane Trail, which connects to the AT near McAfee's Knob and Tinker Cliffs. The proposed project site shows the expected impact includes moving a portion of the Andy Lane Trail.

I thought this might be of relevance to readers here, due to the heavy traffic this section of trail receives.

More discussion, including a link to the VA Department of Environmental Quality request for comment period (ending 12/5) is in the thread over on r/roanoke, here: https://www.reddit.com/r/roanoke/comments/1h28vj1/proposed_quarry_under_mcafee_knobtinker_cliffs/

I live 30 minutes outside the smokies. I have always wanted to do the AT section of the park as fast as I can, I have seen most of it in sections so I'm not worried about slowing down for this trip. I do 20 to 25 miles days here with pack near the park for multiple days without issue. What is the fastest anyone yall know of has backpacked the national park section of the AT? We are wanting to try it in 3 or 4 nights.

Video 1 Video 2

To set the scene: it's late June and the weather is in the mid 90's with nearly 100% humidity. It's god awful and miserable, everything's super hot, and just can't seem to keep cool, not to mention it's that long stretch at the end of PA with no water.

Coming down Mt. Minsi, right around the bend from the Eureka spring (first water in 20 miles) and stumbled upon this bear. He seemed to be in the same point of exhaustion I was over the heat and he was laying on the rock you see in the first video that I trip over.

He lifts his head, sees me coming down the trail and slowly (like an old, arthritic dog) rises to his feet and begins lumbering down the trail to keep his distance. (This is why I didn't bother yelling or bashing my poles together; he was already sufficiently motivated to get a move-on)

What the video doesn't capture well is that I could see his tongue hanging out his mouth also like a dog..he was panting hard and I could hear him breathing. We were both hot, tired and bothered. I was only thinking of the shower that awaited me (first one in a week) at the bottom of the mountain at the church hostel of DWG. Just happy I remembered I had a phone, and my phone had a camera. Heat makes you stupid.

After the second video he went probably another 30-40 feet before finally making a hard left and walking off trail into the rhododendron. Probably only went about 10-15 feet off trail and flopped over, huffed, and didn't move from the shade as I walked past. I said "Excuse me" and kept going.

The shower was nice, but man..those oversized paper "towels" was something else.

I’m up in northern West Virginia and want to do a couple days worth of hiking this weekend and I’d really love to be on the actual AT if possible.

I know Harper’s Ferry is a reasonable drive from me. Does anyone have suggestions for a couple days? Would north or south bound from town be a better more scenic stretch? I’m looking at two about 10-mile days.

The other issue is parking and transport. I really haven’t a clue where to start as far as planning that. If I park somewhere and hike 20 miles, is there a shuttle service in that area? Or is a hitch hike possible around there? Or would I need to make it a round trip?

I just moved from Minnesota recently and this will be my first time on the AT so I’m a bit of a noob. Spent some time on the superior hiking trail and there were shuttle services but also loved ones in the area able to drive me so I really don’t know how to go about planning this. Always down for an adventure though and not much makes me nervous as far as winging it or hitch hiking, etc. Any info is helpful thanks!!!

Planning on hiking the first 2-3 hours of the appalachian trail starting at the Dallas, GA trailhead during the first few days of January. What temperatures and conditions could I expect? Is the trail damaged by hurricane Helene? Could a mediocre hiker manage the first few miles?

Thinking about visiting in 4/25. Does anyone know if there were impacts that North from the hurricane?

I’ve got the month of January off work so I’m PLANNING on going Nobo from Springer for about 3 weeks and was curious if anyone else is out there that time of year. I imagine it being cold and not very active, but it’s the only time of the year I have to get a large section out of the way so I’m looking forward to it!

With that said, any suggestions on gear for cold weather backpacking? I’m trying to lock in my layering system for clothes & get my sleeping bag/quilt situation figured out.

I'm living in Georgia for a couple of months (and may leave sooner than expected), and I'd love to section hike the AT. Any thoughts on hiking the Georgia section after Thanksgiving?

I am starting my hike in early March and have a friend who is starting their spring break about 10 days after I start. For those with a lot of experience on the beginning of the trail, would it be reasonable to plan to hit the NOC by the 10th day and then spend 5-6 days going through the Smokies? Coordinating the entrance and exit points is the tough part. I figure if I can bang out 15-20 miles per day for the first 9 days, I should be able to hit the NOC by the morning of the 10th day. See below for my expected daily mileage.

|1|-8.8|7.4|Hawk Mountain Campsite||16.2|

|2|7.4|24|Lance Creek Restoration Area||16.6|

|3|24|38|Whitley Gap Shelter||14|

|4|38|56.4|Cheese Factory Site||18.4|

|5|56.4|73.9|Plum Orchard Gap Shelter||17.5|

|6|73.9|90.5|Beech Gap||16.6|

|7|90.5|105.8|Rock Gap Shelter||15.3|

|8|105.8|120.6|Wayah Shelter||14.8|

|9|120.6|136.1|Rufus Morgan Shelter||15.5|

|10|136.1|147.6|Locust Cove Gap|Meet at NOC|11.5|

|11|147.6|159.4|Cable Gap Shelter||11.8|

|12|159.4|172.6|Birch Spring Tentsite||13.2|

13|172.6|184|Spence Field Shelter||11.4|

|14|184|197.5|Double Spring Gap Shelter||13.5|

15|197.5|208|Gatlinburg||10.5|

Mainly, I'm worried about fitting in resupplies. This puts me at Neels Gap on the third day, which is fine, but then around day 6/7, I'm going to need to resupply again before hitting the NOC. Is there anything in that 75-100 mile point for a quick resupply, or will I need to hitch pretty early on?

I know it's more miles than is suggested early on. And I also know that the Smokies are kind of a sensitive area with the Helene repairs going on. I just can't think of a better place for him to join for a week or so.

So questions: Is this a reasonable, if strenuous, first two weeks? Is there an easy resupply around the 75-100 mile point? IF Tennessee still hasn't opened its parks, what do we do for that part of the trail? Just skip it and come back for it at the end?

ETA: Sorry for the formatting. It's supposed to be day, starting mile, ending mile, campsite, daily mileage.

For those thinking of hiking in 2025, just FYI Farout Unlimited is $45 right now for an annual plan, and you get $100 in credits to put towards lifetime maps. This gets you access to all of Farout's maps for a year, then you can spend the $100 credits on other maps for whatever trails you'd like. For the AT this option would be great as I think even on sale this is cheaper than purchasing just the AT map by itself.

My job is closing its doors in at the end of March so why not section the AT, right? I’m just looking to get some idea of how camping on the AT works when you section hike. I know I will need a permit to get thru the smokies because I live nearby the smokies and it’s where I started backpacking. It’s roughly 260 miles and I’m not sure on how resupplies work or really any of it on a thru hike. I’m an in shape 36 year old guy and I’ve backpacked before of course never this long. Any info would help

Planning early April Nobo, So please to those with AT experience throw me a word. Any misses forgotten overlooked. A few of my internal debates are The Kakwa 55, like it, but I have also a Zpacks Arc Blast, the first model, it's awesome but has been on the PCT and AZT already and I'm not sure if it needs to be put out to pasture or is pure sentimental attachment is blinding me. (I have both bags) And every now and then that trapeze thing pops on the arc as well as a few spots that got dyneema tape on it. It is 10 oz lighter than the Durston tho. So I debate start with it and be surprised if either of us makes it or makes it together, or just start with a fresh new bag. On the AZT I did the fosters can and esbit, problem is esbit (aside from the smell) is getting to be a pain to find in town.So I thought I'd go back to a normal cook set up, first I bought the BRS and a toaks pot, so a lighter set up, but I figured maybe I should get a little more power since I may see more rain than my previous hikes and got the firemsple listed, the difference there is +6oz for tougher setup. So is it needed? It works great. My trail cooking style has been all over the map. A little schizo with food. I admittedly was one of those half a sleep pad people, backpack for a pillow, until your wearing everything in your pack on cold nights and out of a pillow. My current mindset is to really beef up my sleep system for comfort, and I've loved it this far. The first cuts if needed would be the goosefoot pillow, and the zensheet, which I Frankensteined into my ZGear. I do have a regular size 20 as well that drops 5 oz but you can't wrap it around your head on chilly nights , I'm 6 right at the end of the size range. And of course the book, yes it will be the only book I'll read, and I'm trying but I really hate reading books on phones. So thanks in advance, those with AT experience (I have none) I'm open to learn and consider.

https://lighterpack.com/r/qrha7z

I'm thinking about buying the app, but I may switch phones soon (android to iphone). When you purchase, do you get a 'key' or 'account' of some sort to reinstall again? What about putting it on my wife's phone as a backup?

My wife hike some of the AT and saw a Peacock just walking down the trail. Is this a normal thing?