AT Southbound

I’ve been thinking that before leaving this region of the country I need to take six months off my life and hike the Appalachian Trail, which I could reasonably do ~2-3 years from now, after graduation. Talking with Ryan last week got me interested in a southbound hike:

Southbound thru-hikers start in June or July at Katahdin and finish in Georgia in November or December. A southbound hike will allow you much more solitude, but you will be “breaking in” on the most rugged part of the Trail. A Maine-to-Georgia hike also requires that you traverse long distances between resupply points in the early part of your trek. In many ways it’s a tougher hike than a northbound thru-hike. Fewer than 500 people have reported completion of the A.T. southbound.

Ryan mentioned that a friend who traveled southbound was treated differently by northbound hikers, from shouts of “You’re going the wrong way!” to near animosity at times. I’ll enjoy the near-solitude of southbound travel, but I’m still looking for a traveling companion…