Date: 2015-02-18
To: Flip Flop Thoughts
Miles today: 0.0

I enjoy nature and the solitude that it provides. Originally when planning my thru hike, I was drawn to a south bound (SOBO) hike due to the few number of hikers attempting such a hike. However, this had two downsides for me: 1) I would have to wait until June or July to start, and 2) I would finish in November or December at Springer Mountain and be exposed to potentially cold and snowy weather in the South Appalachians. I've had my fair share of snow and cold weather camping in past adventures and decided that I wanted to try to avoid as much of that as I could. Thus, I decided that I would do a north bound (NOBO) hike but start in early May. I would attempt to have a fair number of shakedown hikes under my belt and hopefully start at Springer Mountain already with my trail legs. This would require that I be able to do 5 month thru hike but would also potentially expose me to cold and snowy conditions and the possibility that Katahdin would be closed due to those conditions. I initially decided this was to be how I would do my thru hike. In January 2015, I started reading that the ATC was saying that the number of NOBO thru hikers starting at Springer Mountain every spring was reaching unsustainable levels. Coincidentally, Baxter Start Park was also publicly expressing their frustrations with the large number of (late season) NOBO thru hikers and unprepared SOBO thru hikers and were raising the possibility that unless something changed that limitations would be placed on thru hikers. There was even the possibility raised by some commentators that the AT may eventually no longer be allowed to finish on Katahdin in Baxter State Park. Given this information, I decided that I would try to part of the solution rather than part of the problem. The ATC's website listed a few alternate itineraries including the Cool Breeze and Flip Flop variations. After studying the options I decided that a Flip Flop thru hike would work best for me. My plan is to start my hike in late April at Harpers Ferry WV and hopefully finish in October. I will hike north to Katahdin and then catch a combination of busses and trains back to Harpers Ferry WV and then continue south to Springer Mountain GA. I noted that to me the advantages are that: 1) I get to hike "to" both ends of the trail, 2) I do most of the mid-Atlantic (especially PA) in cooler and wetter conditions, 3) I am ahead of most of the NOBO bubble but still have some of the faster ones for company, 4) I can start earlier than when a SOBO hike starts, 5) I miss all the early season bad weather in the Southern Appalachians, and 6) I do the Southern Appalachians during Fall and get to see the leaves change and avoid the late cold and snow that SOBO'ers encounter. The disadvantages are: 1) I have to deal with the wet and mud in Vermont during the spring season, 2) I will hike thru most of Virginia during the summer heat, and 3) I am ahead of the SOBO'ers and therefore may be alone quite a bit on the southern leg of my trip. To me the advantages outweighed the disadvantages. I am comforted by the fact that after the flip back to Harper's Ferry that I am close enough to Asheville, NC that kATchup is able to visit me on the trail from time to time and even hike some sections with me. I also like the idea of hiking towards "home" to finish my hike. In my next update, I want to discuss some of the major gear choices that I've made for my hike.