In the first two blogs of this series, I talked about my decision to day-hike the Appalachian Trail. We talked about the history of the trail and different ways to hike it. We also discussed the necessary gear as well as the physical and mental preparation. We are about to embark on a trial run for about 1 week. We are planning the final stages.
I chose the last week in September for our trial because it was a convenient time to get away from work and I knew the weather would be nice. Hopefully we will see some fall foliage.
Planning the route
My husband agreed to take at least part of the journey with me (though he says he was forced). We don’t plan on doing the entire trail in order, but eventually I would like to complete the whole thing. During previous visits, we hiked up Springer Mountain, which is the southern terminus of the AT. We had also hiked the first 3 miles of the trail. We decided to pick up from there.
Setting Mileage Goals
In the beginning, we decided to start slow. We are planning to hike between 7 and 10 miles each day. We will hike for 2 days, then rest 1 day. The plan includes exploring the local towns.
I wrote the initial plan using Chat GPT with the intent of double checking it on the map. It was a good thing I did because Chat GPT got it wrong! The distances were inaccurate, and the pickup points were not accessible by car.
I had to plan the route the old-fashioned way- with a map. I started with the A.T. Guide: A Handbook for Hiking the Appalachian Trail. This had every trailhead and the distances between them. I had another map that showed elevation changes and the nearby roads. Both maps showed where parking areas were accessible from the roads. I wrote and rewrote our plan several times. One of the routes included Blood Mountain which I’ve told is beautiful but a challenging hike. The only way to hike it using our plan would have required an 11-mile hike. I really wanted to do it, but my husband and I decided that on our first outing, we should have shorter distances. We chose to bypass the mountain on this trip, but I really look forward to hiking it in the future.
Our plan is to drive to the endpoint for the day. A shuttle will pick us up and bring us to the start point. We will hike to our car and go home. We called a shuttle service recommended in the A.T. Guide. A very nice and experienced gentleman answered all our questions. We gave him our itinerary and made sure our plan was reasonable.
The next thing we did was book the Airbnb. We wanted a cabin with a mountain view and a hot tub. We found one in Blue Ridge which was about an hour away from most of the places we wanted to go.
On our rest days, we will explore our host towns and experience the local culture. We have been to Blue Ridge several times. One thing we have enjoyed is live music. One of our rest days is a Saturday and usually there are musicians playing at the wineries. Wine and great music? Yes please! We also plan on eating some good food. We have been to several restaurants in the area and have our favorites. However, I want to try something new this time.
We have done a lot of planning and now need to work on final preparations. We need to pack our bags and enjoy the journey.
Stay tuned to hear how it goes. Check out our podcast Energize and Revitalize with Dr. Amy for AT specific episodes.