Starting the AT in winter

“I'm thinking of starting the AT in winter. What U think?

I don't like crowds and like to go slow. Don't like 20 mile days and don't want to be racing the calander to New England. Or be sharing shelters with 400 others who started the same time as me.

It'll be cold but how cold? Will the trail be passable in winter?”

“Winter's a long time, homes. When in the winter?”

“Don't know. Maybe December.”

“Wow. Um, there's snow almost year round in the smokies. It could probably be done, but it'll be really cold. You'd need snow shoes, crampons, etc. It would be slow going, especially with snow drifts. Those could take lots of time. You'd be fine in VA, MD, and further north, but GA and NC/TN would be tough. Ice and snow...if you do it, best of luck. I don't know details about amount of snow or temperature. You could e-mail or call the rangers down there for average amount of snow and that sort of info.
-ű”

“Can't really tell you how 'bout the trail in the winter; never been there before May. But I'd certainly advice 'gainst it for this reason...

I understand that you don't like crowds...neither do I. But you'll find that most of the enjoyment of a thru-hike is socializing with at least some other thru-hikers. I'd think that the best time for you to start would be February 1st. You'd have some company, but not much. (Most people start April 1st). Further, by the time the faster hikers catch up to you, that crowd will have thinned out considerably. Finally, a Feb. 1st start would give you at least 8 months to hike the trail, which is plenty of time to stop and smell the roses.”

“you might also give a reverse hike some consideration. very few start at baxter and head south and you wont have to deal with the 3000+ people leaving springer. It also eliminates any need to rush as baxter is the only area I know of that has a deadline and that is dealt with on day one. The drawback is that you are starting on a fairly tough section of the at and you will have to deal with a december finish time.”

“Unless you are fixated upon the idea of walking it continuously from one end to the other, you could always do a flip-flop hike.
Start late April or early May in Georgia, after most of the thru-hikers have started,then hike north until July or so. You should be in Virginia by then. Get some transport to Katahdin, then hike south to the point in Virginia where you got off. You'll finish up in October or November, which is cold, but not winter.”

“ Brian Robinson's journal of the AT portion of his single year triple crown hike might give you a good idea of the trail in winter - he started at Springer on January 1.”

“Bude, don't expect that just because you're planning to miss the thru-hikers, the AT will be deserted. When I did a section in Georgia last September, there were scads of people. Not like during thru-hiker season, but plenty of people nonetheless.”

“The trail in Ga stays crowded. I had friends that were backpacking from Neel's Gap to Hogpen Gap on the AT in December with snow in the middle of the week and still ran into people. You get time to hike alone, you just have to adjust to seeing people more often than you do in some areas. As far as starting in the winter, the Smokies are going to be bad, below zero temps are possible in the high elevations, and people have been snowed in for days in some of the AT trail shelters in the Smokies. I've seen snow in the Appalachians in late May in Western N Carolina.”

“One thing to keep in mind about a sobo trip is that you will be in prime blackfly season in New England.”