Anyone done the LBL North/South?

“This will be my first backpacking trip. I hear the LBL North/South is about
60 miles. Max 200 ft elevation change. How many days should I plan on this
taking? Please include about how many hours a day you spend hiking. Anyone
who has done the LBL and can give some good advice or neato along-the-way
ideas are much appreciated. I know for sure I want to be at the Golden Pond
planetarium at night.”

“What's LBL?
It sounds like an easy hike - elevation wise.

You're first hike? That actually dosen't tell me much - you could be a professional triathelete, for all I know, and cover 25 miles a day. Do you plan to smell the roses, or cover miles?

Figure about 8 - 10 miles, max, for the first day, then increase daily.

I usually don't hit the trail til 9 - 10 a.m. - I like to do breakfast and coffee and cigarettes around camp for awhile - I enjoy camping. I hike til I reach my planned destination, get tired, or see a kewl (unplanned) place to camp. My mileage generally varies from day-to-day.

Occasionally, tho, I'll rise early and hump it to reach a distant destination. I seldom cover more than 12 miles per day. 16 is about my record (I had a ferry to catch!).

Lets do the math:
60 miles at 10 miles a day would take you...
uh...
um...

several days.
;o)”

“I've been on part of it. Not really much to see cept the Kentucky lake on the Northern end. Other than that you get to see some of the lakes coves. Have you got a map? You'll get a kick out of those funny lookin shelters. Is this gonna be a boy scout trip? Are you through hiking it all 65 miles? As far as how long it will take, It depends on how fast you or your group is. It's pretty flat so you can easily cover it in about 5 days.
I would do it in May. Wait too late and the bugs are BAD!!! The ticks & mosquitos will kill you.
I'll tell you more if I can remember it. It's been a LONG time ago. I'll try to help you with any questions.”

“Oh yeah. The spiders are Real Bad about making webs across the trail. Another reason to start before it get too hot.
I was thinking. I told you 5 days to complete it. I forgot I'm a mile munchin freak. You may take as long as 7 days, depending on your speed. If you have a group going, I'd put a car at Golden Pond Visitors Center with a resupply of food so you don't have to carry the whole load at one time. Be SURE to use a good water filter. The Lake itself is pretty nasty. The streams in the wooded areas are kinda clean till you get around the Homeplace area, then you got a chance of having Buffalo piss contaminating your supply.”

“BTW, For those that don't know. LBL = Land Between the Lakes. It runs between Kentucky Lake & Lake Barkley. Most of the trail is in Kentucky and the bottom 1/3 is in Tennessee.”

“I have done sections of the
north-south trail.actually it
is a relatively easy trail.

One could make time on this
trail,but i am not a mile pusher.

things i liked-swimming,easy
resupply points,lots of wildlife.

dislikes-ticks and more ticks
sometimes hiking close to roads,
shelters made so non-bpackers
dont have to walk far from car.

Still not a bad choice for first
trip.
hike your own hike,what you
feel comfortable with”

“Another reason to go in the spring is to enjoy the wild flowers. I bet it would be good to go now as far as the temp. Winter would be the best. You'd get that that cool air comming off Kentucky Lake. Nice wind chill Factor!!”

“well one reason I'm going is because I live so close, but haven't been there since I was about 8, and that was family car camping. I live in Metropolis, IL, about 30 miles from the trail head. So I'm used to this areas woods/spider/tick/poison ivy combination, as well as the weather patterns for the area.

I plan on going in late April. Some people at the outdoor store i shop at said it's 3 days aggressive or 4 days easy (for all 65 miles). That seems quite a bit shorter than you all are making it out to be.

It's just going to be me and one other friend. Both mid-twenties, in good shape, but not triatheletes.

If his estimate is correct, then I'd like to do it in 4 days, that way we'd be at Golden Pond (the midpoint?) at night on the second day. Would like to do some stargazing with their 'scopes.”

“Metropolis???? SUPERMAN!!!”

“yeah yeah, joy =P

Population 7000 and the Daily Planet is a weekly newspaper, hehe. My inlaws serve up Gyros, and I host a videogame tournament every year at the Superman Festival if you can believe that. =)”

“btw, we'll have two Gregory Reality packs (4650 cubic inches.) That gonna hold everything? North Face Nimbus tent, and Blue Kazoo bags. And self-inflating bedrolls, MSR Whisperlite, etc.

Yeah yeah, I did the "no no" and bought $1500 worth of equip before I ever packed once =P”

“Oh yeah, You'll be fine. You'll have to make plenty of miles per day but 65 in 4 days, across flat land can be done. Just don't lolly gag around camp too long in the morning.”

“65 miles in four days = 16.25 miles per day. That includes day one.

Add to aforementioned list:
One White Cape With Large Ess.
;ob”

“As my handle says I haven't done much backpacking, but 16 miles per day for 4 straight days? You may want to check out the thread about the guy with the sore ass.”

“LOL dayhiker!!”

“didn't he have some type of worm or something though? hehe”

“LOL...if theres one thing that WD doesn't like is lollygaging in camp in the morning when there are a lot of miles to munch up LOL....man you are too much. NH 2002”

“I ain't no Lolly gagger, that's for sure. It don't take long to eat a granola bar and take down a tarp.
NH 2002! I'M READY!!!!!”

“I am gearing up for a thruhike on the North/South Trail. Randall has shown some interest. Anyone else?

I am flexible on the dates for this and plan on doing it all in 4 days. Not a death march, but it won't be a cake walk if it rains.”

“If anyone has done it it would be stomper.”

“No, she wants to go, but can't make it until April or May.

Walkindude has thru hiked it.

It might be that I have to wait until late April for a thruhike on this one. Just trying to find out who might be interested before I set a date.”

“I'm interested! When are you thinking about doing it?”

“Late Feb or Mid March”

“I am not sure where the strenuous part is other than the mileage per day.”

“How many days are you planning to do it in?”

“Mariposa wants to do it, I think in FEb or March. In fact, she asked about which would be best to do, north to south or vice versa.

If you do it in April, I may be in. If you do it earlier, I'll help shuttle or run support.”

“200 ft elevation change? how can that be strenuous??? Talk to me when you've done 5000 foot elevation gain in 5 miles :)
last edited: 2/10/08 10:17:06 AM”

“Spirit Coyote - Sorry, I should have given the source's location. I picked it up from a site after a google search.

BTW, I've done a number of 5,000 feet, backpacking climbs, mostly in the Rocky Mountains. And, on Mt. Fuji, I went up over 8,000 on the Gotemba Trail.
last edited: 2/10/08 11:12:33 AM”

“That's strenuous to those Midwesterners, I have run into a bunch of flatlanders in the Smokies that couldn't believe how much harder it is to do a ten mile day in the Smokies than in the Midwest.”

“I've done bits and pieces of it.. but I live an hour or so away from there..”

“I've done most of the North portion of the NS trail. There are hills, but it's not difficult.”

“When do the ticks show up?”

“April

The trail is pretty fast. Good footing, not to rocky.
last edited: 2/10/08 3:35:00 PM”

“I think I would prefer a fall trip. I already have something planned for March. Doing the AT through the Smokies for my B-day.”

““How many days are you planning to do it in?”
SuperTroll
12:25:58 PM
2/10/08

4 days”

“yeah chili, I was skimming and missed it.....sorry....but thanks fer not dissin' me to bad...”

“No sweat.

I think it could be done in three, but four is a good enough pace that we won't kill ourselves.”

“Mocs, I've found portions of the Superior Hiking Trail to be at least as difficult as the Smokey's...Isle Royal as well.

BTW, what is the LBL Trail?”

“Land Between the Lakes”

“Thanks.”

“Chili! Mariposa and I were just talking about this the other night. She wanted to do it in 4 days too. Figure 15-20 miles per day. I would be interested, especially if it were teamed up with a 3 day weekend for my kids. This would be a great help (wink wink). Late April is out for me, but I don't have any trips for March yet so that would have to get my vote.”

“I am looking at March 6, 7, 8, 9.

Thursday through Sunday. If we can hammer out a few extra miles on Friday and Saturday, we can finish up early on Sunday.

Will that work?”

“I probably wouldn't be able to do that.
But don't let that stop you. Plan your trip and those who can make it will join you.”

“What about a Saturday thru Tuesday?”

“How'd you guess? ;-)
Ya that would be better for me.”

“I thought that might work better for you. It works better for my work schedule as well. Plus we all could meet up on Friday night.”

“I told Mariposa about this thread. She's probably busy though.”

“Coyote820 would be interested if the dates happen to fall toward the end of March.”