Now how about the most pleasant part of the AT lol?
The wonderful,beautiful Shenandoah National park.
You are fairly far along in you hike at this point.
If you have been doing 15-18 miles per day something fun happens at this point.
You will pump out 25 and it will feel easier than most days you did 15. By AT trail standards Shenandoah is flat. It has some amazing views. It also has restaurants where you can get Lobster
and a steak if you want. You can certainly get most any fresh fruit(something I missed greatly on the trail,who is going to carry apples? they are just to heavy). Enjoy every minute of it. Have a couple drinks,but remember this "vacation" ends when you hit the presidential range(my avg miles dropped from 20-25 per day to 8-12).
It is not that they are that much harder physically for the most part. They are steeper over short distances sure,but most are really not to bad(Mt Washington excluded,which is only steep in a few places,like the last half mile to the first hut off the peak). So why the huge drop in miles? For me it was not even so much ascents,but decent. You can not cruise down hill on most of that range. They are to steep. You will see more ladders made into the rock in a very compact area than you have on the rest of the AT combined. It is simply not possible to cover as many miles.
Topic change
The four letter word you will learn to love and hate at the same time on the AT. Zero. It is when you take a day and do zero trail miles. You wake up in your hostel,hotel,resort ect...and plan on staying the night again. You have all day, a day off. How you are feeling,where you are, and who you are with determines what happens next. Some zero's are 100% worth it. They relieve stress and you get to explore a place you likely have never been while sharing that experience with hopefully a group of people you like. It will involve food. That is without question. I hit a few county type fairs with other hikers. Even hit a couple breweries. One day a few of us took a train into DC for the day(I wanted to see the air and space museum,that one was not really a "good" zero in the end).
At the quarter way mark is a hostel called unironically the Quarter way inn. It was by far my favorite hostel on the AT. The food was amazing(her breakfast is ranked number one on the trail),but that was not even all. It was clean, no spotless. I was with a group of people I knew and liked. The weather had been total crap for weeks. So much rain. We all were burned out on it. We had a reason to celebrate(1/4 of the way
She had games,tv,movies,a giant black snake climbing the tree outside my window trying to eat the baby owls(their mom did well lol). It was fun. It was going to be storming even worse the next day. All of us as a group decided to zero. Here I am 1/4 done eating great food sitting with a group of people from 5 different countries(oh yea,the AT is a popular destination hike for most of the world) all going through the same thing. It was just one of those moments I went "wow" this is something I will never forget.
I hiked with that particular group until it all but disappeared one by one as they quit. Mind you this is the 1/4 mark(many I had meet already had quit). I had every single one of their cell numbers. Of that entire group only myself and one other guy lasted another month. You will experience that to. Like I said make friends, but never count on them anyone could quit at any time for any reason. I made lots of friends a few finished the trail, most did not. Enjoy the social times though. It is important for your well-being. I will add more memories later like the drive in you can camp at over night with 40+ other hikers(was a lot of hikers the day I stayed) stores within walking distance and two breweries It is not all pain and misery for sure. But many of the great places are further along the trail,and sometimes you will go weeks without any real break. When a good one happens you will remember it.
The wonderful,beautiful Shenandoah National park.
You are fairly far along in you hike at this point.
If you have been doing 15-18 miles per day something fun happens at this point.
You will pump out 25 and it will feel easier than most days you did 15. By AT trail standards Shenandoah is flat. It has some amazing views. It also has restaurants where you can get Lobster
and a steak if you want. You can certainly get most any fresh fruit(something I missed greatly on the trail,who is going to carry apples? they are just to heavy). Enjoy every minute of it. Have a couple drinks,but remember this "vacation" ends when you hit the presidential range(my avg miles dropped from 20-25 per day to 8-12).
It is not that they are that much harder physically for the most part. They are steeper over short distances sure,but most are really not to bad(Mt Washington excluded,which is only steep in a few places,like the last half mile to the first hut off the peak). So why the huge drop in miles? For me it was not even so much ascents,but decent. You can not cruise down hill on most of that range. They are to steep. You will see more ladders made into the rock in a very compact area than you have on the rest of the AT combined. It is simply not possible to cover as many miles.
Topic change
The four letter word you will learn to love and hate at the same time on the AT. Zero. It is when you take a day and do zero trail miles. You wake up in your hostel,hotel,resort ect...and plan on staying the night again. You have all day, a day off. How you are feeling,where you are, and who you are with determines what happens next. Some zero's are 100% worth it. They relieve stress and you get to explore a place you likely have never been while sharing that experience with hopefully a group of people you like. It will involve food. That is without question. I hit a few county type fairs with other hikers. Even hit a couple breweries. One day a few of us took a train into DC for the day(I wanted to see the air and space museum,that one was not really a "good" zero in the end).
At the quarter way mark is a hostel called unironically the Quarter way inn. It was by far my favorite hostel on the AT. The food was amazing(her breakfast is ranked number one on the trail),but that was not even all. It was clean, no spotless. I was with a group of people I knew and liked. The weather had been total crap for weeks. So much rain. We all were burned out on it. We had a reason to celebrate(1/4 of the way
She had games,tv,movies,a giant black snake climbing the tree outside my window trying to eat the baby owls(their mom did well lol). It was fun. It was going to be storming even worse the next day. All of us as a group decided to zero. Here I am 1/4 done eating great food sitting with a group of people from 5 different countries(oh yea,the AT is a popular destination hike for most of the world) all going through the same thing. It was just one of those moments I went "wow" this is something I will never forget.I hiked with that particular group until it all but disappeared one by one as they quit. Mind you this is the 1/4 mark(many I had meet already had quit). I had every single one of their cell numbers. Of that entire group only myself and one other guy lasted another month. You will experience that to. Like I said make friends, but never count on them anyone could quit at any time for any reason. I made lots of friends a few finished the trail, most did not. Enjoy the social times though. It is important for your well-being. I will add more memories later like the drive in you can camp at over night with 40+ other hikers(was a lot of hikers the day I stayed) stores within walking distance and two breweries
It is not all pain and misery for sure. But many of the great places are further along the trail,and sometimes you will go weeks without any real break. When a good one happens you will remember it.
Last edited:
I appreciate the offer, definitely share your achievements here, nothing beats seeing folks you enjoy talking to succeed, and I hope maybe something in this thread inspires others to get out there and give it a try, I know I sure have enjoyed getting out in the woods again!
