It took me 28 years to hike the Appalachian Trail, a feat I accomplished with my great friend, Wayne Cyr, and wrote a book about. This cutting the hike into pieces is also known as “section hiking.”
While touring the country doing book signings, I was struck by how often a “eureka moment” happened when people in the audience understood the broader implications of hiking the trail in sections. Suddenly, something they had mused about “getting to someday” turned to something within reach. An impressive number of folks said, “It never occurred to me to hike the trail this way. I thought you had to quit your job to hike the AT.”
No, you don’t need to quit your day job. And there are many satisfying reasons to do the trail in sections. Among them are that shorter hikes generally take less of a toll on your body and that doing the trail in pieces provides future trips to look forward to.
I go into more detail about the considerations for section hiking (including the mental and physical aspects) in Appalachian Odyssey, but to get started here are some pointers.
Determine how many trips you would like to take to complete the trail
This may seem easier than it is. If you are an experienced hiker, you can pretty accurately assess how many miles you can cover day after day (also factoring in rest days or days you can’t cover as much ground due to poor weather or fatigue). At 60+ years old, I figure on covering ten miles per day when I’m out on the trail. When I was in my 20s, it was more like 17. If you have little hiking experience, I suggest taking a few shakedown trips to get a feel for how much ground you can predictably cover. And don’t forget, different sections offer different levels of challenge. Hiking through the Great Smoky Mountains or the White Mountains is a lot harder than say, hiking through Maryland or New Jersey. In addition to that, some sections can be marginally more difficult based on whether you are hiking northbound (aka “Nobo”) or southbound (aka “Sobo”). Some sources include elevation gain in their stats, which is pretty useful for trip planning.
Grab a copy of the AT Thru-Hiker's Companion or AT Data Book
The AT Thru-Hiker’s Companion (published by the Appalachian Long Distance Hiker’s Association) is a comprehensive data book that gives you all the baseline data you need to plan a hike and a lot of info you can use on the trail. It is extremely helpful for determining places to get on and off the trail. The AT Data Book is a planning tool that provides great baseline info for planning your hikes (it condenses the trail data from all the official trail guides into one book) but doesn’t go into the level of detail the AT Thru-Hiker’s Companion does.
Make your food and cooking fuel choices carefully
As a rule, through-hikers take more detours from the trail for rest days and resupply stops than section hikers. We found that we didn’t want to make side trips unless there were burgers or groceries less than a mile or two from the trail. We wanted to be making as much forward progress as we could when we were out (i.e., more days on the trail and fewer days in towns). Everyone is wired differently. Some people want to make more side trips. But because we planned on taking no side trips, we would pack enough food and fuel for the entire section hike. Our packs were heavier at the beginning, but we enjoyed the flexibility.
What it's like to like to section hike the entire trail.
Appalachian Odyssey is an entertaining, informative account of life on the trail.
- Over 80 color photographs
- Profile maps of the entire trail
- Stories from Jeff’s 28-year section hike
- Available in Print and Kindle versions
Plan your transportation
Where you get on and off the trail is important as it relates to transportation. Both Wayne and I live in New England, so we could easily spot cars at either end of a section anywhere between Maine and southern Connecticut. But once we got out of New England, we used public transportation and private shuttles to get to and from the trail. There were two reasons. The first was flexibility. If for some reason, we wanted or needed to cut a trip short, we wouldn’t have to work out getting to our car. Second, we wouldn’t be leaving cars unattended for days on end. Another option is to drive to one end of the section, have a shuttle driver take you to the other end, and drop you off so you can hike back to your vehicle. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy publishes a list of shuttles.
For more information about planning shuttles, check out my post A Backpacker’s Guide to Loop Hikes and Trail Shuttles.
A note about Uber and similar services
We have successfully used Uber for shuttles, but beware that cell phone coverage (and the availability of Uber and similar services) in some areas may be unreliable. Whatever service you choose (whether it’s a ride share service or a shuttle you’ve arranged through a recommended provider), I suggest contacting your “end of trip” shuttle a few days before your meeting date to verify their ability (refresh their memory). Reception is generally greater up on the ridge tops than down in the valleys where trips often terminate. Thus, it’s better to be buttoned up in advance than trying to create a “plan B” with spotty or non-existent cell coverage.
I hope you have fun planning your section hikes and have a blast out on the hallowed path. If you have any questions or comments about what I’ve written or other topics, I’d love to hear from you.
Note: This post is updated periodically to reflect the availability of new information.
Can you suggest a 7 day section hike for next week in Massachusetts, Vermont or Maine on A.T.? We were supposed to start at Springer Mountain on Saturday but now we’re worried about Irma hitting Georgia…..
Gladly. How bout heading north on AT from either North Adams, MA or Rt. 9 in southern VT? There are enough road crossings to give you a number of options for end points. Good call steering away from the storm.
Hi Jeff,
I would like to hike the NC section can you recommend the best place to start and end my hike? I did the GA section in May and would like to complete NC next year.
thank you,
Debbie
Hi Debbie – Where did you get off the trail – at Dicks Creek Gap or did you continue north from there? Just curious as it helps me give a better answer to your question.
I went to Bly Gap and then backtracked to Blue Ridge Gap for a shuttle to TOG Hostel.
One of my favorite sections was Nantahala Gorge to Davenport Gap. It was 101 miles and a lot of ups and downs through the GSMNP.I also did from Nantahala south to Dicks Creek Gap, which is why I asked if you had gotten off the trail there. It looks to me that it’s about 63 miles from Bly Gap to Nantahala, so you’d be taking on about a 164-mile section hike to get from Bly Gap to Davenport Gap. Hope this helps.
Thank you for your help!
I found an excellent shuttle option to and from Nantahala. It’s a great place to get on or off the trail. Food, restrooms and a big parking lot there. It’s predominantly a whitewater rafting facility, but they are very hiker friendly, as one might expect. Perhaps something to keep in mind if you want to break the trip into two section hikes.
Thanks for writing this! I’m headed to a Appalachian Trail in a few weeks and plan on hitting up a few of these trails!
You’re most welcome. Glad it helps.
Hi!
I live in NY and have a life goal to section hike the AT. I’m a little old for such a goal (44) and I’ve only day hiked. I’m fit and have flexibility to do several s croons a year. Do you provide coaching for such an ambitious goal??
Sorry for the delayed response. I was actually on the trail myself for a few days. I can’t really provide personalized coaching, but I am certainly available to answer any questions you may have along the way regarding training, gear choices and logistics. Good luck. You’re certainly not too old. I routinely see folks much older out for a few days.
This past weekend I met the woman that set the record for oldest female to through hike the Appalachian Trail. She is in her mid 70s. I believe she was 73 when she hiked it, and she is still going strong. Inspiration for us all!
There is advice above to plan your end-of-hike shuttle well in advance. I’d like to offer another suggestion, and give the reasons for it.
It is more sensible to get the shuttle at the BEGINNING of a section — meeting the shuttle provider wherever you park your vehicle. Then, get shuttled to where you want to start hiking, and hike back TO your vehicle.
So many things can happen during a multi-day hike to make you early (and more often, late) arriving someplace to meet a shuttle driver at the end of a hike. Cell coverage in the mountains is iffy at best. You may not be able to call the driver to change the time, and even if you can, that driver may have other trips booked at the time you want to switch to.
It also creates unnecessary and unwanted stress to keep to a tight schedule. Isn’t avoiding stress one reason we go to the mountains?
Most shuttle providers recommend doing it this way. A few refuse to meet hikers at the end of their hike because they know they, or the hiker, will probably have to wait for the other party to show up. Some drivers do several trips per day and simply CANNOT wait, so the hiker meeting a driver at hike’s end is taking a chance on not getting that ride if he or she takes longer to hike than anticipated.
Conversely, if you are able to finish your hike a day or a few hours ahead of anticipated, it’s better to simply arrive at your vehicle and be able to drive home than to have to wait hours (or until tomorrow) for your ride.
There may be the rare exception why you might NEED to do it the other way, but these are all valid reasons not to.
This is great advice. If you plan to leave a car at one end, I entirely agree. I’ve used this method before. What I failed to mention is that on most of my AT section hikes south of New England my hiking partner and I used public transportation. Thus there were no cars parked at either end and we had to plan for and rely entirely upon shuttle support. Thank you for weighing in.
i am unable to do many multi-day section hikes beyond a weekend hiKe but would still like to meet my goal of hiking thE at. What adviCe can you give or resources can you point me to about how Do plan these shorter sections?
Good question. Here’s what I suggest. Get your hands on the Appalachian Trail Data Book (if you don’t own it already). Thay will help you find places to get on and off the trail that enable shorter hikes. A few thoughts come to mind. One is looking at the stretch between Waynesboro and Front Royal, VA. The AT crosses Skyline Drive over 20 times in 108 miles. That will allow you plenty of options for getting on and off the trail. Another section I’d suggest is MD. Again, there are some pretty easy places to jump on and off there. Hope this helps.
hi jeff. I am from delaware and i would like to take our youth group on an over night hike. I have hiked a section in virginia about 20 years ago. i do remember passing and even staying at a shelter along the trail. I was thinking Virginia, maryland or pennsylvania. i want them to see some beautiful mountain views, but also have some type of shelter if possible. thank you in advance.
Happy to weigh in on this. I’d suggest a less aggressive section of trail to ensure the youngsters have a good time. The AT Data Book may be really helpful for planning, as it lists access points and distances to shelters. That said, Shenandoah NP comes to mind for a few reasons.
1. It’s reasonably close to where you live.
2. If you didn’t want to use a backcountry shelter, you could camp at one of the campgrounds in a group site, do day hikes and return to the site.
3. Another option would be to plan a hike where you could get on the trail north or south of a campground (Loft CG or Big Meadows CG), hike into the Campground, stay there, then complete your hike to your vehicle(s) the next day. Less to carry and great views all along the way.
4. If you stay at a campground, you don’t need to worry about obtaining backcountry camping permits.
Outside of the above suggestion, you might want to check out Maryland. Nice views along the ridge from Pen-Mar State Park north.
You didn’t mention group size, but if it’s over 10, please beware that Leave No Trace protocol (as well as advice of many trail organizations) encourages groups be no larger than that. Also, you can’t depend on shelters being available (they’re first come/first served), so you’ll want to have tents along, so you can camp near the shelter, but not in it if necessary.
Hope this helps. If you have other questions, please follow up.
I was wondering if there is a way I can find section hikes that are jogging stroller friendly. Not sure where to look to find this information. I’d like to start out with a few days on a section hike and would like to bring the stroller with. What are your thoughts?
Hmmm. Off the top of my head, there aren’t many. The C&O Canal section from Harper’s Ferry north would cover two to three miles, but then you’d have to climb Weaverton Cliff. As the trail is designed to be a mountain footpath (often designated as “foot travel only”) and is subsequently mostly narrow and often steep, I can’t say as I recommend taking a stroller along. Maybe the C&O Trail from DC to Cumberland, MD would be a better choice. It’s designed for walking and cycling.
Hi Jeff,
Really loving the information you have up here, so informative! I am a novice and travelling from Ireland to NYC in two weeks, was hoping to do some the AT on my own and am wondering if you would have any recommendations for a 3 night (4 day) trail? Id be heading from NYC via public transport but have no idea where to even begin, was thinking of the section Pawling to Harriman State Park you mentioned above? Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Sorry for later reply. I hope this gets to you in time. I recommend taking the train from NYC to the stop near Harriman State Park (the stop is actually called “Appalachian Trail”) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Trail_station. You could head either north or south from there, although if you head north, you can probably fashion a loop hike that includes part of the AT and a return trail back to the park (and, ultimately the train station). I’d recommend looking into Harriman State Park trails and doing it that way.
By the way, you should be prepared for cold conditions. Night time temps are likely to be in the 30s or 40s and daytime temps may get seasonally cold as well.
Hi. I’m from Illinois and a group of six of us have some time off in june and want to do a thru hike. After figuring travel to and from we have five nights to spend on the trail. We are middle aged and above and in okay shape. I’m thinking no more than ten mikes a day. Any thoughts on your favorite six days/five nights thru hiking adventure?
Thanks!
Ami
In June, I’d recommend hiking from Harpers Ferry, WV to Caledonia State Park in PA. It’s 79 miles or so. June is really buggy in New England and really hot and humid from VA south. I feel the MD/PA section might be the best solution. The first few miles out of Harpers Ferry follow the C & O Canal towpath, so it’s a good warm-up. On the other end, Caledonia State Park isn’t far from Gettysburg, so there are historic towns on either end. There’s a whole chapter about the section in my book Appalachian Odyssey that might be helpful for trip planning. Good luck!- Jeff
Hello! Any recommendations if I would like to complete a larger section, taking around a month or month and a half to complete?
Indeed I do. What time of year are you thinking of heading out? It makes a difference in what I would recommend.
Most likely beginning in June
Northern sections (particularly Maine and NH) can be brutal for bugs in June. That being said, southern sections can be pretty hot around then. Another factor is that northbounders, who have left GA in Mar/Apr will be traveling en masse. If you want more solitude, I would suggest hiking south from Dartmouth, NH or considering NJ/PA/MD (leaving from Harpers Ferry and hiking north or hiking from High Point, NJ (just outside Port Jervis, NY) and hiking south.
The AT Databook can be really helpful for figuring out mileages, establishing best trip plan for you, planning food supply points, etc.
One more note about the NJ section – be equipped for bears. It is a highly concentrated foraging area. While I haven’t had any encounters there, many have. Bearproofing food precautions are a must in this area.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. – Jeff
Hi! I just “flip flop” hiked from WV to MD with a friend and we then went back and continued through Haprper’s Ferry to VA and then back to my car. I was with a friends and we both have hiked parts of the lower 6 states done and sections in Maine. For our next trip we are trying to plan a hike that will include parts of PA/NJ/NY if we can find a spot where we can maybe camp in tents then go to a day hike for two of the states and then the next day do the remaining state. We will only have about a day and a half to hike, as I will need to travel back to Maine and she to VA to work on Monday. Is this doable? If so, what do you suggest? We don’t expect to hike a ton in each state, but want to hike a little in each of the 14 states.
Wow. Pretty ambitious, but you have length of daylight working in your favor.
Maryland — If you stay at Dahlgren Backpacker’s Campground, you could do a half-day out and back to the car, then head to Columcille Megalith Park to set you up to bag PA and NY.
PA/NY – It looks to me that you could camp in PA at Columcille Megalith Park, then hike north on the AT to cross the Delaware River at Delaware Water Gap (and subsequently enter NY), then exit the trail at the AMC Mohican Center. The Mohican Center might be able to help you with a shuttle (on second thought, maybe if you stay with AMC, they’ll shuttle you to the trail and you can hike north to stay with them that night. Here is their web page https://www.outdoors.org/destinations/new-jersey-and-new-york/mohican-outdoor-center/?utm_source=google-business&utm_medium=search-organic&utm_campaign=business-listings&utm_content=mohican.
An alternate plan would be to camp in northern MD at Owens Creek Campground, then get an Uber to Pen-Mar State Park on the MD/PA border and hike back to the campground, then drive to Columcille Megalith Park or AMC Mohican Center and do the PA/NY section described above.
Here is a map showing shelters, trail access points and campgrounds you may find useful for trip planning (thanks to GreenBelly).
https://www.greenbelly.co/pages/appalachian-trail-shelters
Hi Jeff, so much great info here!
I recently started thinking about section hiking the AT to give myself a challenge and goal to work towards. Haven’t explored it in too much depth but I have some time off in October and wanted to try a section out. I live in Atlanta so I was looking at sections near Gatlinburg or Asheville. I am interested in a 4-6 day hike, north or south, that would end near one of those two cities where we would spend a night or two at for my birthday. My partner has no interest in doing a hike of that many days ha, so I was thinking she could meet up and tag along for the last 1-2 days if that worked out.
Do you have any suggestions on a route that may work for this?
Absolutely! If you haven’t done a fair amount of hiking, I can’t wholeheartedly recommend the Smokeys. There’s a lot of up and down through there and I’m concerned it may not be a fitting inaugural section. I’m concerned you may find it more work than fun. A less aggressive section would give you more time to get your trail routine down and fine-tune things. Here’s an idea — closer to where you live and less of a logistical challenge.
1. Have your partner drop you off at Springer Mountain Parking area. It’s one mile from there to the southern terminus of the trail. You can even hike there and back together to start your trip.
2. Hike from Springer to Hogpen Gap (39.6 miles for you — nice 10 mile per day pace, which is comfortable that time of year — keep in mind less sunlight to work with).
3. Have your partner join you at Hogpen gap to hike the 15 miles to Unicoi Gap. (Two 7.5 mile days if she wants to join you for that part)
As far as logistics. I suggest checking out the Appalachian Trail Conference list of shuttle drivers. That way you won’t be leaving a vehicle unattended for several days. I had really good luck at that end of the trail leaving my car at the shuttler’s house and getting a ride to the trailhead. I am certain you can work something out where you can text your partner and/or the shuttle driver from the trail, so that no one is spending an inordinate amount of time standing around at the trailhead waiting for the other party to show up (at either Hogpen Gap or Unicoi Gap).
The Trail Distance Calculator may be of interest in your trip planning https://traildistance.com.
Good luck and happy trails!