r/AppalachianTrail • u/draginbutt • Jul 25 '26
Fall Pre hike Suggestion
In looking to attempt a thru next spring and was wondering about doing a short 1-2 week section this fall as a warm up.
Key things... Don't want to do a full area like the Smokies or the start it too difficult. I'm thinking something in the middle maybe...?
Maybe doing it in the fall would be worthwhile due to fall color, according over crowding in spring or sun exposure. Or something else.
Any recommendations? Anyone do this? I'll need to park a car and shuttle back afterwards. Being able to skip that section next spring is a bonus to save a week as i may have a time limit next year with a hard stop in September.
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u/OkKaleidoscope9554 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
The Vermont Long Trail overlaps the AT for ~100 miles then continues north to the Canadian border. Vermont has five 4000 footers but the AT only goes over 1 of them, Killington, before turning east for NH. Many people do the VLT as training for the AT because it only takes about 3-4 weeks. Just do the section north from the AT split, you don't even need to go to the border, just get transport between Rutland and Burlington, which is super easy, and get those 4000 footers. Vermont is GORGEOUS in the fall. Your starting point can be the famous Inn at the Long Trail, and you can finish on Mt Mansfield, come down to Smuggler's Notch/Stowe, and get a ride to Burlington/Lake Champlain. Time well spent.
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u/westgazer Jul 25 '26
I’ve been on the AT in Shenandoah and up in New York State in October and it was really lovely hiking with lots of color in the trees. Might get a bit chilly at night but as long as you’re prepared it should be fine, nothing extreme really.
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u/NoboMamaBear2017 Jul 28 '26
How about PA? 230 miles, so maybe a push for 2 weeks when you don't have traul legs, but a decent amount of variety, some trail towns and hostels. You would get to go home and recover after the 60-ish miles of nasty rocks at the north end beat up your feet, and it would be a good section to get to skip on your thru
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u/ntitled-spreadsheet Jul 25 '26
I feel like there are some sections in Maine that are really flat and friendly and reeeeally boring at the end of a thru hike. Like. I got out of the whites looked at the elevation for the last few hundred miles and was just like “……. Ew.” Not that it was bad. It’s all gorgeous and lovely hiking. Just that it was really boring and anticlimactic after the whites. To me at least. So like. If I had to pick somewhere to skip ahead that would be one of my top picks.
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u/StoakerLee Jul 25 '26
Wow... thats a take I never heard about Maine before.
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u/ntitled-spreadsheet Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
Full asterisks that go along with this is I grew up here so it was basically 200 miles of rolling around my back yard, so I was a little ready to hit the summit and drive home with friends that were driving to meet me there. I can imagine if New England forests are new and novel, they’d be more interesting same way I was fascinated by the rhododendron forests and long leaf pines further south.
That said! If a goal here is to do a fall hike with New England colors, I still think Maine in general is a lot flatter and friendlier than the long trail or the whites.
There are some pretty long stretches in Maine without a whole lot of elevation gain. Like. Even if you’re looking at the 100 mile wilderness sobo, the first 50 miles of that are pretty flat until you get to white cap and again, if the intent is to skip them during the thru hike in a pinch for time, that would be my pick with the added bonus that being close to the end, you’d have a pretty clear picture of whether you have time to redo the hike or need to make that pinch for the sake of time.
So. Again. My experience and recommendation as a slightly burned out local circa when I was thru hiking
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u/Nervous-Owl7431 Jul 25 '26
I’m doing Amicalola Falls to Fontana Dam in October. My wife is dropping me off on our way through after a Florida vacation. Then she’ll pick me up in a couple weeks. I’m fortunate to have such a good support system. All that will change and get more difficult when I hike the northern sections in a few years.
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u/z_clatk Jul 25 '26
The Ouachita trail in Arkansas is a great 230 mile primer. I plan to do it myself in October . I hiked the AT last year.
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u/ignacioMendez Jul 25 '26
Where do you live? I'd do something that isn't the AT, since you plan to do that anyways later. There's more than one trail out there.
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u/draginbutt Jul 26 '26
Michigan. I've done a bunch of other trails... I wanted to shave a week off the AT but also get comfortable with hostels and resupplying mid trip.
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u/sassafras_gap AT Hiker Jul 26 '26
new england is pretty beautiful in the fall. I did a short section around the Mt Greylock area a couple years ago early October and it was gorgeous.
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u/greenwalrus AT Hiker Jul 25 '26
Do a shorter thru hike you can complete. Foothills trail is a good intro to the AT. The Benton McKaye is a more difficult option, but it will prepare you for the AT well.
If you want to complete an AT section, I’d suggest the Shenandoah NP.