Anyone here have any experiences running the Appalachian Trail? Is it accessible from populated cities or suburban areas where you can live and work a normal job. Anyone ever run the whole trail? Thanks.
Anyone here have any experiences running the Appalachian Trail? Is it accessible from populated cities or suburban areas where you can live and work a normal job. Anyone ever run the whole trail? Thanks.
I have covered the NY section and some of CT and NH. Read "A Walk in the Woods," a quick, entertaining read about walking the trail. It seems from my map studies that the further north from GA you go, the more populated and accessible the trail becomes. NJ through NH is particularly easy to access and find towns, supplies, etc. Maine seems to get a little more desolate, like GA and NC. I covered NY sections on weekends, about 8-10 miles at a time a few years ago. Occassionally I will do a segment here and there. I would like to plan a longer trip and knock out CT.
Running the trail is rugged and slow going. I enjoyed it but it is not relaxing at all. In NY and elsewhere I was constantly climbing, descending, single-track, looking for markers, occassionally losing the trail; one time I got caught in a blizzard and guess what color the markers are: white. That was interesting.
I think it is something you need to do with a partner, plan well and set reasonable goals. Enjoy.
smokies wrote:
Anyone here have any experiences running the Appalachian Trail? Is it accessible from populated cities or suburban areas where you can live and work a normal job. Anyone ever run the whole trail? Thanks.
I've tried running on it in VA, it was far too rugged for my taste. I doubt you'd be able to do more than a slow jog, constantly making sure you don't fall in many places.
Great for hiking though
It runs within 15 miles of Harrisburg, pa. Too rough for me to run at least but there are some more runnable trails within a few miles of it.
David Horton, the dude from Liberty, ran the whole thing -- all 2,100-plus miles -- in something like 53 days.
I've hiked many portions of it, and to say the least, it would be a tough run. Along with the climbs and descents, there's always rocks and roots to look out for, so as far as running goes, I wouldn't do it.
I haven't run it, but I hiked the last 45 miles of Vermont crossing the border into New Hampshire (S->N) and the Vermont section was mostly pretty good footing and pine needle covered trails. This would probably make a good section to run.
have hiked two-thirds of it. Most of that was w/ one hike - back in the day. Personally, I wouldn't want to run all of it. (I do currently train on six mile sections where I live in VA - 20 min. from it.) It's very accessible from many areas - I mean in many areas of the mid-Atlantic it cuts through backyards. I've always felt the southernmost and northernmost sections were the most beautiful and challenging. Time on the trail to me is therapeutic - running it would defeat that for me; although, I did push myself through quite a few sections.