AT Thru Hikers Jack & Bob Ross From BR

You have a line going on how many days they last? At least a over/under.

I guess I’m out of touch with things, but isn’t this a pretty horrible time of the year to be doing a thru hike?

Yes, ideal time is mid March. But katahdin closes mid August so the clock is ticking.

It takes about a month to get to the Smokies from Springer Mtn. where the trail starts. You couldn’t pay me to try and hike the Smokies in February. During my stint on the AT, we hit the Smokies around Mid-April and we still had snow, if that tells you anything about how cold it is up there at times. The trail runs the ridges, so you’re hiking at elevations between 5500-6500 almost the entire time there. You get one snow storm at those elevations and you’re stuck there a while with limited food supplies, or risking your life to try and hike out in the snow and ice. Bad idea by these guys, if they even make it that far.

Meh,

True I wasn't doing the whole AT, but the absolute best time to hike The Smokies is dead of winter. And with the gear drops (uber and internet) that everyone uses it's not as if you're weeks off into wilderness. Plus knowing the weather like we do now it'd be easy to drop off the trail and hitch to a hostel. Plus that stint over 5000 is just a one 2-3 day push south of Clinghmans and another north...(if we're talking Smokies and through hiking)... and we always had more than the 35 pound packs they carry today.

Not to say I'd be without 900 down nor food lite. And remember there's more down days when starting from the first of the year than March.

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Where are those guys from?

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Jack doesn’t really have much of an accent to me which means he sounds like a redneck to most people. Bob Ross definitely has some south LA accent going on. In one of their episodes, they called a friend “back in Baton Rouge” so I assume they’re from the BR area.

The phone conversation was on speakerphone and it made the episode.

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As far as the Smokies, I’ve heard enough horror stories of people getting stuck in a shelter in a snowstorm at 6000

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Have friends that have been stranded for near a week. And I've purposely gone in between snow falls to cross country ski. Snow can get deep up on top of the AT or from Tri-Corners over to Laurel, but once you drop off a side trail it's hardly ever over knee deep.

And AT hikers all know who's ahead and behind. So it's not like your Jeremiah Johnson isolated. Most of the horror stories (of snow) I've heard is not from through hikers. And yes, I've even had to emergency bivouac from a friend with hypothermia. Plus Park Rangers know with permits who's in between. Have a friend just last year that had two groups of Forest Service waiting for them at their car; so they could close down the park (to safely escort them out). And another time we were woken at might by one searching for a missing hiker; he said it was minus 15.

Now newbies and solo wannabee in winter is a whole different matter . . . as is not having enough fuel.

I'd worry more about either side of the park (or Mt Washington) than the Smokies.

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risking your life to try and hike out in the snow and ice.

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Risking many peoples lives trying to get the idiots off the mountain. Thats the issue that these idiots dont realize the resources that will go into SAR

I will have to check the local guys out. Never found anyone to watch last year that held my interest. Anyone starting this early better know what they are doing with these volatile winter conditions coming up.

did our guy from TD finish the the CDT last year? He made a few posts about it but never saw if he finished or not? Think he was going for the triple crown.

Starting in January? Short days and long cold nights should keep things interesting.