Plans for 2013

You may be wondering why I have not posted much for quite a while. But right now I am back in Berlin preparing my next trips in 2013 - and that turned out to be more challenging than I expected.

First of all I have a "positive" problem". I have too many trip options to choose from! When I started my "full time hiking career" back in 2007 I was afraid that I would soon run out of ideas. I somewhat expected that I would get bored after a couple of years and would want to go back to work. But the more I hike, cycle and paddle the more ideas I have for future trips.

There are a lot of factors to take into consideration when chosing a trip:

• Exchange rates: For many years now I have spent most of my time in the US or Australia. The Euro had been very strong and the exchange rate favourable. If you can chose between various destinations and all seem equally attractive to you why not go where it is currently cheap? But unfortunately now there is the EURO crisis. Although the US is still sort of affordable, it is not really cheap any more for Europeans. And Australia and New Zealand is completely out of the question right now. So why not stay in Europe? I have always travelled with the exchange rate and so now seems to be the time for Europe. 
• Diversification: I started out as a hiker and then slowly diversified into cycling and paddling. One of the reasons for the diversification was to reduce the risk of injury - and to avoid getting bored. When I came back from the Mississippi I was all stoked about paddling and wanted to do another long paddling trip soon. But for months after the end of my paddling trip I was still suffering from a paddling injury: I had overstrained my fingers and was suffering from a stiff middle finger. This seems to be a common paddling injury as all fellow Mississippi kayakers suffer from it as well. Although the pain is gone now I decided to give it a rest for a year. On the other hand I have not done a cycling trip for over 2 years - so I guess it is time to cycle again.
• Finding new challenges: On each trip I try to do something new and learn something more. I am not always successful, but through trial and error I have expanded my outdoor knowledge. Not every trip turns out to be great, but I have always learned something. One of my last experiments had been a 5 week winter hike in the US and to my big surprise I had liked it a lot. I want to deepen that experience and do an even longer moderate fall/winter hike this year.
• Learn from experience: 2012 had been a great year for me. I had enjoyed my 6 months hike across Western Europe tremendously - but I had sort of spoilt this very positive experience with constant time pressure. I had to finish the hike at a certain time to start my next adventure - with a flight already booked and a trip partner waiting for me. I do not want to commit the same mistake again: My next trips have to be open end. Also 2012 had been a physically demanding year. If you live outdoors almost permanently you cannot ask your body to always perform 100+%. You need a rest. You have to take it easy sometimes. 2012 had been a great year, but not an easy one. 2013 has to be more relaxing. 

Through all these factors I came to the following conclusion: I want to do something in Europe. I do not want to go paddling again this year, but instead do at least a bit of cycling. I do want to do a trip that lasts into fall and winter. I do not want a trip with time constraints for whatever reason like having to catch a flight or a season closing in on me. And I want something relaxing, although my definition of relaxing outdoor activities might differ a lot from most people's.....

Still, all that left plenty of options and I had a hard time deciding, but this is the result:

May 2013: I will visit my friend and former cycling partner John again who lives on a narrow boat on the British canals. I have last seen him in 2011 and had a fantastic time on the boat. This will give me the opportunity to continue my trip research and be a domestic goddess again cooking three course dinners for the two of us.

June - August 2013: After more than two years it is time for another bike trip. I was deliberating various options like the North Sea Cycle Route but eventually decided to just visit countries I have always wanted to see. In order to facilitate logistics I want to start cycling in Berlin and finish there as well. This way there are no planes to catch, i.e. no time constraints. From Berlin I will cycle up into Denmark first. This is a small country but I am planning to investigate it thoroughly. I am especially attracted by its vast bike trail network and the free designated nature campsites. From there I will continue up into Sweden and then down into Finland. Depending on how much I like it I will cycle all the way or take a short cut with the ferry. From Helsinki I will take the ferry into Tallin and cycle around the Baltic States. I have visited these three tiny countries almost two decades ago and it will be interesting to see how things have changed. If time permits I will cycle back to Berlin through Poland - or just take a ferry from Klaipeda to Germany. Why have I chosen this route? I like the easy free camping with the everyman's right or designated free camping spots. These are countries with lots of bike paths or very little traffic. And I really appreciate the various possibilities of ferry short-cuts relieving me from time constraints. 

September 2013 - January 2014: Hiking is my first and biggest love and I definitely want to do another hiking trip soon expanding the season into fall and winter. In Europe there are not that many options for easy winter hiking and it was a nobrainer for me to settle for Southern France and Southern Spain. Especially since I had enjoyed last year's hike there tremendously. But which route should I take? Several weeks I conversed with hiking friends, studied maps and hiking blogs. Again there were too many interesting options! Maybe the Via de la Plata, another pilgrims' trail that should be deserted in winter? Or some new hiking trails in Portugal,  a country where I have never hiked before?
The breakthrough came through my hiking friend Werner, one of the very few Germans who actually hike long-distance in Europe as well. He posted on a German outdoor internet forum that the E1, a European long-distance trail will be finished all the way up to the North Cape this year. He ended his post with the sentence: "Now the ultimate European hike is possible: Walk from the Southernmost point in Europe, Tarifa in Spain, to the Northernmost point, the North Cape." Of course I was intrigued! I spent half the night researching and found out that the Southernmost point on the European mainland is indeed Tarifa in Spain. I loved the idea to hike across Europe from West to East and North to South. Now I had a goal! Instead of "aimlessly" wandering across Southern France and Spain I would hike from Germany to Tarifa, and one of the following years the second part from Germany to the North Cape. All of a sudden everything made sense and a new hiking idea was born.

How to plan your own route for a long-distance hike

I have planned the routes for several long-distance hikes in Europe now, including a 1,000 km hike through Germany, a 2,000 km hike across the UK fromJohn O'Groats to Land's End and a 4,500 km hike across Western Europe. The planning for these long hikes has been very different from preparing for the well established America long-distance trails like the AT or PCT or the European pilgrimage trails. If you plan your own route, there are no ready made map sets or town guides you can buy, no other hikers who have done the exact same route who can share your experiences with you.

Planning the route of a hike yourself is time-consuming and challenging, but can be great fun. The more I do it, the better I get and the more I enjoy it. Here is some advice for people planning similar hikes. This post is geared towards planning hikes in Europe, but you might find interesting tips here even if you are planning your own route in other continents.

Planning a route for long distance hike of 1,000 km and more I go through three phases:

Phase 1: Rough planning

My long hikes usually start with an idea like hiking across Germany or the UK or finding a route across Europe incorporating the big mountain ranges. I always try to use existing marked trails as much as possible instead of creating free style cross country routes. This has several reasons: First of all I like hiking without having to spend too much time navigating. On marked trails I just have to follow the blazes. I only occasionally have to look at a map or my GPS to check where I am. This is far less time and energy consuming than going freestyle where you constantly have to check map, compass and/or GPS. Another advantage is that you can usually buy strip maps or hiking guides for established long-distance trails which ends up to be much cheaper and lighter than buying the relevant topo maps which contain a lot more information than you need - especially if the sheet lines are unfavorable. In the hiking guides or relevant websites for a long-distance trail you will also find a lot of useful logistical and tourist information that facilitates your logistical planning.

In the rough planning phase I therefore try to find a good overview map of the region showing all the long-distance trails. I personally prefer paper maps in this stage, but unfortunately these are not readily available for all European countries. Here are some good examples:

• Overview map European long-distance trails:
  Paper map: “Europaeische Fernwanderwege” by freytag & berndt,
  ISBN 3-7079-0100-9 (unfortunately out of print)
  Online: Overview map on www.era-ewv-ferp.com
  Online: Overview map on www.traildino.com
• Germany:
  Online: www.wanderbares-deutschland.de
• Austria:
  Paper map: “Oesterreichische Fernwanderwege” by freytag & berndt, ISBN 3707903370
  Online: Overview map at www.alpenverein.at
• Great Britain:
  Online: UK map on www.traildino.com
• France:
  Paper map: IGN 903: Long Distance Footpaths in France, ISBN 2758527367
• Belgium:
  Online: Regional maps at www.wandelwereld.be
• Spain:
  Online: www.euro-senders.com
  For pilgrimage trails: www.mundicamino.com

If looking for more information http://www.traildino.com/ is always a good source

Based on these overviews maps I get a very good idea of the feasibility of a route. Are there enough existing trails that can be connected? Are there many obstacles like long road walks or high mountain ranges in winter? When I have a rough idea of the route I proceed to phase 2, the detailed planning.

Phase 2: Detailed planning

Goal of this phase is to create a gpx track for the whole route. This track will be the guideline for my entire hike and therefore I plan the route down to the last meter. I am aware that I will most likely deviate from this route occasionally out of various reasons like short cutting, sightseeing, resupplying, seeing a nicer route etc. But I want to have the gpx track as a fall back strategy in case I don't have detailed map or I am just too plain lazy to find a better route. I also need a continuous route as a gpx track in order to calculate the length of my hike which is essential for estimating the time needed for the hike and planning resupply.

Again it helps to use existing long distance trails and connect them because they usually have a website of their own and/or you can find free gps track downloads for them on the internet. Good sources are for example:

for Germany: www.wanderkompass.de

for France: www.gr-infos.com

for Spain: www.rutasyviaje.es

for United Kingdom: www.gps-routes.co.uk or www.ldwa.org.uk

for Benelux: www.wandelwereld.be

Unfortunately, I cannot always link existing trails together. Sometimes I have to bridge gaps by planning a freestyle route. With freestyle routes I mean creating my own route using roads, forest roads and all sorts of other trails that are not marked and/or part of long-distance trail. I use Garmin topo maps or OSM maps as a planning base. This freestyle route walking is much easier in Europe than in the US because in Europe you are almost always allowed to walk on any trail or forest road even if it is on private property.

Still planning freestyle routes can be tricky: What looks like a perfect trail or forest road on Garmin topo or OSM can in reality be non-existent, overgrown, flooded, eroded or otherwise impassable. Never rely on a single unmarked trail that is shown on a map. Have alternatives handy in case that this trail does not exist or is impassable.

The accurateness of the calculation of the trip length in kilometers and time will depend on the quality of the downloaded gpx tracks. If these tracks have plenty of track points like one track point every 15 to 20 meters, the overall length of the track will be reliable. But very often these gpx tracks have been cut down to reduce the amount of track points. These becomes a big problem especially in mountainous regions. Your gpx track might have only two track points with a straight line of a couple of hundred meters between them. In reality there might be a trail with several switchbacks and a couple of kilometers between those two track points! This can add up quickly and distort the real length of a trail tremendously. And all of a sudden you'll need one day more to get to your next resupply point.... Always check the quality of the gpx tracks you have downloaded. The less trackpoints per kilometer is has the more buffer you should add to the length of your route. If in doubt I usually add 10-15% to the track length.

In this phase I also plan alternate routes. These come in very useful in two cases:

I try to plan shorter alternate route for the end of my hike in case I unexpectedly run out of time but still want to make it to the finish point. I also plan alternates for long stretches that can be difficult in bad weather like exposed mountain ridges. The better your map material is the less need you have to plan alternates because you can plan them “on the spot” whenever the need for an alternate arises. But very often I won't carry detailed maps for an area or only strip maps that don't show enough of the surrounding area to plan an alternate. Having a pre-planned alternate can be essential then.

On tour I don't want to solely rely on my GPS for navigation. Already twice may GPS broke on trail and I would have been lost without paper maps. I therefore try to carry paper maps for my route or buy them along the way. Again, using existing long-distance trails makes this easier because very often strip maps and/or guidebooks are available for them. In Spain look for guidebooks (topoguias) of Prames and in France for the “topoguides” of the FFRP. Of course I cannot carry maps for a several thousand kilometer hike. I therefore try to buy the maps/guidebooks as I go, but it has proven to be very useful to determine beforehand which map/guidebook I need.

If I cannot find strip maps/guidebooks or if I hike a long freestyle stretch I print out the relevant maps using the map material of my Garmin topos or OSM maps. Sometimes there are better free or cheap alternatives like

• for Great Britain: www.grough.co.uk
• for France: http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr

I very rarely buy normal paper maps when hiking long distance because these maps are too expensive and too heavy for my purposes especially when the sheet lines are unfavorable.

Phase 3: Logistical planning

Goal of this phase is to create a document containing all the logistical information needed for my hike. I'll carry this document in paper and as a file on my smartphone. Keep in mind that you'll need to have your route fully planned in order to sensibly plan the logistics. This little guidebook contains the following information:

Resupply: I can carry food for up to 8 or 9 days, but in Europe you almost always find resupply options more often, especially if you are willing to deviate from the hiking trail. Still, I don't want to find the next supermarket by coincidence with an empty stomach – I therefore research ahead where there are resupply options along my route. In bigger cities there will definitely be supermarkets, but it still helps to avoid long detours on pavement if you know exactly where they are. It is much more difficult to research resupply options in little villages or towns. Here are some tipps:

Research with google maps is quick and easy, but has a lot of disadvantages. First of all not all supermarkets are listed there. This especially applies to little mom-and-pop-stores. Also not all supermarkets that show up on google maps do exist any longer. Very often the data have been entered, but not updated. The only way to make sure that the store is still there is to double check with other data sources like a supermarket chain's own website or just calling by phone. This is a lot of work but definitely worthwhile if you are relying on one store with no other back up options nearby.

In Mediterranean countries shops are closed midday for lunch break. These lunch breaks are several hours long and can be anything from noon to 5 pm. If you don't want to wait in front of a closed shop with an empty stomach it helps to research opening times beforehand or at least note the phone number so that you can call ahead and find out.

In google maps you can save the location of a store under “my places”. You'll have to convert the waypoint then and can transfer it onto your GPS. Some supermarket chains like “Lidl” offer a download of all their locations as waypoints facilitating resupply research tremendously.

Consumables: These are mostly shoes, fuel and maps/guidebooks. For shoes, gas canisters and maps I try to locate outfitters along the route and note down their location, opening times and phone numbers. I use gas canisters and their resupply is essential for me. I therefore always call ahead to find out if they carry canisters and the shoes I need. For Campingaz canisters the Campingaz website offers a great international store locator. For maps and guidebooks you don't need an outfitter – any book shop will usually do. Again it is important to note down their phone numbers. Call ahead several days in advance to find out if your map or guidebook is available and let them reserve it. If they don't stock it, it can usually be ordered within a couple of days and then picked up in the store.

General delivery or poste restante: Although I try to avoid sending stuff via Poste Restante there are some cases when this becomes necessary. In some countries I cannot buy the trail runners I need and have to have them shipped to a post office along the route. If I already own the maps/guidebooks I need for an upcoming stretch but don't want to carry them hundreds of kilometers before I use them I ship them via Poste Restante. Keep in mind that regulations for Poste Restante vary tremendously from country to country. Always make sure what they are. Some countries only accept small packages up to 2 kg as Poste restante. Sometimes your delivery will be kept 2 weeks, sometimes 1 month. Delivery times can be unreliable and there always is the risk of loss. Always try to send a resupply package to a town where you are planning on having a rest day anyways. Then you don't have to worry about arriving on a Sunday.

Tourist information: If there are attractions along my route that I definitely want to visit I research opening times beforehand. I don't want to arrive on the only day when the sight is closed. If I know where I want to have rest day I try to research cheap accommodation like hostels and note down their phone number. This way I can call ahead and make reservations.

It depends on your personal preference to what extent you research logistical information. You can of course do most of this research on the go, especially if you are carrying a smart phone. Still I personally prefer doing most of this research at home where it is much easier with a fast internet connection, a keyboard and a mouse than with a tiny smartphone display and a touchpad. On tour I very often encounter no or very weak cell phone reception resulting in no or very slow internet. Also surfing the internet drains the batteries very fast.

Winter hiking: Lessons learned

The main goal of this trip in the Appalachians has been to gain experience in winter hiking - and I gained a lot. When reading my lessons learned though keep in mind that all this refers to winter hiking in moderate climate. The temperatures never dropped below 15 F and I never had more than a couple of inches of snow. Do not apply my experiences to harsher climates.

Campsite on the Pinhoti

NeoAir: A big problem on winter hikes is bulk. The sleeping bag is bulkier than normal, you need a good and big tent and of course an adequate sleeping pad. In order to reduce the bulk of all of this I specifically bought a new NeoAir All Season for this trip. It has a high R-value suitable even for hardcore winter hiking and is still pretty lightweight with 580 gr - and even less bulky than the TAR Prolites. I was still skeptical when I used it the first time: It still looked very delicate and the fabric rather flimsy. But after reading mostly good reports I decided to give it a try. Well, I should have listened to my bad gut feeling. Already on day 8 I woke up to a rather deflated NeoAir. I still hoped that the deflation had to do with the change of air temperature but that turned out not to be the case. The pad had a hole! And of course this was a very cold day... The NeoAir comes with a repair kit and the repair itself is very easy: You just put a patch over the hole and that's it. But first you have to find the hole and that is a huge problem in winter - as I had to find out the hard way. First you need a stream or creak that is not frozen and deep enough to submerge the NeoAir. Don't underestimate that problem as the NeoAir is very thick. Then you have to dink around in cold freezing water until you find the hole or your fingers are frozen stiff. In my case the latter happened first. And if you happen to find the you have to dry the fabric before you can apply the patch. I gave up before that and bailed out to a nice motel with a bathtub...  The most important lesson I learned was: NEVER trust a NeoAir! It is very comfortable, but still too delicate. I have used TAR Prolites for several years abusing them a lot and have had a puncture only once! But with the NeoAir I get a puncture within one week despite treating it like a raw egg? I think that even the NeoAir All Season is not robust enough for a single pad and I will never ever take it on a winter trip again without a backup. If you get a hole in subfreezing conditions you will have problems repairing it and that can lead to a potentially life threatening situation. Either don't get a NeoAir in the first place or only use it in combination with a close cell foam pad - which is what I will probably do in the future. But make sure that the close cell foam pad has an R-value high enough that you can survive with it if the NeoAir fails.

My canister cosy

Gas canister stove: I knew that gas canister stoves do not perform well in the cold - the gas cannot vaporize in cold temperatures leading to a very small and fickle flame. I thought I could solve the problem by warming the canister first with my body warmth but it was so cold that this trick did not work very well. As soon as I fired the stove up outside the canister got cold again and the flame diminished. I was getting desperate and even wanted to buy an external stove for inverted use and liquid feed. By turning the canister upside down the gas can be fed into the stove in a liquid instead of a vaporized state solving the cold temperature problem. But I could not get such a stove - and it would have been much heavier and bulkier than my beloved Snowpeak Gigapower. So instead I built a canister cosy. I used white packaging foam that I cut into 2 pieces. I wrapped one big piece around the canister and taped it together and cut another round piece for the bottom. Luckily the whole thing fit perfectly well into my pot together with the canister. And to my big surprise it worked incredibly well! Of course I had to pre-warm the canister before putting it into the cosy but with that combination the stove performed as well as it does in normal summer conditions. I can highly recommend the canister cosy for moderate winter use as a cheap and lightweight solution.

Rain gear: The biggest weather problem on this trip has been consistent cold rain with temperatures dropping afterwards and freezing my wet clothes stiff. I knew that no rain gear is completely waterproof but I learned that the biggest problem zone of a rain jacket are the arms. Why is that? I am hiking with trekking poles and using them your hands are in a higher position than your elbow. If it is raining this has the effect that water will slowly run down from your hands and wrists into your jacket soaking the arms of whatever warm layer you are wearing. In hard rain it got so bad that the water even reached my armpits and started trickling down the side of my body. I tried to avoid that problem by cinching close the arms of rain jacket but it did not help at all. The only solution for this kind of situation is NOT to use trekking poles! If your arms are hanging down all the time water will not get inside the arms. But unfortunately the terrain was so rocky that I had to use trekking poles...

Drying clothes: Because of the above mentioned problem I often had to deal with wet clothes and find ways to dry them in cold and wet weather. It did not help to hang them up in the shelters over night. They would drip dry a bit but still be wet. There are two ways to dry them: Smaller pieces that were only slightly wet I dried overnight be wearing them inside my quilt. I used my wind jacket to prevent the moisture of the wet clothes penetrating into my dry insulation. This method worked surprisingly well for damp socks and one piece of wet base layer. I guess it helped a lot, too that I was using a synthetic quilt. I'd be afraid to use this method with a down quilt because down uses its warming abilities when getting damp. But this method only works for one or two pieces of clothing. What to do with the rest? I let the stuff drip dry over night which can have the effect that you wake up and find your clothes frozen stiff. Keep in mind that frozen clothes are much bulkier than dry clothes! I then started wearing the wet stuff dry during the day. This is a slow process as you can only dry one piece at a time. If you wear too many wet clothes at a time you'll just get hypothermic. Again I used my wind jacket as a protective layer for my dry insulation layer.

Sleeping bag/quilt: I have used a synthetic quilt for this trip, the Enlightened Equipment Prodigy 20 quilt. For quite a while I have been very disappointed with down and for this trip down would have been a catastrophe. Almost every night I had to deal with plenty of condensation. When I woke up in the morning the footbox of my quilt was wet from touching the tent walls. And very often the upper part of the quilt was wet from my breathing. With a down sleeping bag moisture would have penetrated into the down, made it clump and the insulating qualities of the bag would have been seriously compromised. Synthetic is so much more robust! The humidity did not degrade my synthetic quilt's temperature rating. My quilt came with 10d Nylon shell fabric which dried surprisingly fast. When I woke up in the morning I turned the quilt inside out and slipped back into the quilt. It took only the time I needed for breakfast to dry the shell fabric through my body warmth. Do not take a down bag/quilt on such a trip. The prolonged exposure to humidity will degrade the down's insulating qualities quickly and you'll be unable to dry it properly. Synthetic is the material of choice for cold and wet climates.

Ford on the Georgia Pinhoti

Stream crossings: I had to manage dozens of stream crossings that I could not boulder hop any more with dry feet. In summer conditions I would just ford with my shoes, I was awfully afraid of getting wet feet and socks because in the cold weather all that would just freeze. So I applied two strategies: If the water was less than ankle deep I took advantage of my Goretex mid size hiking shoes. I would just quickly walk through the stream. Although Goretex is not completely water proof it is still relatively water resistant when submerged only briefly. So as long as the water did not come in over my shoes and I walked through quickly my feet remained relatively dry. The little water that penetrated the Goretex shell usually dried during the day. But when the water was higher than ankle deep I was facing a bigger problem. Fording barefoot was usually not a good option. First of all I did not want to hurt my feet and secondly the water was ice cold and I would also step into snow. Neoprene socks were the ideal solution! I had brought them with me from my paddling trip and put them on only for river fords. They are NOT waterproof, but only little water will penetrate and because of the insulating quality of neoprene my feet would not get cold. Plus the Neoprene offered good protection against sharp rocks.

Winter hike in the Appalachians: Conclusion

This hike has been an experiment and my first extended winter hike. So has the experiment been successful? Yes, indeed! I have learnt an awful lot! Did I enjoy it? Strangely enough, yes I did, although I had expected this trip to be more of a type II fun (trips that you enjoy only afterwards when looking back on them). The hiking has been hard and the weather threw every problem possible at me from snow storms, 4 days of continuous cold rain to T shirt hiking weather. When I hiked for days in the cold rain I felt plain miserable. But almost every night I lay in my warm quilt and was so happy and content with the day's achievement. I am usually happy when I am hiking, but the feeling of achievement on this winter hike made me feel even better. And of course it feels great to be warm and cosy inside your tent or shelter and watch the rain and snow outside!

The loop hike on the AT, BMT and Pinhoti was a great route because it had a lot of variety and threw different challenges at me. The AT and BMT are at relatively high altitude which gave me the chance to experience hiking in snow. I did not have a snow problem on the Pinhoti, but the continuous cold rain did test my limits and gave me ample opportunity to try river fords in cold weather.

Sunny winter day on the BMT

Two factors that made me decide for that route did indeed work out well: Daylight and infrastructure. Let me explain this in more detail as these two factors were decisive in making this trip enjoyable. Even end of December I had 10 hours of daylight due to the Southern geographical location of the route. Counting in dusk and dawn I could hike almost 11 hours. By getting up 1 hour before sunrise and eating/packing in the dark and setting up camp only at dusk I minimized the hours I had to spend in my tent. The hike was pretty demanding, too and I had no problem sleeping 10 hours every night. I therefore never felt confined to my tent like on other winter trips. I have done winter trips in Scotland and Germany before with only 6 to 8 hours of daylight forcing me into my tent for 16 hours. Because of the cold temperatures I could hardly do anything in the tent - even reading was a problem. It got so bad that my back started hurting from lying immobile for so long every night. So if I do a winter trip again I will chose a season or location with at least 10 hours of daylight - which will still slow down my progress. I usually hike 20+ mile days which was a bit difficult on this trip. An average of 15 - 18 miles per day is more realistic for a winter hike without night hiking.

Campsite on the Pinhoti

The AT and the Alabama Pinhoti have shelters that came in very handy in bad weather. Although you are not warmer in a shelter than in your tent there is a big difference. In a shelter you can hang up your clothes for drying, you can walk around and don't feel confined and you have plenty of dry space to spread out. And of course you don't get wet packing up! I don't need a shelter every night, but it was great to be able to plan ahead in bad weather and know that I'll get a break from the rain soon. The BMT and the Georgia Pinhoti do not have shelters but there were trail towns that served the same purpose. So on another winter trip I will make sure there are shelters or trail towns in good intervals to make bad weather bearable. Without this infrastructure I would have needed a bigger tent - which would result in a heavier pack weight! Tipi Walter whom I met on the BMT goes that way and enjoys it very much. He carries a 2 person Hilleberg tent, plenty of warm clothes and sleeping bag plus food for several days. This way he can comfortably sit out several days of bad weather, but the heavy pack weight reduces his daily mileage considerably.

So overall I can recommend this loop hike a lot, but if you hike it in winter don't expect a walk in the park. It will be hard hiking and you'll need the right winter equipment. The winter question aside I can highly recommend both the BMT and the Pinhoti. They are both little gems that I personally prefer to the rather crowded AT.

Pinhoti Trail: Conclusion and tips

The Pinhoti Trail is a little gem and I was surprised that it is not more popular.  Don't expect spectacular scenery though. Like the AT the Pinhoti is routed through forest almost all the time and in summer there aren't too many views. In winter that was a bit different though, but still all you see is more forest. You will mostly walk on ridge lines or contouring around slopes. Almost all of the Pinhoti is on single file trail. The combination of forest and unobtrusive single file trail gives the Pinhoti a strong wilderness feeling. You'll feel like Leather Stockings or Pocahontas.

The Pinhoti can indeed be walked year round because of its low elevation and Southern location. It hardly rises above 600 metres. I did encounter snow but it is minimal and will not impede your progress. There aren't many steep ascends or descents either making the trail not particularly hard. But it is very rocky in places and the narrow trail can be quite slippery in wet weather on slopes, so don't underestimate it either. It is generally well marked but dead leaves can obscure the trail bed and you'll have to pay attention in order not to be led astray. I found it very difficult to night hike. I met few hikers on the Pinhoti but the ones I met were all very interesting. I guess this is what you get on lesser known trails.

The Georgia and Alabama Pinhoti differ greatly and for hikers the Alabama Pinhoti is the better one. In Georgia the trail is open to hikers, bikers and horses. Almost all the trail volunteers are mountain bikers and the Pinhoti there is mostly geared towards bikers. When talking to a trail crew I learned the reason for it: Hiking volunteers in Georgia tend to work on the popular AT  instead of the lesser known Pinhoti whereas the bikers don't have that alternative and gravitate towards the Pinhoti. There are even several popular mountain bike races on the Georgia Pinhoti every year. The result is a trail free of obstacles like blow down trees, a higher percentage of old logging roads instead of single file trail and no trail shelters. I happened to hike it after a race and sadly encountered lots of trash left by cyclists but volunteers were already cleaning up. I want to emphasize that this MTB orientation does not diminish the hiking experience. The volunteers keep the trail in great shape for all users. The biggest problem in Georgia are two long roadwalks of 20 miles each at Dalton and Cave Springs. As far as road walks go they are not too bad. You are either routed over very quiet country roads or on road shoulders and side walks.

View from a shelter

The Alabama Pinhoti on the other hand is 100% geared towards hikers. No other users are allowed on the trail. In the Northern half of the trail there are beautiful shelters about every 10 miles. And the trail is almost exclusively on single file. Between the Georgia border and Rebecca Mountain trail head you have 150 miles of almost uninterrupted single file trail through beautiful forest. Currently there is still a 20 miles road walk after Rebecca mountain to the official terminus at Flagg Mountain, but many hikers just finish at Rebecca mountain for that reason. Although you don't walk through any towns in Alabama resupply is still easy as there are some county stores close to the trail and you can hitch into nearby Heflin or Piedmont. I just carried food for the whole stretch which just takes a week at thruhiker speed.

The Pinhoti Trail has a rather chaotic website. There is lots of information on it but it is difficult to find what you want to know. Unfortunately, there is no town guide available so you have to figure out yourself where to resupply or take a rest day. You can download maps for the entire Pinhoti from Mr Parkay for free. You'll find the link on the Pinhoti website. Keep in mind that these maps have not been updated for a while. The Pinhoti is also shown on US trails transparent map at gpsfiledepot.com but again it does not show recent changes.

Because there is no town guide here my resupply info:

Antique shop in Cave Springs

Dalton is a huge town with all services. Going South to North you first cross the Interstate where there are several chain motels. There is a Days Inn and a Rodeway Inn as well as several other more expensive chains. In the first big mall after the Interstate there is a big Kroger supermarket and a couple of shops away is RAK outfitter which is a small but full service outfitter open daily. As you walk out of town you'll pass plenty of fast food places and at the edge of town there even is an Aldi. If walking North you can also resupply at the end of the roadwalk at Ramhurst where there is a Dollar General.

Cave Springs is the perfect little trail town. The only motel charges 40$ for a nice single room. There is a Dollar General and a medium size food store in town, but no outfitter or any hiking gear.

View from Cheaha State Park

I did not go into Heflin or Piedmont, but stopped at Cheaha State Park. There is a rather expensive hotel, a little store and a restaurant. You can't do a full resupply at the store but you can get snacks and ramem soup, though no gas canisters. Your best bet is the reasonably priced restaurant. In summer they offer a daily AYCE breakfast buffet and a weekend lunch and dinner buffet on top of their regular daily lunch and dinner menu. In winter there is no breakfast at all except on weekends and no lunch and dinner buffet, only the menu. The restaurant of in a nice setting having a great view - there is even free wifi.

One last word on logistics: to get to the Northern terminus it is probably easiest to take advantage of the AT infrastructure. Take the hiker hostel shuttle from Atlanta or Gainesville to Springer Mountain and hike 60 miles on the BMT to the Pinhoti terminus. There are trail angels who can shuttle you from the Southern terminus to Birmingham, AL. Find their contact info on the Pinhoti website. Birmingham has an airport and there is a daily Amtrak train to Atlanta. You can also take Megabus from Birmingham to Atlanta. I booked the ticket 6 Weeks in advance and paid as little as 5$.

Overall: If you are looking for a relatively easy trail that can also be hiked in shoulder or off season, if you like hiking in forest and if you are not afraid of hiking a lesser known trail, the Pinhoti is great.

Winter hike in the Appalachians: Alabama Pinhoti Trail

Cave Springs was the ideal little trail town. A nice cheap motel with wifi, 2 cheap restaurants, 2 food stores, a bank with ATM, a public library, a laundromat and a post office - all within 5 minutes walking distance. It doesn't get better than that. On my way out I ran into a group of trail volunteers who had actually been looking for me. It was great talking to them and I am always interested to find out what is going on behind the scene. They even gave me a ride back to the trail this saving me almost 5 miles off road walk.

The forecast was not good: although I started in Cave Springs in T shirt weather the temperature was predicted to drop dramatically - combined with 4 days of rain! This was bad news but at least the weather was going to hit me at the best possible time of this hike. In the upcoming section of there were shelters about every 10 miles and I was shooting for the first one on my first day out of Cave Springs. I arrived at the shelter before sunset and could hardly sleep in my warm quilt. As predicted right at midnight the train started - and every minute the temperature seemed to drop by one degree. A real deluge had started with thunder and lightning - and I started to wonder about the metal shelter roof. It just poured down but I was snug and cosy in the lovely shelter.

When it was still raining in the morning I decided to take it easy and just hike 10 miles to the next shelter. A procedure that I repeated the next day because the rain still continued. Hiking was plain miserable - wet and cold - and I was so thankful for the wonderful shelters. At  least I could hang my stuff there and had plenty of dry space. My clothes did not dry over night, but at least they went from soaking wet to just wet. On night 4 I ran out of luck. So far I had had the shelters all to myself but I had seen in the trail register that two guys where ahead of me and I would catch up with them that day of 17 miles. I hoped so much that they would be young and fit guys - and non-snoring! The trail was hard that day and I had to walk the last couple of miles in the dark hoping not to kill myself on the narrow and slippery trail. But when I finally arrived at the shelter in pitch darkness and totally soaked all my hopes were shattered immediately. Two middle aged and beer bellied guys in long johns were totally surprised to see another hiker. They were very friendly and immediately made room for me but they both looked like hardcore snorers. While eating dinner and still contemplating about what to do one of the guys feel asleep and immediately started to snore like a chain saw. When I remarked about it to his friend he confessed that he was snoring as well - and I was supposed to sleep between them to get the full stereo effect! No way! Although it was still plain miserable out there I decided that being in a wet and cold tent was still ten times better than being dry in the middle of a chain saw snoring massacre. And to the two guys big surprise I went out into the rain to set up my tent in which I spent a quiet and comfortable night.

Next day was predicted to be the very worst. Rain would turn into snow and the temperatures finally drop below freezing - and I either had to camp in that or hike 20 miles to the next shelter. I decided to go for the shelter. At least my snoring friends would not make it that far and I would have it to myself. Luckily it was easy hiking that day and I had a short and cold lunch break in a shelter. As predicted rain turned into snow around noon. I had hoped that the snow would be easier to handle but it was wet snow and after a while it drenched me like rain. I did not succumb to the temptation to camp early and pushed on - and really made it to the shelter with the very last light. I was happy to have made it and quickly changed into dry clothes watching the snow fall outside. For the third time on this trip one of the worst weather situations occurred. After a lot of rain (translate that into wet clothes) the temperature drops below freezing and you wake up to all your clothes and tent frozen stiff.

But I was not overly worried. The forecast predicted no more rain and even sunshine for the remaining 4 days of my hike. And for sure I woke up to a blue sky - and a frozen backpack. But spring seemed in the air and I greedily soaked up the sunshine. I needed to buy more snacks and was headed to a small country store roadwalking on a scenic byway. There was hardly any traffic but a Harley Davidson passed me. 15 minutes later it came back the other way and stopped. Would that be another deliverance experience? The driver was quite friendly and claimed to have walked on the Pinhoti himself. He explained in great detail how to best get to the country store and left - only to come back 5 minutes later. But still no Deliverance experience - only more directions. This is the South where even rockers stop to help you...

Jo Someday and Hillbilly Bart

Supplied with more chocolate from the gas station store I spent my first rain free night in a long time. Still my tent was frozen solid in the morning from condensation. Next day brought me to Cheaha State Park and a restaurant only a quarter mile from the trail. I had hoped to get there for dinner but meeting other hikers prevented that. I had finally run into Jo Someday and her partner who try to thruhike the new Great Eastern Trail. And as soon as I entered the State Park on a Saturday afternoon I met more hikers in two hours than normally in two weeks. I gave up on dinner in the restaurant which turned out to be a very good decision because the very same restaurant served an AYCE breakfast buffet. I dreamt the while night of crisp bacon strips... Overnight a bit of a breeze had come up and I woke up to a very nice surprise: a dry tent!

Cheaha State Park

I was the first guest in the restaurant and stayed for almost 3 hours eating probably a pound of bacon and drinking 6 glasses of sweet tea. Free wifi and recharching my phone delayed me as well.  But I was not worried: I had seen on the map that a forest road was paralleling the Pinhoti Trail in the next section. The Pinhoti Trail itself is rather difficult to night hike because very often  there is no obvious trail. But a broad forest road could easily be night hiked. A clear sky and a bright moon helped - I was followed by my moon shadow. Only my planned camp spot turned out to be the local garbage dump... but I found a good spot a bit later on. I repeated this strategy the next day. I took it easy during the day and enjoyed the sun and various breaks - and hiked into the night to make the miles.

Before I realised it my trip was over. I had expected to be very happy to be finished but on the contrary: I could have hiked on and on. But my winter hiking experiment ended on Dec 22 when Mother Nature's  Son's wife picked me up at Bull's Gap.

Winter hike in the Appalachians: Georgia Pinhoti Trail

Hiking in a T-shirt in January

Let me start this blog entry with the weather because it has been crazy! For two weeks I had been freezing my butt off in the mountains in ice and snow - but as soon as I left Dalton I was in spring! It got warm, unusually warm. So  warm that even I could not believe it but I ended up hiking in a T-shirt during daytime at 22 Celsius. Well, that is if it did not rain... and it rained almost every day. Sometimes the whole day, sometimes only a couple of hours. But it was so warm that the rain hardly bothered me. It was so warm that I was seriously sweating under my 15F quilt. A couple of nights ago I had to wear 5 layers to stay warm at night and now I was sweating in a T-shirt. And of course all this happened after I had bought a bulky sleeping pad as a backup for the delicate Neoair and could sleep on several layers of ice. But rest assured: I read on weather channel that these have been the warmest days in January in 50 years, but the forecast predicts more normal temperatures for next week - I'll soon be hiking in winter again and lots and lots of more rain.

But I also had plenty of interesting encounters on this stretch. Day 1 started with an early wake up call. My CS hosts brought me back into Dalton before their work started and that brought me into the local Waffle House at 7.15 am for a 4 hour breakfast. I left at 11 am and only hiked a short day to a beautiful campsite next to a creek. I did not see anyone hiking the whole day. But to my big  surprise, just as I was cooking dinner I saw strong lights outside. This was single file trail, so how could an ATV get here? But this was no ATV, but a bunch of mountain bikers. I have never seen mountain bikers night biking but it must be very popular as 4 groups passed my tent that night.

Ridge walking

Next night was even scarier. Again I had not seen a single soul the whole day. As it was already dark I camped at an established campsite before a river ford and tucked myself a bit away from the forest road. But still at 8 pm I saw a light shining on my tent - and I was scared to death. I had not heard any car or even MTB - this must be someone on foot! Who was sneaking around in the middle of the night around my tent? First I could not believe it was a hiker. I had not seen another hiker for days and now one should camp right next to me? It sounded very improbable but it turned out to be exactly the case as I should find out the next day - after spending a very quiet night in order not to attract my camping neighbor's attention. I got up early in the morning and saw a typical lightweight tent pitched only 100 metres away from me. I eyed the tent and whatever was to be seen from the equipment brought me to the conclusion that this really must be another long distance hiker, although he or she must be fast asleep when I left. And for sure later that day Robert aka Alabama caught up to me and solved the mystery. He had thruhiked the AT this year and continued now on the Pinhoti to his home state of Alabama. He turned out to be a very enjoyable and intellectual hiking companion. We spent the while day talking philosophy and the like. But he was on a much tighter schedule than I. When I stopped to camp at dark he continued hiking on into the night. At least I did not have any more unexpected night time visitors for the rest of this stretch.

Forest road

But I ran into some more interesting people: Sunshine Matt, who thruhiked the AT the same year I did and who is friends with Franklin. Matt is on the board of the Georgia Pinhoti Trail and gave me some good information about the trail when I met him mountain biking one morning. And then I met 10K, another AT thruhiker I had seen on an outdoor forum. The long distance hiker world is a small one...

After another long roadwalk I finally made it into Cave Spring, a small little town with one hotel and a supermarket. No cell phone coverage, but at least the hotel has wifi. I have one more week to hike through Alabama. Although the forecast predicts rain and more rain for the next days I am not planning to stop in any town. I'll carry food for the rest of this trip and look forward to the trail shelters.