Hi All,

My brother and I are planning on doing a 7 day hike somewhere along the eastern u.s. we are both in great shape and want to average about 15 miles a day. class four stuff is fine but my bro does not do much technical. I don't know too much about the area yet - except for the Whites in the winter. Views, peaks, valleys and variety would be cool. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Timing is the last week in July.

You'd probably really enjoy spending your time in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks. After doing a good deal of hiking in VT, NH, ME, and NY, I gotta say that I'd rather do an extended trip in the High Peaks than anywhere else around here. You and your brother could sit down with a trail map of the High Peaks region (I think mine is National Geographic or something, really detailed mileage, shelter locations, etc.) and plan out a really cool trip. With that much time to spend, you could hike sooo many peaks and take in some amazing scenery. Be sure to hike the Great Range. This is just my two cents...there are lots of other cool hiking venues out East. You can never go wrong with the White Mountains. I just feel like you could put together a more interesting continuous 7-day backpack in the High Peaks, IMHO. If you DO go to the Adirondacks, remember: You CANNOT use Bear Vault bear canisters there, because at least one of the area's bears has figured out how to open them. OK, wherever you go, have a blast.

15 miles per day for 7 days gives you 105 miles. That seems like a good distance for something in the Longfellow Mountains in Maine.

Really depends whether you want above treeline vistas or solitude. Agree for alpine scenery tough to beat the Adirondack high peaks but they do tend to be popular in mid-summer. If you want a wilderness trek consider ADKS Northville - Lake Placid trail (132 miles) or the "100 mile wilderness" that is the northern end of the AT in Maine. If you do the latter you can finish up with a climb up Katahdin (which would make it about 115).

Of course, you could always try this ultra-marathon: http://www2.newsadvance.com/sports/2009/jun/24/trio_of_women_finish_ultramarathon_quest_in_nc-ar-218184/

mlandau3 wrote:Of course, you could always try this ultra-marathon: http://www2.newsadvance.com/sports/2009/jun/24/trio_of_women_finish_ultramarathon_quest_in_nc-ar-218184/

I could try, but I still have this lingering sense of mortality and am not quite ready to mingle with the gods or, in this case, godesses! But, the Black mountain crest trail does look like a great hike.

The BMCT is a great trail, but it's not a full weeks worth. The Smokies traverse is probably more in line with what you want (it'll probably be filled with AT throughhikers, though). Of course, you could do the BMCT from Celo Knob, then the Old Mitchell Trail out to Blackstock Knob and the Craggies, pick up a ride through Asheville and do the Balsams and the Plott Balsams. That would probably satisfy the itch, at least for a little while.

My first thought was the 100 mile wilderness on the Maine AT. Or you might want to hop around a couple places in Maine, you could try the Bigelow Range, Katahdin and check out the Gulf Hagas too. Then there is the Presedential Range. You could knock off a stretch on the Southern part of the AT except beware of banjo music! Or you could consider doing several loop hikes in the Endless Mountains of PA (Loyalsock and Black Forest trails). Flatlander's idea of peak bagging in the Adirondack high-peaks is a good one, just know there will be loads of people and in a large section of the park you can't have fires and have to lug around a bear cannister. Think twice about humping up and over ADK peaks in full pack unless you are superfit and enjoy pain, IMO basecamping and multipeak days is the way to go in the Daks.

Lucky you 7 days!!!!

I like Flattlander's idea of the adirondacks. It's a huge park, not only do you have some of the most rugged peaks in the East, but you've got lakes and forests for variety. You could plan a loop or series of dayhikes where you spend some of your time in a less-crowded area, and then approach the Great Range from an unusual direction (Panther Gorge?). But most of the Great Range is a lot farther from the road than the Presidential Range, so I don't believe it'll be *that* crowded.

Baxter State Park is also worth mentioning. Some great hikes up there. Maybe not a week's worth if you're intensively peak bagging, but combined with some camping or a backpacking traverse it could work very well.

Loops in NC: Combination of Chunky Gal, Bartram and AT
In Smokies: almost endless combination of trails
In Va: Iron Mt and AT

Point to point: Above plus Mts to Sea in NC (Something likefrom Grandfather south, add something in Linville Gorge

I vote for the Adirondacks as well. The park is so huge and variedd that you can get some of everything in one trip.

There are extremely well-traveled routes, and some almost un-traveled ones, even on the same mountains. You can spend a week in the High Peaks seeing very few other people by taking the long way around.

Adirondack High Peaks or Maine from the mahoosucs to Bigelow or Baxter. These are all awesome places where you cannot go wrong. The Adirondacks are very unique and are a separate range altogether from the Appalachians, they are super rugged and getting lost for seven days in the High Peaks would be a blast, there are a few classics not to miss there like the Trap Dike on Mt. Colden. Maine is just gorgeous and awesome and it gives me great emotions every time I visit. When you guys pick something It will be easier to get into the details.

Here's a cross-post from a cool SuperTopo thread about the Daks:

Gotta do the Trap Dike. The 1990 slide makes a much cooler descent than the trail, and is a good slab climb on its own.





There's steep enough trails to lay any hardman low.


The ice climbing is great.


Early season is beautiful - there are many easy hikes with great views.


Winter can be brutal, and beuatiful.


Tons of good 3rd classing.


Don't have any rock climbing photos handy... I'll have to get some up soon.

Have you checked out the Laurel Highlands hiking trail in western PA? We did the 70 mile trail in 5 days pretty comfortably. (Now 78 miles b/c of a detour due to bridge being out which crossed over PA turnpike) It is almost all below tree line so not much in the way of views compared to some of the others, but it would offer you almost complete solitude, especially on the weekdays, has awesome lean-to shelters with stone fireplaces so you wouldn't even really need to carry a tent and if you want to make it more laid-back I could clue you into some cool bars/pizza places that you could walk to within a couple of hundred yards of the trail at some of the road crossings.

mosman wrote:Have you checked out the Laurel Highlands hiking trail in western PA? We did the 70 mile trail in 5 days pretty comfortably. (Now 78 miles b/c of a detour due to bridge being out which crossed over PA turnpike) It is almost all below tree line so not much in the way of views compared to some of the others, but it would offer you almost complete solitude, especially on the weekdays, has awesome lean-to shelters with stone fireplaces so you wouldn't even really need to carry a tent and if you want to make it more laid-back I could clue you into some cool bars/pizza places that you could walk to within a couple of hundred yards of the trail at some of the road crossings.

Thanks mosman! If we take that route I'll definately ask for some of the "restops" along the way.