How Long Does It Take To Hike the Appalachian Trail?

Tara Dower recently became the fastest human being ever to complete the Appalachian Trail, running the whole thing in under 41 days. The AT is 2,197 miles long, meaning she averaged about 54 miles per day without taking any breaks. But that’s the world record: how long does it take a normal person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, especially one saddled with all their own food and gear?

It takes most thru-hikers five to six months to hike the Appalachian Trail. Most northbounders start in March or April and finish in September or October.

In our 2023 Appalachian Trail Thru-Hiker Survey, participants reported walking an average of 13.6 miles per day. At that pace, a hiker would complete the trail in about 162 days, not counting zeroes (rest days). 162 days is 23 weeks, so if you took one rest day each week, you would finish the trail in 185 days, just a skosh over six months.

Important takeaways here:

Zeroes have a big impact on how long it takes to thru-hike the AT.

How long does it take to hike the Appalachian Trail? Most thru-hikers finish the AT in 5-6 months.

While your average daily mileage obviously has a huge impact on your overall completion time, the data above illustrates how your total number of rest days also dramatically affects your pace. Taking half as many zeroes could shave almost two weeks off your overall thru-hike without increasing your daily mileage at all!

That’s all very nice on paper, of course. In real life, taking too few rest days could wear you out and put you at a higher risk of injuries, potentially slowing your overall pace dramatically.

When it comes to thru-hiking, slow and steady wins the race. Many northbounders start out hiking 10 miles per day or less in Georgia and don’t work their way up to 20-mile days until they reach Virginia, some 500 miles into the trail. (And they typically slow down again in New Hampshire and Maine, where the terrain is very rugged.)

You don’t have to hike 20-mile days to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail successfully.

Some hikers rarely, if ever, hike 20 miles in a day, and that is also fine.

Remember, the hikers in last year’s AT Thru-Hiker Survey averaged less than 14 miles per day. That pace is perfectly adequate to finish the entire trail in one season, even with frequent rest days.

Consistency is the key: just show up and put in a good day’s hiking most days, don’t overdo it, and you’ll have a good chance of making it.

How long does it take to hike the Appalachian Trail?

While five to six months is typical to complete a thru-hike, some people do it in significantly more or less time. As I mentioned at the beginning, Tara Dower did the whole thing in 41 days. In 2017, Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy finished the whole trail in under 46 days while carrying all his own gear and handling his own resupplies like a normal thru-hiker.

These are exceptional cases. Thru-hikers whom we might describe as “on the fast side of normal” sometimes thru-hike the AT in three or four months (still crazy fast, just slightly more common).

On the other end of the spectrum, plenty of thru-hikers take seven to nine months to finish the whole AT. Some of these hikers have to take an extended break from the trail due to life circumstances and then get back on later in the year. Others want to take their time and savor the journey.

According to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, thru-hiking simply means completing all trail miles within 12 months of starting. It doesn’t matter in what order you complete the miles or if you take time off between sections. For example, Linda “Nana” Vanderloop just became the oldest woman to thru-hike the AT, finishing the trail at age 74 this October some 11 months after beginning to check off sections piecemeal last November.

The Weather Window

Photo: Eloise Robbins

You do have to consider the weather when planning a thru-hike. The typical six-month completion time is ideal because it fits pretty neatly within the optimal hiking season.

Most northbounders start the trail in March or April, hopefully after the worst of the winter weather has passed and things are starting to thaw for spring. They typically finish in September or October, just before the first snows are likely to fall on Katahdin in Maine.

Hikers can and do operate outside the optimal weather window all the time — but if you expect your thru-hike to take seven months or longer, plan with winter weather in mind.

Side note: It’s worth mentioning that all thru-hikers should plan around winter weather to some extent. Hiking between March and October (northbound) gives you the best chance of good weather throughout, but many a thru-hiker has battled snowstorms throughout March and sometimes even throughout April. Conditions are unpredictable, especially in the mountains.

Flip-flops, Section Hikes, Multi-Year LASHes

If you’re worried about finishing your hike within the weather window, you have options.

Flip-flop: Flip-flopping means hiking the entire AT out of order. Many people start near the midpoint in Harpers Ferry, WV, hike north to Katahdin, then return to Harpers and hike south to Springer. Flip-floppers are still thru-hikers, but because they can jump around, they have more flexibility to deal with the weather.

If you start northbound but don’t think you’ll make it to Katahdin before the weather turns cold, for instance, you could skip up to Maine while it’s still warm and hike south from there.

Section hikes and multi-year LASHes: A section hike is exactly what it sounds like. You just hike a section of the Appalachian Trail. A LASH is a “long-ass section hike,” ideal for those who love long-distance hiking culture but don’t have the time to thru-hike the whole trail in one season. Spending. a month or two on trail can still scratch the long-distance itch and get you through a big chunk of the AT at once.

Many people complete the entire trail this way over the course of years, ticking off a section or two each year.

What have we learned?

Hiking the whole AT can take anywhere from 40 days to 40 years. Most thru-hikers complete the trail in five or six months, which spans the ideal weather window between spring and fall. You don’t need to pull huge miles to finish the AT in six months — just be consistent, hike most days, and take rest days when you need them.

Happy hiking!

Featured image: Graphic design by Chris Helm.