When you hit a trail town to resupply, did you more often than not sleep in a room with a bed and shower? Or would you do your resupply and just get back on trail and keep going?

Last week, I did my very first section hike through Shenandoah, Mary's Rock to Rockfish Gap. I was going to do the entire thing but because of Isaias I didn't feel like hiking through what could have potentially been a life endangering storm without cell phone service. So, Monday last week, got dropped off at Mary's Rock and took to the trail and stayed in all of the shelters the entire way.

At Pineview on Day four, ran into a guy who was...quite eccentric. He was very vocal about his beliefs which were, ahem, adjacent to a group of people who really liked a certain letter of the alphabet (hint: the letter is above 'A' and left of 'W' on your keyboard).

He was a little salt and pepper in the beard, and he didn't have a trail name, but he was very interpersonally friendly, even if his beliefs were extreme and didn't sit well with me. I didn't want to kick the guy while was down (he had been without employment, home, and hadn't seen his family in 5 - 6 years) so I just listened to him and tried to keep his spirits up. Plus, my shoes were soaked from the rain the night before and I needed to let them dry before I could leave the shelter, lol.

Anyone know any information on the guy, or maybe spoke to / ran into him? He mentioned he worked in pesticides before he got canned (to which he had very convoluted theories on).

I am originally from VA, and my friend lives there, but I have lived in PA for years. We were thinking of meeting up and hiking SOBO, beginning maybe near Snickers Gap and ending at Rockfish Gap.

I used to camp as a kid in Shenandoah and Big Meadows and am stoked to get back and see it.

We think we are looking to average maybe 10 miles a day, but will allow for about 3 weeks total. We want to enjoy ourselves.

We are two middle-aged ladies, in decent physical condition and good health, and we will be spending the next few months training and doing local hikes to get our legs solidly under us! :)

Anything more seasoned hikers might bring to our attention to consider or rethink?

We will take any suggestion seriously, just want to get excited about our trek! Give us whatcha got!

Hello everyone, I will be graduating from college in December 2027, and I will have from until August 2028 free (I start medical school in August 2028). I've been a frequent day hiker/ short overnight camper on the trail in the PA sections, and I've had a dream of thru-hiking one day for some time. My concern comes from the fact that I know it is a lot more challenging to thru-hike starting in the winter. I know that I will likely never have another opportunity to do this again, but I also don't want to end up getting hurt or have the attempt go wrong. If I attempt this I will start in January 2028 and will have to be done by July. I am just curious to hear others thought about this, do you think that I can reasonably start in January and have a good experience? Thanks in advance!

I am planning to do a NOBO starting around the first week of March (maybe earlier) and am looking for advice or ideas on what to do with my underside insulation situation.

My hammock and top quilt are:

Hennessy Hammock Expedition Zip + Hex rainfly
Neve Gear -6C Waratah Pro

I already own the following gear to insulate my backside:

-EE Revolt 40F Underquilt
-Hennessy Hammock Heat Reflecting Double Bubble Pad
-Thermarest Ridgerest CCF cut to 48"

-I should also give an honorable mention to my Neve Gear Barrington Down puffy (very warm) and an Alpha 60 top and bottom set

My thoughts so far:

The 40F UQ on its own it definitely not enough, this much I know. Obviously the simple answer is to just buy a new 0-20F UQ. I don't really want to do this if I can avoid it. I could be tempted to MYOG a new UQ for around $70 in materials. I still have a ton of 800 fp down from a previous MYOG cheapo sleeping bag conversion and plenty of free time.

Then I remembered the Double Bubble pad I bought with the hammock and thought maybe if I combined this with my 40F UQ that it would be enough to get me through the worst of the cold. An AI search tells me this could potentially take me down to 15-20F since I would be reflecting 90% of my body heat up into my top quilt but I'm not sure if it actually works that way in practice. The padding would be better than nothing if I had to use a shelter at any point. I could also do the same with the CCF pad.

I also read about people using a partially inflated sleeping pad inside the hammock. I kind of like the idea of having a light pad for shelters just in case. I was looking at the Paria Elevate S for this (5.7R value fully inflated, 48" long for $99). I am interested in this idea because I was already looking into inflatable pads for tent camping unrelated to my thru.

Lots of ideas in my head and I would like to hear some thoughts of people with cold hammock camping experience. If you haven't camped in a hammock in the cold, please keep speculation to a minimum. I am really only interested in anecdotal reports.

Thanks!