Worried about weather

I personally feel like a week in the woods in the rain is better than being warm & dry at work.

You have no choice but to embrace the suck. On average, it rains 1/3 of your time on the AT. This has held up for me even doing section hikes. Think of it this way, if you are expecting rain and don't get it or make it to camp before it rains, the day is better. Rain means less bugs, full water sources, and the smells of a rain soaked forest floor.

After working outside for a few years I developed a mentality where the worse the weather got, the more I laughed. 34 degrees and rain became absolutely hilarious. I’ve been able to bring that same mentality to hiking. I know I’m prepared mentally and physically. I know my gear and it’s limitations.

Keep your sleep system as dry as possible, have warm, dry clothes for camp and hot meals. You’ll probably look back on that week with more fondness than a sunny, dry week. Some of the best memories come when you have to step outside of what you know and improvise.

Happy trails!

Rain can suck but you'll be ok. Just keep a change of dry clothes to change into at the end of the day and sleep in. Then, in the morning, you'll put your wet clothes on and it'll suck at first but you'll get used to it.

I say this, but I think it's easier to avoid rain on a thru hike than a section. On a thru, you're just out there and can wait it out. On a planned section, you're on a stricter time schedule and you have to just hike in it.

That's just regular weather for the area. Expect some showers or thunderstorms each day, no big deal.

There is a 0.4% chance that any location in the Smoky Mountains goes 4 straight days with no rain this time of year.

The Smokies in foul weather is not a joke. Once you reach Shuckstack, you're at 4,000 ft and will climb, give or take, until you hit Clingmans. Personally, I would head there and make a game-time decision based on the most recent weather reports. A thunderstorm here or there will be scary but doable. Days of wind and rain will not be a pleasurable experience, and depending on your transportation, I'd consider driving an hour or two north and seeing if the weather is better further up the trail.

I also section. My general rule is that I won't cancel a trip for the weather unless it's actually dangerous for my gear (very deep snow and temps close to 0F).

I have hiked in some SHITTY weather. While I didn't necessarily enjoy it at the time, I'm extremely grateful to have done it. Endless rain is spiritually exhausting. It's hard to persevere psychologically when there is just no way to be dry and comfortable. You learn stuff about yourself. You take those lessons back into your everyday life, and they serve you well.

No matter what happens at work or something, I can always tell myself, "Hey, at least it's not 35F in a tropical deluge while I'm lost as shit at Tinker Cliffs when it's getting down to 15F tonight."

Don’t underestimate the burden of excess moisture. Life or death can come up fast. Risk, weight, danger aren’t fictional.

I'd just plan alternative stopping points for if it gets too bad or dangerous. You're probably never gonna completely avoid the suck. Look into methods of drying out your boots and take care of your feet. My section last year had 4 straight days of rain and my feet were destroyed at the end.

It poured almost the entire time in my last section hike (5 days). It wasnt bad -+ zero bigs, almost zero people, lots of water in sources that had been dry the week before.

And somehow I was never soaked through or cold -- I did use both an umbrella and raincoat, both helped a lot.

Unfortunately weather is a a part of the outdoors. It’s always changing.

I guarantee you that when I do my AT LASH, it will monsoon the entire time. Last year was pretty brutal, so hopefully, it will not be as bad this year!

I was part of a group section hike further in VA last week that got cut short due to weather. There was a concern about thunderstorms at higher elevations. We figured we would get rained on and could deal with that (even though it might have been fairly miserable), but everyone thought the lightning was too much of a risk.

I figured that not all thru hikers get off the trail and hunker down in hostels in these conditions though.

This is really such a personal decision based on your goals, experience / knowledge base, and flexibility.

I’m there now. Forecasts have consistently been overly dramatic. Afternoon thunderstorms have been typically predicted but I’ve never seen them. Had some rain yesterday and a couple storms two weeks ago, but otherwise easy weather.