Traditionally, AT hikers start in Georgia and walk north to Maine.  We will start in the middle:

The trail start in Georgia can be crowded.  Two to three-thousand people attempt the AT by starting at Springer Mountain (north of Atlanta) from early February through the end of April. There are days when 50+ hopeful “through-hikers” are heading out at the same time and, until people spread out due to different paces and drop-out attrition, can effect one’s “peaceful forest” experience. This congestion is also not so good for forest impact and can cause major trail and campsite erosion. Another factor to our decision to “go a bit against the grain” is that we should miss extreme cold weather on both ends.

The type of through-hike we will be attempting is called a “head-start” “flip-flop”. We will start by heading north (to Maine ahead of the masses) from central Virginia:

If we make it that far, we will catch a bus or train (or rent a car), and head back to our original starting point in Virginia:

This is the flip-flop part, as we will then head south to (hopefully) finish where most people start: