Folks,

In just about two weeks, knees willing and the creek don't rise, I'll start a LASH of the AT, starting on the approach trail at Springer Mountain.

I've geared up for the anticipated weather, but watching some up to the minute YouTube vlogs about others out already, my only remaining concern is wind. For those who have hiked these mountains in the Feb/Mar timeframe, how possible is it to find sites out of the wind? Lot of 20, 30 mile an hour winds reported in the weather reports I'm tracking.

While I've never stayed in a shelter yet in my 11 years of section hiking, I do sometimes look with covetous eyes at the ease of strolling into a shelter and slapping down a pad: no muss, no fuss, probably mice, definitely snoring (even if I'm alone, if you catch my drift), but no desperate battles to set a tarp in high winds (particularly during a cold rain). I'm trying to gauge how much effort, if any, to put into an alternate sleep plan, measured in additional ounces carried.

Zero extra ounces: deal with the weather no matter what
10 extra ounces: too-low R factor foam pad for the expected low temps
15 extra ounces: wow that air pad is expensive but sufficient R factor for the weather

All comments, chin-jawing, opines welcome. Tx all,

EDIT: I'm also looking at the Smokies, in which it seems iffy to hang when the official word is "you stay in the shelter, bub!" (Unless full). But there's a lot of miles from Springer to the Smokies, so my interest in comments here remains.

Red Cinema (my long time online handle-not-my-trail-name that's by default...become my trail name)