Longer Appalachian Trail in 2015

[Sly]

Due to a number of short relos, the official mileage for the Appalachian Trail is 2,189.2 or 3.9 miles longer than 2014.

Also, in case you're not aware, the ATC is having a presale discount of 20% until the become available in mid-December, for the vastly improved 2015 Thru-Hikers' Companion (restyled tables, new town maps and more of them, annotated profiles, less pages, and overall better organised).

https://www.atctrailstore.org/catalo...d=791&compid=1

[BuckeyeBill]

Thanks Sly...

[Tipi Walter]

So I guess all the previous AT thruhikes are now invalid and have to be re-hiked??

[Sly]

So I guess all the previous AT thruhikes are now invalid and have to be re-hiked??

Or you could just hike the new relos. I have the data but I'm still having a difficult time figuring exactly where they are.

If you'd like to take a peek at the new numbers for common trailheads, check out the AT Mailing Label page in my signature. The two right hand columns have been updated.

[Feral Bill]

I'd best get to it before the trail gets much longer.

[Connie]

Thank you, $10 well spent.

[shakey_snake]

So, they're charging less for more trail?

The value has never been higher. :P

[map man]

Or you could just hike the new relos. I have the data but I'm still having a difficult time figuring exactly where they are.

If you'd like to take a peek at the new numbers for common trailheads, check out the AT Mailing Label page in my signature. The two right hand columns have been updated.

Sly, I got a kick out of comparing the distances on your mailing label table (with 2015 numbers) with the distances one decade earlier in my 2005 copy of the AT Databook. The trail went from 2174.9 to 2189.2 in that time -- a 14.3 mile increase. Almost all of the net difference happened in the southern-most 634.9 miles (south of Pearisburg VA) with a 13.2 mile increase from 2005.

Your table divides the trail into 59 segments and 22 of those segments were unchanged from 2005. VT, NH and ME were the most impervious to change with only 2 of the 12 segments north of Bennington VT having changed at all (and both of those by less than half a mile). Only 9 of your 59 segments changed by a mile or more (with 28 other segments changing but by less than a mile). Here was the gain, or loss, from 2005 to 2015 for those 9 segments that changed the most:

Springer GA to Suches GA -- plus 1.2 miles
Suches GA to Helen GA -- plus 1.2
Erwin to 19E (Elk Park) -- plus 4.0 (Bob Peoples' handiwork)
Troutdale VA to Atkins VA -- minus 1.2
Atkins VA to Bland VA -- plus 2.1
Bland VA to Pearisburg VA -- plus 3.2
Greenwood Lake NY to Bear Mtn. NY -- plus 1.4
Salisbury CT to Great Barrington MA -- plus 1.0
Great Barrington MA to Tyringham MA -- minus 2.1
Tyringham MA to Dalton MA -- plus 1.1

I think it's interesting that those last three segments -- which are consecutive -- have no net change at all when you total the three. Curious. Also, I can remember one instance in recent years concerning an ATC distance change in Virginia that happened not because of a relocation but because of a past oversight (brought to their attention by David Miller).

Thanks for the sneak preview.

[Sly]

Sly, I got a kick out of comparing the distances on your mailing label table (with 2015 numbers) with the distances one decade earlier in my 2005 copy of the AT Databook. The trail went from 2174.9 to 2189.2 in that time -- a 14.3 mile increase. Almost all of the net difference happened in the southern-most 634.9 miles (south of Pearisburg VA) with a 13.2 mile increase from 2005.

Your table divides the trail into 59 segments and 22 of those segments were unchanged from 2005. VT, NH and ME were the most impervious to change with only 2 of the 12 segments north of Bennington VT having changed at all (and both of those by less than half a mile). Only 9 of your 59 segments changed by a mile or more (with 28 other segments changing but by less than a mile). Here was the gain, or loss, from 2005 to 2015 for those 9 segments that changed the most:

Springer GA to Suches GA -- plus 1.2 miles
Suches GA to Helen GA -- plus 1.2
Erwin to 19E (Elk Park) -- plus 4.0 (Bob Peoples' handiwork)
Troutdale VA to Atkins VA -- minus 1.2
Atkins VA to Bland VA -- plus 2.1
Bland VA to Pearisburg VA -- plus 3.2
Greenwood Lake NY to Bear Mtn. NY -- plus 1.4
Salisbury CT to Great Barrington MA -- plus 1.0
Great Barrington MA to Tyringham MA -- minus 2.1
Tyringham MA to Dalton MA -- plus 1.1

I think it's interesting that those last three segments -- which are consecutive -- have no net change at all when you total the three. Curious. Also, I can remember one instance in recent years concerning an ATC distance change in Virginia that happened not because of a relocation but because of a past oversight (brought to their attention by David Miller).

Thanks for the sneak preview.

Thanks for the perspective. The oldest guide I have, or can find, is from 2011.

Unless there's an instance I'm not aware of, or can't recall, I think the miscalculation you speak of was in CT (between Falls Village and Prospect Mtn., the data was 0.9 mile long, and subsequently the trail was shorter in 2014) but it was brought to my attention by Hudson Young of Bearded Woods because hikers calling for a pick up were consistently arriving at the destination early. He said he was using David's GPS data, which when I compared, was the same the ATC makes available.

Regardless, here's the breakdown from 2014 to 2015.

Length by Section		2015		2014
Maine		281.8		281.8	0.0
New Hampshire–Vermont		310.7		310.7	0.0
Massachusetts–Connecticut		141.1		141.1	0.0
New York–New Jersey		162.0		161.9	0.1
Pennsylvania		229.3		229.3	0.0
Maryland–West Virginia–Northern Virginia		94.9		94.9	0.0
Shenandoah National Park		107.8		107.8	0.0
Central Virginia		226.1		226.0	0.1
Southwest Virginia		166.4		164.4	2.0
Tennessee–North Carolina		302.4		300.9	1.5
North Carolina–Georgia		166.7		166.5	0.2

[Praha4]

So I guess all the previous AT thruhikes are now invalid and have to be re-hiked??

yes, they need to go back and hike the extra miles!

[JohnnySnook]

Thanks SLY. Just ordered mine.
Should I leave half a day earlier?

[takethisbread]

Oh god! Glad I got it outta the way!


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[SawnieRobertson]

So I guess all the previous AT thruhikes are now invalid and have to be re-hiked??

I think that's why we say '98, or '02 or '04, etc.

[Sly]

Thanks SLY. Just ordered mine.
Should I leave half a day earlier?

Heavens no, hike a 1/2 day later.

[lemon b]

2001 was 2,162.9

[Sly]

2001 was 2,162.9

You sure? In 97/98 it was 2,167.something.

[lemon b]

Got the number from The 2001 Appalachian Long distance hikes Assoc. 2001 Thru Hikers Companion.

[Sly]

Got the number from The 2001 Appalachian Long distance hikes Assoc. 2001 Thru Hikers Companion.

Interesting. The Companion uses "official" Data Book numbers so I'm sure it's correct (although there was a mis-wheeled section in CT).

[rafe]

For the record: 2142.8 miles in ATC's 1990 data book. It grows and grows. I suppose that's a good thing.

[LittleRock]

For the record: 2142.8 miles in ATC's 1990 data book. It grows and grows. I suppose that's a good thing.

At that rate, the AT will be over 4.000 miles long by the year 3000.