How Things Have Changed

[44terryberry]

I am from Pennsylvania,and began hiking the A.T. in 1971. In that time,you rarely met another hiker on the trail.In fact,most people never heard of the Appalacian Trail. If you were a hiker,you were looked on as weird,I know I was. Hiking boots were still in the future. There were some vibram sole boots around,available in specialty stores,but were hard to find,and the vibram soles always drew stares and comments when I wore them in public. I had a pair of Continental Tyroleans,by Dunham,which I still have. Built like a tank,and almost as heavy,they were bulletproof.Today they would be called Eiger boots. I cant emphasize how lonely a sport hiking was 50 years ago,you literally had the whole trail to yourself. Things have certainly changed.

[rafe]

I first began hiking in the Adirondacks and White Mountains in the mid 1970s. The trails weren't as crowded back then, but we almost always met other individuals and groups along the way. Ie. not really solitary, at least not on the AT corridor itself. Some photos from that era: http://terrapinphoto.com/wp/galleries-3/hikes/white-mtns-way-back/

You're right that back then we didn't concern ourselves with the AT. Knew about it but it wasn't all that relevant.

[Sandy of PA]

The biggest thing I noticed is how much the trees have grown since my first AT hike across PA in 1969. A lot of what is forest now was clear cut and bramble bushes. The zinc plant in Palmerton had not yet killed the forest there, and SOBO the trail came out on a woods road to the top of the rock pile. The view was pretty with the river, train tracks, and the little town way down below. Caldonia state park had a huge section where the trail was white sand thru mountain laurel and 12 foot high oak trees, it was like a magical garden to my 11 year old self. Not as many people either.

[Uriah]

I am from Pennsylvania,and began hiking the A.T. in 1971. In that time,you rarely met another hiker on the trail.In fact,most people never heard of the Appalacian Trail. If you were a hiker,you were looked on as weird,I know I was. Hiking boots were still in the future. There were some vibram sole boots around,available in specialty stores,but were hard to find,and the vibram soles always drew stares and comments when I wore them in public. I had a pair of Continental Tyroleans,by Dunham,which I still have. Built like a tank,and almost as heavy,they were bulletproof.Today they would be called Eiger boots. I cant emphasize how lonely a sport hiking was 50 years ago,you literally had the whole trail to yourself. Things have certainly changed.

I realize you weren't complaining, but simply making (and stating) your observation. And yep, things change. We're told that adaptation is the key. Luckily, there are plenty of ways in which to adapt! In my case I escape elsewhere. Like others, I don't hike to fall into a crowd; I hike to avoid them. (I walked the AT simply to see and experience it, a once-and-done, since there are many other trails I'd also like to see and experience before my expiration date.)

Trails are, by their very design, meant to attract. They make access easier, and in time their easy access increases use, especially in this day and age when publicity can run rampant. Avoid these busier trails and the problem, if there is one, is solved. Or use less-traveled trails, many of which still exist, even in 2016 (as Tipi Walter can testify, since he has hiked, and continues to hike, many of them).

I generally aim to go back in time and avoid trails altogether, especially here in Utah's Canyon Country and in the desert on the whole, where the walking isn't quite as difficult because of thick woods or the more challenging footing. You can wear whatever you wish to, or nothing at all, and you'll rarely, if ever, meet another hiker "on trail." As the population continues to rise, more and more of us will be hitting the trails, if only for sanity sake. But there are even quieter options that provide more of what 1971 did.

[dudeijuststarted]

someone's been eating member berries!

[-Rush-]

No doubt things have changed, but a lot stays the same. I read a book on the Smokies recently that was written in 1973 and the author bitched and moaned about the AT, how crowded it was, and how to avoid it while hiking. If you want solitude, you've gotta explore and get OFF the trails. Easier said than done without a lot of research.

[4shot]

keep in mind that 40 years from now people will be talking about the 2016 AT with the same sense of nostalgia. Just human nature I suppose.

[fiddlehead]

The trail itself hasn't changed a whole lot.
I hiked on the AT in the 60's and did my first thru (made it from GA to NJ anyway) in '77.
Shelters are nicer now of course.
A few more switchbacks now. (same amount of rocks though, even more on that section from PA 183 to Port Clinton as it used to follow the game land road, now it is in the woods, on pointy rocks! LOL)

But the big differences are the numbers of people, lighter weight equipment and technology that keeps everyone in touch with what's going on (and unfortunately, where all their friends are, so they can hitch around and join back up with them)

Information is so easy to find now-a-days but that's true with anything if you compare it to 50 years ago, aye?

[gpburdelljr]

Information is so easy to find now-a-days but that's true with anything if you compare it to 50 years ago, aye?

I suspect that the easy access to information with the internet is a major contributor to the large increases in trail usage. Before the internet you had to work a lot harder to find out information about the AT. Before the internet, if you mentioned the AT to someone, there is a good chance they had never heard of it.

[nsherry61]

. . . If you want solitude, you've gotta explore and get OFF the trails. Easier said than done without a lot of research.
I think this thinking is kinda a key point in this discussion. It used to be that we looked at maps, picked interesting routes, and often they included much of or most of some long scenic trail. I don't think you need to get off trails to get solitude, but you do need to get off the AT. There are hundreds of trails and trail systems connecting to the AT that provide various beautiful detours from the AT highway, returning to it again at some later point. Many of the side trails have very little traffic and provide solitude without any more research than looking at a map to check out alternatives to the highway of white blazes.

I wasn't around the AT in the 70's. But, I do remember the Oregon Skyline Trail that people started calling by some new name that connected it to other trails along the rest of the cascades and even down into the California Sierras. We always saw it as that scenic trail that was always up high along the ridge-lines. Now, the PCT is better known, even by locals, than the other local trails.

[-Rush-]

I don't think you need to get off trails to get solitude, but you do need to get off the AT. There are hundreds of trails and trail systems connecting to the AT that provide various beautiful detours from the AT highway, returning to it again at some later point. Many of the side trails have very little traffic and provide solitude without any more research than looking at a map to check out alternatives to the highway of white blazes.

I agree about the AT, but I think it depends on where you are. I don't have a lot of AT experience outside of GA/NC/TN and I always seem to run into other hikers, cars, etc. when hiking anywhere near it. My trips to other places like the Cohutta Wilderness require more prep, but provide the type of solitude I'm talking about.

[Seatbelt]

I thru-hike the Tecumseh Trail here in south central Indiana every fall and rarely ever see anyone except around the Yellowwood Lake Dam area. I like the solitude it affords fairly close to home.