AT Nobo, is not a Wilderness experience

[wornoutboots]

Part of relaxing my mind at bed time, I read trail journals & since soboing the PCT in 2016, I find my self not enjoying the AT nobo journals when looking to read a journal about a wilderness experience. It seams that all you hear are people being met nearly every day at roads getting so called "trail magic" & you hear nothing about the forests, streams & mountains. I have section hiked the AT from Springer to DWG & have enjoyed the wilderness of it since I mainly go sobo & pick months where there aren't many hikers. I guess I was just spoiled on the PCT especially in the final 1 1/2-2 months from KM south to the border where I rarely saw any other hiker & didn't camp with anyone at all except the last night where I met a dude, "walking mantis" who I hadn't seen since Oregon. Just an observation

[MuddyWaters]

Nope, it's not.

Never has been.

There was once some illusion of that
Numbers of people kill that illusion

So does services

The more people that hike the , AT , the less of an experience it is. It's already past the point of no return.

Other trail organizations, and the Park Service, understand that permits and limiting access are necessary to preserve user experience, which is the whole reason why people want to hike. Keeping things difficult is also part of keeping numbers of users down.

The the approach to the AT is to make the trail as easy and as accessible to as many people as possible. And the park service is involved in this too. In direct contrast to their approach to many places.

Footbridges over every trickle, switchbacks on every steep climb, maximize number of people on the trail, shelters privies, etc. The entire management plan of it has nothing to do with Wilderness style experience. And that's a shame.

[Puddlefish]

I enjoyed my 600 miles NOBO. I was looking for the wilderness experience... and I kind of found it. You have to make a bit of an effort however, and I had a bit of a learning experience in doing so.

Starting before the leaves came in, in the spring, there were great views. I wish I'd bought a phone with a decent camera earlier in my hike. I made a point of avoiding hiker feeds, and all the crowds. I made a few mistakes early in my hike, and had some sleepless nights in crowded tenting areas. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the spring come in, and with all the altitude changes, every walk downhill eventually was like walking into spring and summer. I sat for an hour on the side of a trail and watched a group of hawks hunting.

I learned to legally stealth camp and avoid crowded shelter/tent areas. To use a golf term, I layed up short of popular areas like Preacher's Rock, Max Patch and Beauty Spot and ended up picking up the pace as I hiked through these spots because they felt more like frat parties than part of the trail. I was stunned by views, found a magical field of wildflowers heading up Clingman's Dome, found the Firescald ridge to be something out of a LoTR movie.

Some of my worst nights of the hike were spent in towns. I should have hiked straight past Franklin, and straight through Hot Springs, but I caved into pressure from a guy I was hiking with at the time. Entirely my own fault.

Anyway, there's a lot of wilderness mixed in there. It's just a matter of stopping to enjoy it, and putting up with dodging a lot of crowds and scurrying past crowded nosy road crossings. The noisy people enjoy the trail their way, but it didn't prevent me from enjoying the trail my way.

[cneill13]

I completely agree that Trail Magic is out of control. I have never thru-hiked the AT so I am really just back seating driving here, but I hiked up to the top of Tray Mountain in Georgia two weeks ago.

There was a TM table at Unicoi Gap, and another layout at the bottom of Tray Mountain at Indian Grave Gap. Then there was another Trail Magic set up half way up the mountain at Tray Gap.

Three Trail Magic set ups in 8 miles. Is that really what Trail Magic is supposed to be about? I thought is was a spontaneous gesture of kindness to thru-hikers.

Anyway, enough of my rant. If people want to do Trail Magic, than I think they should do it. But it is becoming way too prevalent and I agree that it detracts from the wilderness experience.

[capehiker]

Nope, it's not.

The the approach to the AT is to make the trail as easy and as accessible to as many people as possible. And the park service is involved in this too. In direct contrast to their approach to many places.

Footbridges over every trickle, switchbacks on every steep climb, maximize number of people on the trail, shelters privies, etc. The entire management plan of it has nothing to do with Wilderness style experience. And that's a shame.

Have you hiked the Appalachian Trail? Lol. Switchbacks on every climb? The approach trail easy? You realize parking 1 mike south of Springer Mountain is far easier, right? (*edit- after re-reading the post, I misunderstood about “the approach” as pointed out in a below post).

I’m not arguing the lack of wilderness experience but perhaps you chose the wrong examples of why it’s easy? The number one reason it’s flooded? It’s proximity to millions of people. I would also point out that for many thru hikers, town culture and the people met along the way are huge parts of the experience, and not just walking in the woods.

All one has to do is not stay in or near the shelters and their wilderness experience increases by tenfold.

[johnnyjohnson2043]

Have you hiked the Appalachian Trail? Lol. Switchbacks on every climb? The approach trail easy? You realize parking 1 mike south of Springer Mountain is far easier, right?

I’m not arguing the lack of wilderness experience but perhaps you chose the wrong examples of why it’s easy? The number one reason it’s flooded? It’s proximity to millions of people. I would also point out that for many thru hikers, town culture and the people met along the way are huge parts of the experience, and not just walking in the woods.

All one has to do is not stay in or near the shelters and their wilderness experience increases by tenfold.

I’ll throw in this thought. You know who also needs regulated? Day hikers. Go to any major beauty spot with parking and you’ll see a major increase in litter and crime.

By saying "the approach of the trail" I believe he meant the "point" of the trail. He wasn't talking about the approach trail itself...but I agree that it isn't a true wilderness experience anymore. I did find myself alone for hours on end when I hiked Springer to NOC a few years ago but I never camped alone (in fact every shelter was packed) and I saw trail magic at nearly every major road crossing. I still enjoy myself every time I get out there but it isn't wilderness. It's more of a community of hikers.

[Uriah]

An AT NOBO trek is much closer to being a wilderness experience than is sitting here on our computers under artificial lighting. Probably more entertaining, too.

[johnnyjohnson2043]

An AT NOBO trek is much closer to being a wilderness experience than is sitting here on our computers under artificial lighting. Probably more entertaining, too.

Haha. Good point. The closest thing to wilderness I have here is a potted plant.

[Captain Blue]

Most trail journal entries fall into the category of "People, Towns & Food." They are boring to read. But that's what is on the mind of a northbound thru-hiker.

[capehiker]

By saying "the approach of the trail" I believe he meant the "point" of the trail. He wasn't talking about the approach trail itself...

Ah yes. After re-reading his post I agree with you.

[Martzy13]

You shouldn't base your opinions of the whole Trail on your findings in Georgia. Of course there are going to be ridiculous numbers of Trail Magic at the beginning of the Trail, that's where the masses are. If Trail Magic-givers are making any sort of trip to the AT, they are going to want to help the most people possible.
If you are not finding what you want in your online literature, look elsewhere.

[Runner2017]

If you like solitude and wildness, hike the BMT instead.

[Berserker]

An AT NOBO trek is much closer to being a wilderness experience than is sitting here on our computers under artificial lighting. Probably more entertaining, too.
Yes, this is similar to what I was thinking.

The vast majority of people will never hike, much less actually go out and stay out overnight at a primitive spot requiring carrying all their stuff. So it's semantics, but in my opinion the AT is a wilderness experience.

[ldsailor]

Most trail journal entries fall into the category of "People, Towns & Food." They are boring to read. But that's what is on the mind of a northbound thru-hiker.

I tend to agree with you. I usually can't get past one or two journals entries of any one hiker. I don't even like mine and only keep my blog/journal as a diary; otherwise it's probably boring to 90% of the people reading.

However... I got hooked on one video log that is mostly about the trail and how it affects the hiker. You might want to check it out. The hiker has many followers.

Pee Wee's Vlog (https://youtu.be/KnDbeK-1wCw)

[JC13]

The AT is known as the most "social" trail, if this bothers your definition of "wilderness" experience that you choose to read, read CDT journals. It is the least social of the big 3.

[rickb]

Nope, it's not.
Never has been.
There was once some illusion of that


Perhaps that is true, but fortunately the moose do not know that.

Nor the bear, rattlesnakes, porcupine, beaver, barred owls, raven, box turtles, raven, spruce grouse, pine Martin, bobcat, fox and salamanders.

So not an altogether unsatisfactory illusion even now.

[soumodeler]

If you like solitude and wildness, hike the BMT instead.

Shhhhh!! Don't tell everyone the secret!

I much prefer the AT to remain the busy/social trail so that the BMT and others remain less used.

[LittleRock]

The AT is what you make of it. If you only stop at shelters and towns, then you'll be around people most of the time. If you stop away from shelters and towns, then you can find solitude most of the time.

Hikers who make their journals public tend to fall in the first category. You read them, you get what you paid for.

[Starchild]

One thing that I noticed in '13 was there was so much trail magic near the start that if I could do 20 mile days at the start I would need to carry no food. That itself is amazing and blogworthy. going north other factors come not play, but the AT is it's own thing, tucked neatly between the PCT and El Camino and portending to be neither.

[bamboo bob]

The PCT wasn't much different. It's not all that wilderness either really. CDT is more so but that too has a LOT of backpackers and support. Not that theirs anything wrong with that. The AT is though harder hiking day to day than that soft sloping well graded PCT.

[Meenkya]

As I prepare to do the HMW north bound in Sept, please tell me I wont be dealing with to much of this....

[Deadeye]

An AT NOBO trek is much closer to being a wilderness experience than is sitting here on our computers under artificial lighting. Probably more entertaining, too.

You betcha! And if somebody wants to feed me when I cross the road, I'll be more than happy to oblige them. I've never found trail magic - spontaneous or otherwise - to not be a pleasant experience. The parties I avoid like the plague, but since I'm crossing the street, I might as well eat what's on the other side.

[soilman]

The the approach to the AT is to make the trail as easy and as accessible to as many people as possible...
Footbridges over every trickle, switchbacks on every steep climb, maximize number of people on the trail, shelters privies, etc. The entire management plan of it has nothing to do with Wilderness style experience. And that's a shame.

I disagree. I think the ATC is trying to make a trail that is sustainable. Trails that go straight up a mountain will not last. I remember going up Bald Pate mountain on a trail without switchbacks that was 10-20 wide and about 5 feet deep and it really was ugly. If you look closely in the GSMNP you can see remnants of the old AT that went straight up the mountain and ended up being a 3 feet gully.

It seems to me that many people do not want a wilderness experience or even an adventure when they hike the AT. Some folks want to know where every campsite and water source is along the trail. With all the electronic gadgets, shuttles, hostels, etc. you can hike the trail and hardly spend any time sleeping in the woods.

[Emerson Bigills]

Maybe Bill Schaeffer's AT experience might be described as "wilderness", but I have always considered the AT to be backwoods. You frequently see and hear "civilization", but also get some quiet time and a chance to see the woods as they are when no one is around. On a long hike, the walking, the trees, the overlooks and the silence don't translate well in journals written by most modern common folks. After a thousand or so miles, it's the people you meet and the breaks from the trail that make an immediate impact on the hiker. That's what they tend to write about. There are only so many times you can read a trail journal describing Unaka Mountain and Sages Ravine. You have to be there to understand it. There are some moments when an AT hike is like visiting the circus, but there are also some moments when you can escape the shackles of modern society.

[fiddlehead]

SOBO-ing the PCT takes some luck and a late start (unless really low snow year)
You can do the same on the AT.
Or a really late start. (Sept)
Or really early if it's a low snow year.
That's the only way you're going to see a wilderness experience on the AT.
I once did a SOBO starting at K on Oct 14th.
Long nights though.
But no people except on weekends and hunters.
I think a month earlier would be great.

I could never do the AT NOBO in the bubble.
I remember one time doing GA in April and it was raining and there were 40 people standing in a shelter!
No way could you fit another one in there.
So, I continued the hike to the next shelter (only about 25 in that one)
Just got wet and learned to not plan on any shelters. Stealth camped a lot. That's the way to enjoy the wilderness on the AT. (IMO of course)

[rickb]

Just got wet and learned to not plan on any shelters. Stealth camped a lot. That's the way to enjoy the wilderness on the AT. (IMO of course)


You started a SOBO on October 14th?

Holly crap!

What a different kind of thru hike that must have been.

Putting the semantics aside, I think AT hikers still have the ability to interject a whole lot more wild into their trips if they want to.

Stealth camping to be sure.

To the person wondering about their NOBO HMW trip -- that is something to keep in mind. Hard not to feel a magnetic attraction to the Maine shelters, but with a bit a creativity (like walking up a brook interesting the AT or along a pond's shore) staying away from them will sure increase the feeling of wilderness by an order of magnitude, I think.

Another way is to resupply less frequently than you really need to. Seems like most would consider this strategy about as dumb as carrying a cast iron frying pan, but I am not so sure. It would be interesting to compare how the average time between resupplies has changed over the years.

Another thing I think could increase ones sense of wildness would be doing just a small bit of study of the natural history in the eastern forests, and along the AT -- especially if that is something that was never your thing to begin with. Along those lines, this is one book I would recommend https://www.amazon.com/Tracking-Art-Seeing-Animal-Tracks/dp/0062735241

[Jayne]

Part of relaxing my mind at bed time, I read trail journals & since soboing the PCT in 2016, I find my self not enjoying the AT nobo journals when looking to read a journal about a wilderness experience. It seams that all you hear are people being met nearly every day at roads getting so called "trail magic" & you hear nothing about the forests, streams & mountains. I have section hiked the AT from Springer to DWG & have enjoyed the wilderness of it since I mainly go sobo & pick months where there aren't many hikers. I guess I was just spoiled on the PCT especially in the final 1 1/2-2 months from KM south to the border where I rarely saw any other hiker & didn't camp with anyone at all except the last night where I met a dude, "walking mantis" who I hadn't seen since Oregon. Just an observation
I think that vlogs and journals are almost always going to make the social aspect seem like a much bigger percentage of the hike than they actually are. It's not a lot of fun to read:

8 am - I walked, it was hot
9 am - I walked and ate a snack
10am - I walked and refilled my water
11am - I walked in the rain
12 am - I walked in the rain.......

[trailmercury]

I think that vlogs and journals are almost always going to make the social aspect seem like a much bigger percentage of the hike than they actually are. It's not a lot of fun to read:

8 am - I walked, it was hot
9 am - I walked and ate a snack
10am - I walked and refilled my water
11am - I walked in the rain
12 am - I walked in the rain.......

I would want to know what happened between 11am and 12 am...That's a 13 hour gap!!!

[Berserker]

I think that vlogs and journals are almost always going to make the social aspect seem like a much bigger percentage of the hike than they actually are. It's not a lot of fun to read:

8 am - I walked, it was hot
9 am - I walked and ate a snack
10am - I walked and refilled my water
11am - I walked in the rain
12 am - I walked in the rain.......
I agree, and it also depends on the author. Not to make a gross generalization, but I have noticed when I read journals that the younger folks typically document primarily the social aspects of their hikes whilst the older folks usually interject a lot more detail pertaining to the "wilderness experience".

[JPritch]

The people you meet along the way are what makes the AT special.

[Tennessee Viking]

If you set out early enough, you might see a random hiker here or there. But come March...its an interstate highway and party scene. I get the social and hospitality of the trail. There is scenary just have to get away from the crowd to enjoy it.

I say set out early probably start Fall/early Winter and get as far north. Come back after the snowfall and jump back on ahead of the crowd.

The one thing I like about the Mountains to Sea Trail is there are no crowds. You might hit a crowded campsite in the backcountry areas on the weekends. But after the mountains, you share the trail roads with cars...but no more hikers other than SP visitors. Towns people will pick you up and take you in to supply. Or allow temp night stay on their land.

[Jayne]

I would want to know what happened between 11am and 12 am...That's a 13 hour gap!!!
I think the hiker needed a P :P

[evyck da fleet]

The AT is what you make it to be. Sure it continues to become more like the Camino but it’s up to you to determine whether to stealth camp or stay by a shelter, go into town every other day or every fifth day, choose to either spend the night, zero or head back out after resupplying of take alternate trails.

The degree to which it is a wilderness experience is in large up to the individual, their comfort level and the degree to which they want to challenge them-self. I won’t be going on any three week trips in the Cohuttas without resupply but I found my comfort level.

[LittleRock]

I think that vlogs and journals are almost always going to make the social aspect seem like a much bigger percentage of the hike than they actually are. It's not a lot of fun to read:
8 am - I walked, it was hot
9 am - I walked and ate a snack
10am - I walked and refilled my water
11am - I walked in the rain
12 am - I walked in the rain.......
Agree, that's why I bring a camera and take lots of pictures instead of keeping a journal!

[LittleRock]

If you set out early enough, you might see a random hiker here or there. But come March...its an interstate highway and party scene. I get the social and hospitality of the trail. There is scenary just have to get away from the crowd to enjoy it.
I say set out early probably start Fall/early Winter and get as far north. Come back after the snowfall and jump back on ahead of the crowd.
The one thing I like about the Mountains to Sea Trail is there are no crowds. You might hit a crowded campsite in the backcountry areas on the weekends. But after the mountains, you share the trail roads with cars...but no more hikers other than SP visitors. Towns people will pick you up and take you in to supply. Or allow temp night stay on their land.
Even setting out early may not be enough anymore. I was surprised at the number of thrus I saw in Shenandoah this April, and nearly all of them had started in February. I once met a SOBO thru-hiker near Newfound Gap on a day hike in the Smokies in January. He'd started from Big K in September - now that's a wilderness experience!

Completely agree on the MST - right now I'm seriously considering taking a break from section hiking the AT for a couple years and section hiking the 'mountains' part of the MST. The rest of the state, not so much. I did a couple day hikes here in the Triangle and it was quiet for sure, but the scenery left much to be desired.

[Just Bill]

Pasted from- https://wilderness.nps.gov/faqnew.cfm

What is wilderness?The Wilderness Act, signed into law in 1964, created the National Wilderness Preservation System and recognized wilderness as “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” The Act further defined wilderness as "an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions . . . ." (For the complete definition of wilderness, see Section 2(c) of the Wilderness Act.)


I'm still unclear why so many folks feel that the most popular long distance trail in the world, passing through the most populated region of the US, with the very best volunteer trail labor force providing; blazing, signage, shelters, and a gloriously maintained footpath qualifies as a wilderness experience.

It's not. By definition having a trail at all is pushing it.

It's okay that it's not wilderness. Other than trying to impress your friends, family or social media following there is no reason to delude anyone that it is.
If you think of yerself as some brave adventurer trekking into the untamed wilds... joke is on you.
Having the expectation or delusion the AT is a wilderness dilutes what a true wilderness experience is... and also ruins the AT as well.

The AT is quite an achievement... carving out and reclaiming a thin ribbon of continuous woods for people to easily access and enjoy.
It's on par with an exceptional state park. Busy in the front country, rarely too far from a road, passing near towns, and generally safe to use.
It's a string of 3-6 day hikes, but rather than looping back to the state park lot... you connect to the next trailhead and continue on in an unbroken line.
You get to show up when you want, get off where ever you want, easily travel, walk with relative ease, and move from place to place with little or no navigational needs, permits or planning.
(PS- nearly every place everywhere else requires you to get a permit. Especially wilderness areas).


It is a social trail, meeting people and traveling through the different cultures the trail passes through is part of the trail.
You pass major metropolitan areas and single stop sign towns in podunk nowhere.
National historical sites, amazing national parks, urban parks, rail to trail conversions, college campuses, main street USA to the wilds of Maine.
Hell you walk through a building and a zoo. You cross bridges, highways, interstates and country roads. Bear, deer, and dozens of other trails crisscross and share your path too.

You meet everyone from the true hillbillies of deep appalachia to rich celebs in new england and nearly every american in between.
You'll pass or stay at country farmhouses, regular suburbia, remote cabins and what can feel like walking though an episode of this old house.
You'll hike with folks from all around the world, from every walk of life, of every age and every background.

You may even meet swingers or a yoga instructor. Might even meet the fella who owns the place if'n that's what you're looking for.
You're also free to spend very large amounts of time with yourself, to carry more food and visit town less.

You're free to bathe at camp, skip towns, not visit a restaurant, nor stay at a single hostel.

You can mail your supplies just like one would leave food caches on a true wilderness trip.
With little more than a quick duck into the post office or one of the quiet businesses that service the trail- you'll be resupplied and back on the trail in an hour or less.
If an FKT hiker with no time to smell the roses can 'do it wrong'... surely you too can quickly get back to the wild trail in 60 minutes or less.

You can travel the trail however you like and live whatever fantasy you choose.


But you will not be in the wilderness.
It does exist if you want to go there, though I doubt many long distance hikers would enjoy bushwhacking, planning a route, using a compass or carrying multiple weeks of food at a crack.
Not seeing another person for several weeks is actually a mildly unnerving experience. And not being able to share such things with a fellow human is a hard way to be living for long.
Most Chris McCandless devotees seem to forget that was the lesson he learnt... though it cost him his life to learn it. In truth, the wilderness is not a very nice place.


There are many wilderness areas, there are places on this planet you could wander for weeks at a time with only your reflection in a pond or the occasional plane overhead to remind you there are more two leggeds out there somewhere.


I'll go paddle deep into Quetico and find an unnamed lake or two when I get the itch to really get out there. One day I'll head west and find a blank spot on the map perhaps.
Though I can wander out of bounds in the local state park and find a quiet spot for a sit with the spirit that moves though all things without the help of a blazed trail or a ride across the country.

And as anyone who has been truly out there will tell you... in truth no matter where you go, there you are.
If you are unhappy here or there; perhaps it's not where you are but simply that you are in bad company.


But if I want to just show up to a place I can traverse a ridgeline, sleep on a bald, stretch my legs, give ma nature a big hug, hoist a pint with a German feller, a dirty hippie chick, and ol Man Willy; all in the span of a weeks time...

Enjoy the Appalachian Trail for what it is.
There is truly only one and it is an amazingly unique place.

[trailmercury]

^^^^This^^^^

[rickb]

It's okay that it's not wilderness.
I will believe your definition of wilderness is correct, correct but here is a video shot in the mountains of Pennsylvania that might explain why some people get confused:

https://vimeo.com/265851832

Whether that log was on the AT or not, it could have been. Is some folk mistake all that for Wilderness, I will forgive them.

What I could never do is forgive those who think these mountains and the wildlife living in them are any less worthy of protection because, well **** it — it’s not Wilderness and who doesn’t appreciate a racetrack/casino/whatever right?

[Just Bill]

I will believe your definition of wilderness is correct, correct but here is a video shot in the mountains of Pennsylvania that might explain why some people get confused:

https://vimeo.com/265851832

Whether that log was on the AT or not, it could have been. Is some folk mistake all that for Wilderness, I will forgive them.

What I could never do is forgive those who think these mountains and the wildlife living in them are any less worthy of protection because, well **** it — it’s not Wilderness and who doesn’t appreciate a racetrack/casino/whatever right?
Yar. Well said.

In hunting, "silence is gold." Go quietly, slowly, and silently. Remember that the bright-eyed, sharp-eared woodfolk can see, hear and smell, with a keenness that throws your dull faculties quite in the shade. As you go lumbering and stick-breaking through the woods, you will never know how many of these quietly leave your path to right and left, allowing you to pass, while they glide away, unseen, unknown. It is easily seen that a sharp-sensed, light-bodied denizen of the woods can detect the approach of a heavy, bifurcated, booted animal, a long way ahead, and avoid him accordingly.

But there is an art, little known and practiced, that invariably succeeds in outflanking most wild animals; an art, simple in conception and execution, but requiring patience; a species, so to speak, of high art in forestry—the art of "sitting on a log."

Nessmuk

[dcdennis]

what is the point of this thread?

[Just Bill]

what is the point of this thread?

A bored guy was reading trail journals and choose to make an observation.
Other bored people agreed or disagreed with that observation.

There was a little 'back in my day' and 'get off my lawn' sentiments tossed about with a few HYOH's tossed in to ease tensions.
Some real weirdos went off on their own tangents.

It's the internet. There is no point.
We all wish we were hiking. This will have to do in the meantime.


Course perhaps it's not the internet... as Nessmuk noted the point about 130 years ago...

"I have found that nearly all who have a real love of nature and out-of-door camp-life, spend a good deal of time and talk in planning future trips, or discussing the trips and pleasures gone by, but still dear to memory."

With a large majority of prospective tourists and outers, "camping out" is a leading factor in the summer vacation. And during the long winter months they are prone to collect in little knots and talk much of camps, fishing, hunting, and "roughing it." The last phrase is very popular and always cropping out in the talks on matters pertaining to a vacation in the woods. I dislike the phrase. We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it. We get it rough enough at home; in towns and cities; in shops, offices, stores, banks—anywhere that we may be placed—with the necessity always present of being on time and up to our work; of providing for the dependent ones; of keeping up, catching up, or getting left.

As for the few fortunate ones who have no call to take a hand in any strife or struggle, who not only have all the time there is, but a great deal that they cannot dispose of with any satisfaction to themselves or anybody else—I am not writing for them; but only to those of the world's workers who go, or would like to go, every summer to the woods. And to these I would say, don't rough it; make it as smooth, as restful and pleasurable as you can.

[Just Bill]

Since Nessmuk has much to say and we have little to add...

Here is a quote quite relevant to the topic of 'WILDERNESS' vs Wild-ness and some folks perception of the two.
There are men who, on finding themselves alone in a pathless forest, become appalled, almost panic stricken. The vastness of an unbroken wilderness subdues them, and they quail before the relentless, untamed forces of nature. These are the men who grow enthusiastic—at home—about sylvan life, out-door sports, but always strike camp and come home rather sooner than they intended.

And there be some who plunge into an unbroken forest with a feeling of fresh, free, invigorating delight, as they might dash into a crisp ocean surf on a hot day. These know that nature is stern, hard, immovable and terrible in unrelenting cruelty. When wintry winds are out and the mercury far below zero, she will allow her most ardent lover to freeze on her snowy breast without waving a leaf in pity, or offering him a match; and scores of her devotees may starve to death in as many different languages before she will offer a loaf of bread. She does not deal in matches and loaves; rather in thunderbolts and granite mountains. And the ashes of her camp-fires bury proud cities.

But, like all tyrants, she yields to force, and gives the more, the more she is beaten. She may starve or freeze the poet, the scholar, the scientist; all the same, she has in store food, fuel and shelter, which the skillful, self-reliant woodsman can wring from her savage hand with axe and rifle. Only to him whose coat of rags Has pressed at night her regal feet, Shall come the secrets, strange and sweet, Of century pines and beetling crags. For him the goddess shall unlock The golden secrets which have lain Ten thousand years, through frost and rain, Deep in the bosom of the rock.

[Just Bill]

Anon; one for Mr. Rick B, and DCDennis... if one is looking for a moral to this story:

This is the moral: From Maine to Montana; from the Adirondacks to Alaska; from the Yosemite to the Yellowstone, the trout-hog, the deer-wolf, the netter, the skin-hunter, each and all have it their own way; and the law is a farce—only to be enforced where the game has vanished forever.

Perhaps the man-child is born who will live to write the moral of all this—when it is too late.

[Just Bill]

Even one fer the crusty among us-

In a word, act coolly and rationally. So shall your outing be a delight in conception and the fulfillment thereof; while the memory of it shall come back to you in pleasant dreams, when legs and shoulders are too stiff and old for knapsack and rifle.

That is me. That is why I sit here tonight—with the north wind and sleet rattling the one window of my little den-writing what I hope younger and stronger men will like to take into the woods with them, and read. Not that I am so very old. The youngsters are still not anxious to buck against the muzzle-loader in off-hand shooting. But, in common with a thousand other old graybeards, I feel that the fire, the fervor, the steel, that once carried me over the trail from dawn until dark, is dulled and deadened within me.

We had our day of youth and May; We may have grown a trifle sober; But life may reach a wintry way, And we are only in October.

Final Advice
Wherefore, let us be thankful that there are still thousands of cool, green nooks beside crystal springs, where the weary soul may hide for a time, away from debts, duns and deviltries, and a while commune with nature in her undress.

And with kindness to all true woodsmen; and with malice toward none, save the trout-hog, the netter, the cruster, and skin-butcher, let us PREPARE TO TURN IN.

[Berserker]

A bored guy was reading trail journals and choose to make an observation.
Other bored people agreed or disagreed with that observation.

There was a little 'back in my day' and 'get off my lawn' sentiments tossed about with a few HYOH's tossed in to ease tensions.
Some real weirdos went off on their own tangents.

It's the internet. There is no point.
We all wish we were hiking. This will have to do in the meantime.
Ha ha ha, good stuff here Just Bill. You gave me a good laugh to start off my morning.

[Just Bill]

Ha ha ha, good stuff here Just Bill. You gave me a good laugh to start off my morning.
Oh, I’m one of these guys that’s just like everybody else—I’m absolutely unique.
COLIN FLETCHER

[putts]

Good posts Bill.

...figure I'll comment here so I can easily find it in the future..

[jdenkevitz]

Footbridges over every trickle, switchbacks on every steep climb, maximize number of people on the trail, shelters privies, etc. The entire management plan of it has nothing to do with Wilderness style experience. And that's a shame.

And yet that was the intention behind the AT, at least by MacKaye. Originally thought up as a (more populated) string of communities, farms, shelters, and work study programs. Not as a barren wilderness experience.

[Another Kevin]

No. The AT is not a wilderness experience. But it's at least a little bit of the green world, that's within reach of the Eastern cities.

Thru-hikers get to spend a few months at least mostly surrounded by green trees rather than pavement and fluorescent lights.

That's a Very Good Thing.

Thru-hikers are still in the minority. Most of the travelers are people who've come for a few hours or a few days, seeing what they can and enjoying what they're capable of, and still getting a few hours or a few days out in fresher air and quieter surroundings.

And that's a Very Good Thing.

Just Bill pointed out to me some time ago, too, that the AT is like the recruiting office. It's not real wilderness, but it shows off some of the experience you'll get in real wilderness. Some of those who travel on it will decide they want more, and go on to be travellers in the real wilderness. Others will come home inspired, and become advocates for preserving our few, incredibly fragile, wild areas that still remain. Still others won't change profoundly, but might still cast a vote or write a letter to a Congresscritter when it matters. And some will simply come home a bit healthier, which is a good thing too.

Since Just Bill was quoting Nessmuk:


Do you call this trifling? I tell you, friend,
A life in the forest is past all praise.
Give me a dozen such months on end--
You may take my balance of years and days.

For brick and mortar breed filth and crime,
And a pulse of evil that throbs and beats.
And men are withered before their prime
By the curse paved in with the lanes and streets.

And lungs are poisoned, and shoulders bowed,
In the smothering reek of mill and mine;
And Death stalks in on the struggling crowd,
But he shuns the shadow of oak and pine.


It doesn't have to be "a dozen months on end" to be good.

I happen to enjoy at least short trips that involve studying maps and aerial photos, route planning, compass, altimeter and GPS work, and pushing through brush, scrambling rock, plooshing through fen and bog, and so on. But few newbies would. It's an acquired taste. The AT is a place to begin acquiring the taste. That's what it's for.

[earlyriser26]

It was much more of a wilderness hike in 1969 when I started hiking. I remember hiking a week in Maine in July and only seeing one person. They have also taken down close to 20 fire towers, which is also a shame.

[MuddyWaters]

And yet that was the intention behind the AT, at least by MacKaye. Originally thought up as a (more populated) string of communities, farms, shelters, and work study programs. Not as a barren wilderness experience.

Yes.
But he got it completely wrong. No one wanted his version of a trail. They wanted a more remote solitary Trail. And so that's what was built.

All he got right was that a trail would be a good idea.
And even that he was copying from The Long Trail , as he was sitting on it at the time. All he did was extended the LT on both ends.....as far as reasonable.

He really gets too much credit for the AT we have.

[fastfoxengineering]

I'm currently thru hiking the AT and I routinely hike by myself during the day and only see one or two other thru hikers at this point. I could camp by myself every night now if I wanted.

The first 400 miles was a large group of people with lots of hikers around.

Now thru hikers are pretty spread out.

If you want to know what the AT is like... Stop reading about it and hike it, most people can't even make it past mile 200.

Trail days is this weekend. And even more people will head home afterwards.

All the hikers who plan on hiking North still are great people to hike with. We all have the same goal.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[Just Bill]

I'm currently thru hiking the AT and I routinely hike by myself during the day and only see one or two other thru hikers at this point. I could camp by myself every night now if I wanted.

The first 400 miles was a large group of people with lots of hikers around.

Now thru hikers are pretty spread out.

If you want to know what the AT is like... Stop reading about it and hike it, most people can't even make it past mile 200.

Trail days is this weekend. And even more people will head home afterwards.

All the hikers who plan on hiking North still are great people to hike with. We all have the same goal.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

I'm just glad to hear that the rampant ginger discrimination isn't affecting your hike. I read so much about ginger abuse in trail journals that I can't imagine even hiking at all anymore. I even heard that a riot broke out and the fires caused the trail to be shut down in at least one section. I read so many things and spend all my time reading fifth hand reports it must all be true. You are so brave and courageous to face it head on and not let those ignorant bigots stop you from living your life!

On a less serious note- Glad to hear your hike is going well.
Enjoy Trail Days- It's all uphill from here so sit yer ass down and have a beer.

[fastfoxengineering]

I'm just glad to hear that the rampant ginger discrimination isn't affecting your hike. I read so much about ginger abuse in trail journals that I can't imagine even hiking at all anymore. I even heard that a riot broke out and the fires caused the trail to be shut down in at least one section. I read so many things and spend all my time reading fifth hand reports it must all be true. You are so brave and courageous to face it head on and not let those ignorant bigots stop you from living your life!

On a less serious note- Glad to hear your hike is going well.
Enjoy Trail Days- It's all uphill from here so sit yer ass down and have a beer.Thanks for the laugh. Believe it or not. There's a bunch of red heads out here.

Hitching back to trail days has proven to be harder than we thought lol.. stuck in Wytheville at the moment

Feeling healthy and strong though. At about mile 600 on the trail thus far

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[pickle]

I think hikers have forgotten what the Appalachian Trail is-it is showing the beauty of nature. I feel like if you are doing 25-30 miles a day you are missing all the beauty of nature -this is just my opinion.:sun

[Just Bill]

Thanks for the laugh. Believe it or not. There's a bunch of red heads out here.

Hitching back to trail days has proven to be harder than we thought lol.. stuck in Wytheville at the moment

Feeling healthy and strong though. At about mile 600 on the trail thus far

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

It's a little known fact;
Benton MacKaye was fair of hair and complexion. He was none to keen on spending much time in open meadows or exposed ridgelines due to his naturally condition.
Other than the hijinks of that fellow Avery charging up any hill or blasting through any meadow he could sneak in... the entire trail was designed to remain under the sun-blocking canopy.
So while it's come to be known as the 'long green tunnel'; in the little known and seldom read private journal of MacKaye he called the trail 'the ginger greenway'.

When you sit afire with your fellow redheads share that tale and always remember that the Appalachian Trail was created just for you!


Rent a car- easy drive if'n you got a few of you together and you won't have deal with the hassle of wrangling up and nailing down a ride as everything breaks up. Fifty folks will promise you a ride back on Saturday, but good luck finding them come Sunday, lol. There's an enterprise across town.

Call Lone Wolf, he might be up fer a shuttle too.

[JC13]

Someone doing 25-30 miles a day is probably experiencing alot more nature than the people doing less. At least in my experience. I see plenty of wildlife, views, etc., I even have time to stop and enjoy said items. I'm on a trail to push my body and mind in God's creation. If you want to do less miles, great! Enjoy it for what you went out there for and don't impose your physical/mental limitations on my experience.

What we need to realize is that at least people are getting out in nature and maybe making some lasting physical/mental changes in their life that they will maintain or draw on to push them to make further change.

[Just Bill]

I think hikers have forgotten what the Appalachian Trail is-it is showing the beauty of nature. I feel like if you are doing 25-30 miles a day you are missing all the beauty of nature -this is just my opinion.:sun

For sure that is a 100% accurate statement. 13-17 MPD is scientifically proven to increase your level of enjoyment and connection to nature.
Between roughly 1.6 and 1.8 MPH is the ideal speed to increase visual acuity, whereas at roughly 2.1 MPH it becomes difficult to differentiate between Periwinkle blue, sky blue and pale violet. That's the threshold many scientists use to determine when accurate visual flower identification breaks down while moving.

While it is at the cutting edge of science, they recently discovered that trees have a 'heartbeat'.
At 3.2 MPH or more moving pace you will be moving too quickly to achieve good harmonics with the living metronome pulsing all around you.

:sun Science :eek:

[Uriah]

Muir would not have understood the notion of thru-hiking...

"Hiking - I don't like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike! Do you know the origin of that word 'saunter?' It's a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, 'A la sainte terre,' 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not 'hike' through them."

[stephanD]

So many words of wisdom, my head is spinning.....
Here's mine:

the allegory of the cave by Plato came to my mind when pondering this topic.
The AT is nothing but the shadows on the wall. This is our reality, this is our "wilderness".
Real (pure) wilderness is not accessible to us anymore.
In that sense, we are ALL prisoners, confined to the cave.

which makes the AT (and all trails), even more worth of protecting and preserving.

[Just Bill]

Muir would not have understood the notion of thru-hiking...

"Hiking - I don't like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike! Do you know the origin of that word 'saunter?' It's a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, 'A la sainte terre,' 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not 'hike' through them."

Yes, but he was an overly emotional Scott prone to overly romantic and flowery notions and general navel gazing activities.
Not to mention his general underlying political and personal motivations to protect his good lord's pristine works to the best of his ability.
We Americans are hard headed goal oriented group of blowhards with places to go and things to conquer.

Not being much of a purist (nor too concerned about arbitrary lines defining a fine adventure) I prefer to travel along the trail.
I believe many look at a long trail as a guideline or a suggestion. The AT remains a fine way to travel from Georgia to Maine, especially if you let the trail takes you where it wants to.

Nothing wrong with having a goal underlying your walking though. Some need a start and finish line.
The bottom line is they walk at all... If you don't get too hung up on the details of it; a bit of sauntering may even sneak up on you when you aren't looking for it.


As Kevin mentioned above... I'm a big believer in the AT as a gateway of sorts.
There is a vast chasm between the couch and doing what Nessmuk or Muir did. You need a few baby steps along the way.
Too many lament the AT as some lost wilderness, when in truth it never existed.
It was carved back out of an already too quickly developing nation just before it was lost for good.

Now more than ever, few of us grow up in the country or with any connection to the land.
Fewer people come from backgrounds in 4H, scouting, or even the good ol' family vacation spent in the out o' doors.

The AT is a trail that someone can hear the call Muir heard and attempt to answer it for themselves.
A true novice can bumble through and survive to tell the tale without having to Chris McCandless their way into disaster.
People like Jennifer Pharr Davis or Andrew Skurka can be transformed... so can Joe and Jane Blow from the burbs.
The AT is what it was always meant to be... a trail for the people to visit the woods.

I wouldn't trust the average AT hiker to plan a week in the boundary waters.
Nor would I suggest they go on a tramp in the sierra with a loaf of bread and a pound of tea.
Even moving onto a lesser known trail which doesn't have the resources may be a stretch to put together.
But that takes nothing away from the AT, in fact to me it makes it unique.

As Kevin also points out... those taking the 'big walk' are still a rarity.
And how many who finally do go echo the general sentiment of awe, curiosity and wonder when they do visit for a day and discover that those white chips of paint stretch out for hundreds or thousands of miles in either direction. How many towns have you gone in where the local residents who give you a hitch are not even aware of the trail hiding in their backyard?

The Appalachian Trail is a bridge we need.
A strip of clean, green woods hiding under our noses in our own backyard.
A path that begins at a roadside crossing, a street corner, suburban home or even stumbled upon during a family vacation by accident.
It is meant to be found, to be walked, and to take you in.
It's that grandparent or old feller down the street who knows a little something you don't from a time gone-by... and is still willing to share it.

If'n the time has come that you've outgrown the front yard and want to go play in the wide world... then go do it.
But don't sit on the front porch moping about how yer little place has grown up and left you behind.
The AT isn't meant to be the place the journey ends, it's where it starts.
Nothing wrong with coming home, or taking the easy trip when you need to unwind.

The challenge of a thru-hike is a personal one... it's moving day after day and place after place with a load on your back and little but yourself to rely on.
It's a traditional pilgrimage just like any around the world we've done for centuries.
It's the travelers journey away from the familiar part of it that makes it special... the Camino can be just as 'pure' as traversing Alaskan wilderness in that regard.
Folks mix up that part of a long hike with where the hike occurs. It's why some complete it and move on with their lives with narry a thought to the woods again.

So many people comment upon completion that the journey has 'restored their faith in humanity'.
Why is that not a noble enough journey? Why must one decry the lessons learned when given a few days to yourself in the trees to evaluate the world around you.
What is the problem with moving in and out of society down a trail in the woods where you are given the opportunity to have the best of each.
Nearly every hiker has treasured memories of town stops, encounters with fellow travelers AND moments of profound connection to the earth they live on.

Many folks muck up the two trips.

If you truly wanted to test yourself in the wilderness then go there and fend for yourself for 6 months.
If you wish to be at one with yer dear Mother Earth, then park your butt on a log and mediate until the birds land on you and the bears feed you dinner.
If it's the siren song of Muir or the beat of an ancient native drum then don't go to the local city park and complain to the mayor about the lack of solitude.
Ma Nature is quite likely to kick you in the dick as welcome you for stepping in her backyard.
It's the front country she makes pretty and hands out candies... once you go strolling into the deep looking for her secrets all bets are off.


If you can't find the beauty an connection all around you on the AT perhaps you should saunter over to a pond and stare deep at yer own reflection and ponder the problem.
Maybe the problem is it's time to move on.
Maybe the problem is you're too scared to.

It's the journey away from home that makes the long walk special.
That shakes up the comfort and familiarity of our daily lives.
If the AT or a developed trail is no longer new, exciting, deep enough, too crowded or soft...
Maybe it's time to move on to a new challenge.

The world is not full of Muir's... it's inspired by the few such folks who exist.
Travelling the land and touching the wild places of this world is a craft.
The word Journeyman described a craftsman who had learned all they could learn from the place they began..And then left it.
There are other trails, other woods, and other places to learn... to truly master a craft one must travel to them.

It's the journeyman phase that takes them onto the next step, that makes them more than they could have been if they never left their first master.
Going out into the wide world is what makes the craftsman whole, complete, and gives them perspective.
But even then that did not complete the training or the path.

It was when the journeyman returned, and successfully taught an apprentice the craft that one could be considered a master craftsman.

So to you who begrudge the fresh faced apprentice who arrives at the trailhead to begin learning the craft you claim to love...

If you just want people to get off your lawn... unfortunately it's not your porch to sit on and bitch.
Perhaps you've 'retired from the trade' before you finished the path. Failure and regret do make a feller bitter.

If it's getting a bit crowded and there is now one too many apprentices in the shop... maybe you are the one has lingered too long under your kind and friendly master the Appalachian Trail.
And perhaps the trail is patiently waiting for you to discover that truth, and nudge you off on your journeyman phase to make room for the next apprentice.

If you have been out and about and consider yourself a journeyman... maybe it is time to take on an apprentice.
To pass on your love, respect, and admiration for the trade of woodswalking this earth.

Maybe the trail is planting these folks right in your path because you keep ignoring that it is time to truly master your craft by passing it on to those who are new.
Much as children reopen our eyes and remind us of when we were so new and fragile... so can a new hiker who still finds that the AT is a vast wilderness before their eyes.
Regain perspective on what a wonder these trails truly are by seeing them through fresh eyes.

No matter how much you love the woods, you can only chain yourself to one tree at a time... if you can't bear to help a beginner... at least have the decency not to run them off or dismiss their experience simply because you have had it before, or better, or differently on that one day long ago before the world moved on and forgot how to do it 'properly'.
After all your grandparents said the same about you, and your grandkids will say the same about their grandchildren.

The woods is filled with solitary hermits as well... but you won't find them posting here. So don't pretend that's what you want either... or you'd already be there.

Where ever you go, there you are.
If you haven't realized that the earth and your small journey on it is one single trail interwoven with every other with no termini; then I'm not exactly sure what it is you think you are doing out there on the trail besides taking up space.

Despite the alphabet soup of trails available to us.. there are in truth only two. Three if you count the Black road of spirit, but what you do during your path to the great dirt nap is your own business.
As the folks who lived here once said... you are either on the good road or the crooked path. From the day you're born to the day you're dirt... it's only those two choices.


I like to think Sai Muir would concede he simply discovered his own way to Saunter this ancient sacred path to the holy land. I think he'd understand a pilgrimage just fine.
After all; "When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world"
Being Scotch and a man of his time, he didn't speak Lakota or any of the hundreds of lost dialects and languages that teach the same truth.
Otherwise he would have known he simply plagiarized the phrase and concept of "Mitakuye Oyasin".
One well known to the peoples who had been walking the Sierra long before him that means simply...
'We are all related, we are all one'

If you truly want to take a walk in the woods... the path is lying right before you. And so is the crooked trail and the great smoking mirror.
Don't matter much if you learn that straight from ma earths mouth, in a buddhist temple on some mountain, from Ol John Muir, Nessmuk, Black Elk or some jabbering jackhole.

I fer one hope to see you on the trail, where ever and however you find it.

If you do find that interconnection... it might even occur to you that if another is on the crooked trail; then so am I.

[Pony]

The AT is what you make of it. If you only stop at shelters and towns, then you'll be around people most of the time. If you stop away from shelters and towns, then you can find solitude most of the time.

Hikers who make their journals public tend to fall in the first category. You read them, you get what you paid for.

I wholeheartedly agree. There are days on the trail where you want to be by yourself, and you can avoid people if you really want to. If you want to be around people, there are plenty of those to be found.

I don't think the AT was meant to be a wilderness trail. And "trail magic" isn't manditory. Just go out, have some fun, and enjoy 'Merica. It's not rocket science.

[Pony]

As far as journals go... I have a journal entry from every day I have spent on the AT. I am the only one who has read them.

[4shot]

As far as journals go... I have a journal entry from every day I have spent on the AT. I am the only one who has read them.

For some strange reason that I cannot fathom, I wrote every single night in my personal journal on my thru hike. Took many photographs which my wife very graciously had made into some sort of scrapbook and gave to me for Christmas one year. AS important as writing in my journal and taking the photographs were at the time, I have never ever gone back and looked at them. I really don't know why. My one possible explanation is that they will be underwhelming relative to the actual experience?? That's just a theory I have.

[stephanD]

4shot...exactly right. Unless you are a really good photographer with advanced equipment, photographs are nothing but pale imitation of the real thing. No camera can convey the 360 degree views from the top of a mountain, all the way to the horizon. I used to show my pictures to friends and family, and they are like, "that's nice". I stopped taking pictures all together.

[MuddyWaters]

4shot...exactly right. Unless you are a really good photographer with advanced equipment, photographs are nothing but pale imitation of the real thing. No camera can convey the 360 degree views from the top of a mountain, all the way to the horizon. I used to show my pictures to friends and family, and they are like, "that's nice". I stopped taking pictures all together.

Yep.
I take a few, but very few relatively speaking.
Most anything i want to photo, a pro has already taken better pic of, and its on internet

[rickb]

Here is one professional who took some amazing photos on his thru hike:

http://benbenvieblog.com/tag/appalachian-trail/

[Crushed Grapes]

Here is one professional who took some amazing photos on his thru hike:

http://benbenvieblog.com/tag/appalachian-trail/

Ben's work rules. One of the folks who've gotten me interested in taking full camera gear out with me on my hikes.

[Traillium]

Pasted from- https://wilderness.nps.gov/faqnew.cfm

What is wilderness?The Wilderness Act, signed into law in 1964, created the National Wilderness Preservation System and recognized wilderness as “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” The Act further defined wilderness as "an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions . . . ." (For the complete definition of wilderness, see Section 2(c) of the Wilderness Act.)


I'm still unclear why so many folks feel that the most popular long distance trail in the world, passing through the most populated region of the US, with the very best volunteer trail labor force providing; blazing, signage, shelters, and a gloriously maintained footpath qualifies as a wilderness experience.

It's not. By definition having a trail at all is pushing it.

It's okay that it's not wilderness. Other than trying to impress your friends, family or social media following there is no reason to delude anyone that it is.
If you think of yerself as some brave adventurer trekking into the untamed wilds... joke is on you.
Having the expectation or delusion the AT is a wilderness dilutes what a true wilderness experience is... and also ruins the AT as well.

The AT is quite an achievement... carving out and reclaiming a thin ribbon of continuous woods for people to easily access and enjoy.
It's on par with an exceptional state park. Busy in the front country, rarely too far from a road, passing near towns, and generally safe to use.
It's a string of 3-6 day hikes, but rather than looping back to the state park lot... you connect to the next trailhead and continue on in an unbroken line.
You get to show up when you want, get off where ever you want, easily travel, walk with relative ease, and move from place to place with little or no navigational needs, permits or planning.
(PS- nearly every place everywhere else requires you to get a permit. Especially wilderness areas).


It is a social trail, meeting people and traveling through the different cultures the trail passes through is part of the trail.
You pass major metropolitan areas and single stop sign towns in podunk nowhere.
National historical sites, amazing national parks, urban parks, rail to trail conversions, college campuses, main street USA to the wilds of Maine.
Hell you walk through a building and a zoo. You cross bridges, highways, interstates and country roads. Bear, deer, and dozens of other trails crisscross and share your path too.

You meet everyone from the true hillbillies of deep appalachia to rich celebs in new england and nearly every american in between.
You'll pass or stay at country farmhouses, regular suburbia, remote cabins and what can feel like walking though an episode of this old house.
You'll hike with folks from all around the world, from every walk of life, of every age and every background.

You may even meet swingers or a yoga instructor. Might even meet the fella who owns the place if'n that's what you're looking for.
You're also free to spend very large amounts of time with yourself, to carry more food and visit town less.

You're free to bathe at camp, skip towns, not visit a restaurant, nor stay at a single hostel.

You can mail your supplies just like one would leave food caches on a true wilderness trip.
With little more than a quick duck into the post office or one of the quiet businesses that service the trail- you'll be resupplied and back on the trail in an hour or less.
If an FKT hiker with no time to smell the roses can 'do it wrong'... surely you too can quickly get back to the wild trail in 60 minutes or less.

You can travel the trail however you like and live whatever fantasy you choose.


But you will not be in the wilderness.
It does exist if you want to go there, though I doubt many long distance hikers would enjoy bushwhacking, planning a route, using a compass or carrying multiple weeks of food at a crack.
Not seeing another person for several weeks is actually a mildly unnerving experience. And not being able to share such things with a fellow human is a hard way to be living for long.
Most Chris McCandless devotees seem to forget that was the lesson he learnt... though it cost him his life to learn it. In truth, the wilderness is not a very nice place.


There are many wilderness areas, there are places on this planet you could wander for weeks at a time with only your reflection in a pond or the occasional plane overhead to remind you there are more two leggeds out there somewhere.


I'll go paddle deep into Quetico and find an unnamed lake or two when I get the itch to really get out there. One day I'll head west and find a blank spot on the map perhaps.
Though I can wander out of bounds in the local state park and find a quiet spot for a sit with the spirit that moves though all things without the help of a blazed trail or a ride across the country.

And as anyone who has been truly out there will tell you... in truth no matter where you go, there you are.
If you are unhappy here or there; perhaps it's not where you are but simply that you are in bad company.


But if I want to just show up to a place I can traverse a ridgeline, sleep on a bald, stretch my legs, give ma nature a big hug, hoist a pint with a German feller, a dirty hippie chick, and ol Man Willy; all in the span of a weeks time...

Enjoy the Appalachian Trail for what it is.
There is truly only one and it is an amazingly unique place.

Well-said! I’ll join you any time in Quetico!