PDA

View Full Version : When did AT popularity take off?



steve hiker
11-11-2003, 13:42
It often amazes me when reading AT thru-hiker journals from the 1970s how popular the trail was back then. Crowded shelters in Georgia in the spring and in the Smokies, and lots of fellow thru-hikers elsewhere on the trail. I had thought the AT really didn't take off in popularity until later on. Anyone know when it started to transition from a lonely path in the middle of nowhere to the populous trail it is today?

rickb
11-11-2003, 13:59
Here is a chart as your question relates to thru hiking, from the ATC website:

http://www.appalachiantrail.org/hike/pdfs/2Kmilers_09_02.pdf

steve hiker
11-11-2003, 14:16
Good chart. I also found these statistics, which show the A.T. really took off in the 1970s and has doubled each decade since:

http://www.appalachiantrail.org/hike/thru_hike/facts.html#sub1

1960-1969: 37
1970-1979: 737
1980-1989: 1,402
1990-1999: 3,239

Jaybird
11-11-2003, 14:28
Good chart. I also found these statistics, which show the A.T. really took off in the 1970s and has doubled each decade since:

http://www.appalachiantrail.org/hike/thru_hike/facts.html#sub1

1960-1969: 37
1970-1979: 737
1980-1989: 1,402
1990-1999: 3,239



Interesting to see that 2003 has had approx. 125 LESS hikers than 2002
2,000 milers...


wonder why? :-?

Jaybird
www.trailjournals.com/JAYBIRD

icemanat95
11-11-2003, 15:07
Simple cycles. The popularity of outdoor activities goes up and down with fashion/what's in vogue etc. For a while the AT was considered to be something of an extreme sport, but that's worn off now and those who want to do extreme sports go naked-cliff-bungee-scuba-diving or some such ridiculousness instead, then go back to their apartments, pop some exstacy and go try to pick up a terminal venereal disease somewhere. So now the hiking public is falling back to a more hardcore "Hiking Public."

In another ten years it'll pick up again.

Kerosene
11-11-2003, 17:42
I first hiked the AT in 1973, a year or two after devouring Ed Garvey's Appalachian Hiker, which was originally published in 1971. We were not really aware that there was much interest in the AT at the time, and we certainly didn't run into anyone but a few weekend hikers during our April hike from DWG to Unionville.

There were certainly not many successful thru hikers at that time, although there may very well have been a lot of people starting out every April (the traditional start date was the first week of April back then, not the start of March or February that it is now). I would say that the popularity rose noticeably in the early 70's with the introduction of much more comfortable equipment (nylon external packs, Svea or Optimus 8R stoves, more food variety at lighter weight, lighter tents). I'm still amazed at how much I carried and the types of clothing that I relied on those first 3 years of spring hiking in NJ, northern PA, and MA/CT.

steve hiker
11-11-2003, 19:48
Wasn't there a National Geographic article on the AT that came out in the 1970s? Seems that would have contributed to the huge increase in thru-hikers. There probably was little public awareness that the AT even existed before then.

Miss Janet
11-11-2003, 21:59
While I am sure that the numbers of those attempting a Thruhike of the Appalachian Trail does vary for different reasons, I believe that the stastistics are based on bad information. No one is counting everyone attempting to do the whole AT. Not everyone wants to be counted. These numbers are just estimates.

Rain Man
11-11-2003, 22:07
While I am sure that the numbers of those attempting a Thruhike of the Appalachian Trail does vary for different reasons, I believe that the stastistics are based on bad information. No one is counting everyone attempting to do the whole AT. Not everyone wants to be counted. These numbers are just estimates.

I want to agree and add something else. I just took a look at the 2,000-miler completion chart showing exponential growth in recent years.

Because that is not a thru-hike chart, and because section hikers take some years to complete the 2,000 miles, it seems that recent years' sharp hikes (a little pun!) could be attributed in part to section hikers who started some years ago. Like the baby boomer curve in American demographics, to use a bad analogy.

Anyway, not all those 2002 completions were 2002 hikes, in other words. Some of those 2002 completion hikers started in 2001, some in 2,000, some in 1999, and et cetera. So, a much more modest increase in hiker interest some years ago could be yielding fruit now, and the spike in totals may settle down somewhat in years to come, rather than continuing to increase so dramatically.

Clear as mud?

Rain Man

Jaybird
11-12-2003, 06:08
Wasn't there a National Geographic article on the AT that came out in the 1970s

National Geographic actually put out an article in the 1970s (i believe it was 1972 or 73) that was a portion of the a N.G.book that came out about the A.T. as well.

I have both....interesting looking @ the shelters then & the ones now (that are still standing), the shape theyre in...the trail differences, etc....the scenery thought is just as beautiful today....as then!


Jaybird
www.trailjournals.com/JAYBIRD

Youngblood
11-12-2003, 08:36
I want to agree and add something else. I just took a look at the 2,000-miler completion chart showing exponential growth in recent years.

Because that is not a thru-hike chart, and because section hikers take some years to complete the 2,000 miles, it seems that recent years' sharp hikes (a little pun!) could be attributed in part to section hikers who started some years ago. Like the baby boomer curve in American demographics, to use a bad analogy.

Anyway, not all those 2002 completions were 2002 hikes, in other words. Some of those 2002 completion hikers started in 2001, some in 2,000, some in 1999, and et cetera. So, a much more modest increase in hiker interest some years ago could be yielding fruit now, and the spike in totals may settle down somewhat in years to come, rather than continuing to increase so dramatically.

Clear as mud?

Rain Man

Yeah, it is like an underdamped response to a step function. At some point early in the process the value will reach a peak and then it will slowly settle down to a somewhat lower value that will stay pretty consistant until/unless some other event happens that effects the dynamics of the process. That is pretty impressive observation Rain Man.

Youngblood

daveinmuncy
12-24-2003, 13:06
Isn't the increasing number of successful thruhikes a consequence of better equipment? Also, much better information? I'm not insulting anyone, especially since I'm only PLANNING to thruhike, I haven't actually done it. But I'd be willing to bet that someone who completed the AT 30 years ago had to be a lot tougher than I'll have to be, if I complete it.

MOWGLI
12-24-2003, 14:40
Isn't the increasing number of successful thruhikes a consequence of better equipment? Also, much better information? I'm not insulting anyone, especially since I'm only PLANNING to thruhike, I haven't actually done it. But I'd be willing to bet that someone who completed the AT 30 years ago had to be a lot tougher than I'll have to be, if I complete it.

I don't personally think there is any correlation between advances in gear, and the increase in the popularity of the AT. All the fancy gear in the world will not get you from Maine to Georgia.

Today, there are more publications like Backpacker Mag and many many more books on the AT since the 60s and 70s. I think this has helped to popularize the AT in our culture, as have hiker journals. Additionally, as our population expands, and more and more rural areas are suburbanized, I believe people yearn to travel to undeveloped areas (such as the AT) to restore their souls or recharge the batteries.

Any thoughts?

Spirit Walker
12-24-2003, 14:49
In some ways, that is true. There is a lot more information out there, which makes it easier to plan. Gear has changed, and clothes, tents and sleeping bags are much lighter than they used to be. There were sub-5 lb packs 30 years ago. On the other hand, hikers didn't carry some of the gear that we consider necessary. Most didn't carry hiking sticks, or a stove (that's what fires are for) or a filter or a sleeping pad (you cut pine boughs to sleep on.) The axe added weight though. In some places the trail was easier - more dirt roads and rural byways - but the grades were much steeper in other places (the Stecoahs used to be MUCH worse). I'm not sure whether the increase in the numbers of hostels actually helps or hurts. The more time you take off the trail, the harder it is to keep on hiking. Motivation can be a fragile thing, and sometimes access to hot water and 'real' food can make it harder to go back out into the natural world again.

Aside from the big burst of outdoor activity in the '70's, the biggest impetus to the trail was the 50th Anniversary of the AT in 1987. There were articles in just about every newspaper and magazine in the country about the trail and folks who were hiking it. Wingfoot was a huge promoter of the trail at the time. I remember articles in my mother's AARP magazine about the AT. All of a sudden, instead of being some odd activity that only the really hardcore would do, the trail became very accessible -- anyone could do it. After Bill Irwin's hike in 1991, that especially seemed true. There was an enormous difference in the numbers of people on the trail between 1988 and 1992, and then I did a weeklong hike on the AT in 1995 and was shocked to see 50 thruhikers a day in the Shenandoahs. Everyone who returns home after finishing the trail influences a whole new group of people who say, "Well, if he/she can do it, so can I." Economic realities can also influence the hiking world. If I am afraid of whether or not I'll find a job when I get back home, I might stick with my job a little longer. On the other hand, if I'm fired and have some savings, I might say, "Okay, now is a good time to go." Works both ways. I know election years are a really good time to go hiking - you miss so much BS.

Rain Man
12-24-2003, 15:06
... Additionally, as our population expands, and more and more rural areas are suburbanized, I believe people yearn to travel to undeveloped areas (such as the AT) to restore their souls or recharge the batteries. Any thoughts?

YES!!! That seems just a reason that Benton MacKaye gave for building the AT in the first place.

Rain Man

.