So how serious is overuse?

[River Runner]

Okay, having seen all the posts on trail overuse in other threads, I thought I'd start one for this specific topic.

I began section hiking in Georgia in mid-April 2006, which is at the tail end of the traditional 'thru-hiker' season in that area. Truthfully, the trail did not seem severely damaged to me. There was some litter (burned cans in firepits, part of someone's abandoned tent fly, etc.), which I helped pack out. (This is definitely not a problem limited to the AT!)

The privies were naturally a bit stinky, but no more so than those I see in other areas I hike in the summer months. There were some trekking pole holes along the sides of the trail. There did not appear to be severe erosion of the trail any where (thanks GATC!). Other than the shelter areas and a few established campsite areas, the vegetation along the way did not appear damaged.

So really, I am a little puzzled. Give me your input on the effects of overuse on the Appalachian Trail.

(River Runner ducks and runs!)

[Tennessee Viking]

I dont think its overused. I think it gets abused a lot by non-hikers. Usually tourists, hunters, and people who just want to get drunk in the wilderness.

I see a fair share trail damage and litter here in Tennessee. Lots of ATV and horse traffic on the old forest road routes or sections with no stile, all with a scenic destination. The famous Bear Branch Litterbug. See some trail and shelter vandalism at the more popular sections and stops. There a few campsites where hunters will leave coolers and trash.

[rafe]

"Overuse" is a pretty broad and general term. There are vast stretches of the trail that are under-used, IMO. Avoid peak season and holidays, and it's still possible to walk 24 to 48 hours on the AT without seeing another human.

[weary]

The trail is not over used. Use is declining. There are more slobs around than there used to be. I blame the bulk of the slob misuse on the failure of ATC and other trail groups educational efforts. The old "Carry In, Carry out" message is simple and direct. Leave no trace is an impossibility and so is ignored by the increasing numbers of ignorant.

[Dances with Mice]

There's several reasons you didn't see the worst hit areas.

Some are still around - the area around Long Creek Falls is one. It's close to a road and gets a lot of weekend use all year, not just from backpackers.

The geographic summit of Springer, directly behind the plaque, is marked for no camping and has been for several years. Right now it's a nice, open grassy area. There's a reason there aren't many small trees or brush up there, though. They were all tramped over before the area was closed.

The area near the Springer shelter between the shelter and the spring had a large number of denuded areas from tents. They were 'trashed', closed, with rocks and brush to discourage their use and an area opened along the edge of a pasture behind the shelter with marked campsites.

A relo had recently opened when you passed through that directed traffic away from one highly impacted area at Slaughter Gap. SG was the intersection of ... let's see - the AT, Coosa, Bear Hair, Duncan Ridge, and Slaughter Gap... five trails altho 2 were concurrent. It was often used by weekend campers and Scout troops. The flat area in the Gap was a giant bare area with dished-out tenting spots. It really looked like a hand grenade practice range and was a giant mud flat after a rain. It was replaced with the Slaughter Gap campsites - a loop trail along a hillside with scattered, hardened and marked camping spots. The Duncan Ridge / Coosa and Slaugter Gap trails were also relocated so now they don't all meet at the same point. In fact, the old AT route is now the eastern, or northern, terminus of the Duncan Ridge Trail.

Before that a horribly rutted section of trail north of Granny Top was relocated to what is now a nice, shaded side hill trail on the opposite side of the mountain. That area is immediately before the little stream north of GT.

Another relo that bypasses an over-tramped trail section is between Long Creek Falls and Hickory Flats cemetary.

Another place that was over-used was Gooch Gap shelter, built close to a FS road. There was a large denuded area all around the shelter. The shelter was torn down and replaced by Gooch Mtn shelter, built a mile from the road and on a hillside to discourage adjacent camping and a couple of loop trails were built with hardened campsites similar to the new Slaughter Gap site.

There is one flat spot near Justus where the topsoil has been compacted and eroded so bad that the surface is now mostly exposed tree roots. Now that the Gooch Mtn shelter is open and is close to Justus, traffic tends to move past Justus and that area is recovering.

Hawk Mtn is an area that gets heavy use and it shows - similar to the way Gooch used to look but the area immediately around the shelter isn't worn down to mineral soil. It's a larger area than Gooch Gap, though, and tent sites are scattered further from the shelter, so it's not in as dire condition as Gooch was. But did you notice how wide the Trail was where the Hawk shelter blue blaze interesected the AT? Sometimes there are so many camping at Hawk that there are tents pitched directly on either side of the Trail.

Composting privies are installed at all the GA shelters now, including Blood. They have reduced the TP blossom fields that sprouted around all the side trails surrounding Hawk and other shelters.

Horse Gap isn't too pretty either, but that's mostly because it has become a vehicle pull-in or turn-around area.

[River Runner]

So a lot of careful thought and hard work have been used to both improve the experience of hikers and help protect the area. That's what I call a winning solution. :sun

[briarpatch]

. . . . There is one flat spot near Justus where the topsoil has been compacted and eroded so bad that the surface is now mostly exposed tree roots. Now that the Gooch Mtn shelter is open and is close to Justus, traffic tends to move past Justus and that area is recovering. . . . .

Guess where the next relo is going to be. :-?

[Hooch]

Composting privies are installed at all the GA shelters now, including Blood. Speaking of privies, can someone explain the difference between a composting priby and a moldering privy? I saw that Groundhog Creek Shelter is a moldering privy, whereas Deer Park Shelter, outside of Hot Springs is a camposting privy.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Thank you for an excellent post Dances with Mice. The GA maintainers do a nearly superhuman job of undoing the annual damage IMO. As DWM note, Slaughter Gap was something else - worst site I'd ever seen outside of the GSMNP. I literally cried the first time I saw it.

As for the diffrence betwen a mouldering privy and and a composting privy.... here is the most comprehensive source I've ever seen for dealing with human wastes in the backcountry: ATC Backcountry Sanitation Manual - Description of systems (Part 3) (http://www.appalachiantrail.org/atf/cf/%7BD25B4747-42A3-4302-8D48-EF35C0B0D9F1%7D/4%20Descriptions%20of%20Systems.pdf)

To access the entire manual and other ATC training documents, see this page (http://www.appalachiantrail.org/trainingandresources)

[Sly]

The trail is not over used. Use is declining. There are more slobs around than there used to be. I blame the bulk of the slob misuse on the failure of ATC and other trail groups educational efforts. The old "Carry In, Carry out" message is simple and direct. Leave no trace is an impossibility and so is ignored by the increasing numbers of ignorant.

I can't agree. Most trail heads still have carry in, carry out.

[CoyoteWhips]

Oh, first I'd heard of mouldering! What a great system!

[FatMan]

Guess where the next relo is going to be. :-?I was down at Justice Creek on Wednesday and was thinking the area needed a long and well deserved rest. The area from the campsite mentioned above to the footbridge is very sad. A relo will help, but won't solve the problem. The area is too easily accessed by old trails (roadbeds) used by hunters. I was also a bit irked by the signs of very recent fires which violates the current fire ban.

[JAK]

I thought this was about overuse injuries. I was going to say that the risks cause by underuse are far more serious. Perhaps the same can be said of trails. Some trail erosion caused by us humans is OK. There are ancient old stone buildings and stairs and floors around the world that have been noticeably worn over the years by countless feet, walking, dancing, praying, whatever. Such erosion actually adds something, like coffee tables with coffee spills by friends now absent, or crayon drawings hidden underneath scrawled by tiny hands. Such things become absolutely priceless over the years. What we really need to protect against is the sort of erosion, and development, that destroys these things, or otherwise make the human touch less human.

On the Fundy Footpath there are places where you come across old logging roads, even corduroy roads, also old abandoned farms, communities, logging camps, copper mines, wharves, even an old steam boiler. They did their damage in their day, but nature has reclaimed them and now owns them outright. Today they are building a new bridge across the Big Salmon River, where there has not been a vehicle since a covered bridge years ago. This will not be a covered bridge. This will be a bridge of 'more suitable modern construction. The Big Salmon River road is also to be upgraded, so that the Fundy Trail Parkway can be extended to Sussex, and so that more people can enjoy the 'last remaining stretch of coastal wilderness between Key West and Newfoundland'. ATVs and pickup trucks will no longer be able to drive down to Martin Head, where generations ago their ancestors builts a community. There will be a multi-use trail running in parallel to it. I have mixed feelings about all this development.

I think whatever we do to develop and maintain a trail so that we can increase traffic, we should try and do it on a human scale, using natural materials where possible, so that 1000 years from now it will either be vanished without a trace, or remain standing as a monument to our enduring need to remain a part of it, rather than apart from it.

[dessertrat]

JAK, that's exactly how I think about the same subject. I have to admit that I sometimes like seeing old relics of human use.

[whitefoot_hp]

I dont think its overused. I think it gets abused a lot by non-hikers. Usually tourists, hunters, and people who just want to get drunk in the wilderness.

no hiker would ever get drunk in the woods... :-?

[mark.k.watson]

There is no way that a couple thousand thru hikers and a few thousand more day, weekend and section hikers are not going to impact the trail to some extent, no matter how much they try to "leave no trace." Having a few thousand people leave only footprints, in a already established footpath, is still going to wear it down.
That being said, education is the key to maintain the trail in as good a condition as possible. Pack in, pack out signs at the trailhead are great, but people who see others mistreating the trail need to speak out. I am sure they do to some extent. People need to become as involved in possible in educating their fellow hikers and trail users. This can be done respectfully and without leaving one of the parties bitter.
Hiking along and see a waterbar blocked with rocks, sticks or leaves, kick them out. Water running down the trail will eat it. People walking on the waterloged trail add to the problem.
Don't step in the waterbar either.
See someone cutting a switchback, ask them not to and tell them why.
See someone litter, pick it up and hand it back to them.
See litter on the trail with no one around, pick it up. The next garbage is only a couple days away.
I have only hiked from Springer to Neels Gap, but from what I have seen the trail crew has done a fabulous job in maintaining the trail. I am the son of a trails forman, so it has kinda been beat into my head on care and trail maintenance.
Trail maintenance is the job, volunteer as it may be, for the trail crews, however, help them help you.
Report downed trees, and other problems to local crews.

[archy]

I have seen people comment about “paid” trail maintainers vs. volunteer maintainers. Damage to the AT by “thru hikers” Which I thought was a riot. Overuse it is all the same. There is a problem and it can be fixed. Has anyone looked at Ducks Unlimited? It is a very good example. Things like olobbying for a hiking stamp similar to a duck stamp. The $ would go directly to trails and hiking. Maintainers would be able to access this $. It would help with maintaining and expanding trails and trail systems. Then hikers could hike in SNP, the Whites, and any other federal land with out additional fees.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Interesting idea about generating additional funding, Archy.

[whitefoot_hp]

I was down at Justice Creek on Wednesday and was thinking the area needed a long and well deserved rest. The area from the campsite mentioned above to the footbridge is very sad. A relo will help, but won't solve the problem. The area is too easily accessed by old trails (roadbeds) used by hunters. I was also a bit irked by the signs of very recent fires which violates the current fire ban.

yeah and plus there is road access less than a half mile away.

[FanaticFringer]

The trail is not over used. Use is declining. There are more slobs around than there used to be. I blame the bulk of the slob misuse on the failure of ATC and other trail groups educational efforts. The old "Carry In, Carry out" message is simple and direct. Leave no trace is an impossibility and so is ignored by the increasing numbers of ignorant.

I thought you were referring to fat slobs. Which is another reason by the way.

[jrwiesz]

Interesting idea about generating additional funding, Archy.

Maybe, a Federal Hiking Patch or State Hiking Patch.
Boy, couldn't the politicos bicker about this one forever, and never accomplish a thing, or reach a concensus?
I'm not condemning the idea, I think that it would be a good way to generate some funding. I think the funding, however, would "Trickle-down" if the government gets involved.
DU is a more-or-less "private entity"; 85-90% of the monies, goes to good work, with land aquisition and restoration. They work with governments, but not for them.
I don't see that with the government. And that is sad. Once "government" seems to get involved, too much "waste". Kinda-like the million dollar shelter thread or building a tunnel under/putting up a stop light to remedy a busy highway problem.
I think it could have merit, if it could be administered with that 85-90% proficiency that DU maintains. And the funds going proportionately to a states % of maintained trail system and not just proposed trail, etc., etc.
I agree with FD-interesting funding idea. Thanks archy.:sun