long distance hiking statisics 1989

[neo]

in roland muesers books he has statisics that cover everything,but lot of the gear stats have changed,treking poles,alcohol stoves,tarp camping,hammock camping,ultra lite gear,have changed much since then,people still seem to eat the same stuff,mac and cheese ,oat meal,and so forth,i love this book
the first time i read this book was in jan 1998,that day i had coffee with raggdyman,i am also a good friend of bungalow bill in the book,:sun neo

[Bloodroot]

Here we go! I'll go ahead and start it off! Mueser's books are the bible:)

[Jack Tarlin]

And like the Bible, much of the information is out-of-date, factually incorrect, and has limited use and connection to the modern world.

And no, this isn't an attack on the good book, so you fundamentalists out there can count to ten and relax. What I mean is that his book was based on information he compiled over many years, and much of it (regarding such things as popular gear, pack weight, food, resupply methods, etc.) was sadly out-of-date by the time his book saw publication.

His work is useful in parts (for example, when he talks of such things as motivation and why people want to thru hike, I don't think that's changed much over the years), but because so much of his material and data was compiled long ago, and came from interviews with folks who hiked as much as 20 years ago, I can't consider his work a "Bible."

It is, instead, a work based on research some of which still has validity, but much of which is completely out of touch with the realities of contemporary thru-hiking.

[Peaks]

I think his survey was good at the time. Now, it's personal judgement as to what is still applicable and what is not. Obvously gear continues to evolve. But, things like motivation probably have not changed much.

I'd like to do an updated survey. All that's stopping me is a few people willing to share the coping expense. Any volunteers?

[Bloodroot]

I think his survey was good at the time. Now, it's personal judgement as to what is still applicable and what is not. Obvously gear continues to evolve. But, things like motivation probably have not changed much.

I'd like to do an updated survey. All that's stopping me is a few people willing to share the coping expense. Any volunteers?
What would the coping expense be. Would you use the same sample questions as Meuser?

[hikerjohnd]

I'd like to do an updated survey. All that's stopping me is a few people willing to share the coping expense. Any volunteers?
I can get copies for free at work and would be very interested in publishing results... Send me an email.

[Bloodroot]

Lol...copying, I see now. Likewise I would like to be involved. Maybe instead of mailing the questionnaire, a website could be set up to obtain a larger sample size.

[jmaclennan]

I agree with Jack that Mueser's survey is a bit outdated, but some of his findings are probably still useful depending on what you want to do with them. On the other hand, his interviews were not "random" in the scientific sense of the term (it was a "convenience" sample) and, therefore, are not quite generalizable. Of course, this is an issue with any questionnaire, survey, etc. that one does. For those of you interested, there is an impressive (and probably very expensive) and more recent (done in 1999) survey of AT users done by outdoor recreation researchers Robert Manning et al. entitled, "Use and Users of the Appalachian Trail: A source book." This is a lengthy survey in which respondents were contacted at multiple points on the Trail. Northbound thru-hikers (318 of them) were only recruited at Baxter SP though. I don't think there is anything on food or gear, however. I believe motivation is analyzed at length as well as demographic characteristics, expenditures, perceived satisfaction, etc. The link is below and requires Adobe Acrobat. Enjoy!

http://data2.itc.nps.gov/parks/appa/ppdocuments/Main_Report.pdf

This survey is of interest to me as I am writing my doctoral dissertation on AT long distance hikers. I would be more than happy to share my experiences gathering data with anyone, including my difficulties getting people (including Jack and Mt. Dew :bse ) to respond to an email survey I distributed. My response rate was about 23% (46 returned out of about 200 sent), which is not good.

[rickb]

Thanks!

I remember being surprised by some of the demographic info taken from study, but never really know where it came from.

If your disertation proves that thru hikers are normal, please be sure to share ;-).

Rick B

[hikerjohnd]

I agree with Jack that Mueser's survey is a bit outdated, but some of his findings are probably still useful depending on what you want to do with them. On the other hand, his interviews were not "random" in the scientific sense of the term (it was a "convenience" sample) and, therefore, are not quite generalizable. Of course, this is an issue with any questionnaire, survey, etc. that one does. For those of you interested, there is an impressive (and probably very expensive) and more recent (done in 1999) survey of AT users done by outdoor recreation researchers Robert Manning et al. entitled, "Use and Users of the Appalachian Trail: A source book." This is a lengthy survey in which respondents were contacted at multiple points on the Trail. Northbound thru-hikers (318 of them) were only recruited at Baxter SP though. I don't think there is anything on food or gear, however. I believe motivation is analyzed at length as well as demographic characteristics, expenditures, perceived satisfaction, etc. The link is below and requires Adobe Acrobat. Enjoy!

http://data2.itc.nps.gov/parks/appa/ppdocuments/Main_Report.pdf

This survey is of interest to me as I am writing my doctoral dissertation on AT long distance hikers. I would be more than happy to share my experiences gathering data with anyone, including my difficulties getting people (including Jack and Mt. Dew :bse ) to respond to an email survey I distributed. My response rate was about 23% (46 returned out of about 200 sent), which is not good.
Thanks for the info! Anyone looking for the appendix can find it here:

http://data2.itc.nps.gov/parks/appa/ppdocuments/Appendix.pdf

--John

[jmaclennan]

Actually, while there are some abnormal thrus out there (and I could mention a few examples - see also the "characters" thread), I have argued that we are motivated by deep-rooted (though not necessarily exclusively) American impulses, such as self-reliance and rugged individualism. Similarly, the AT itself is a product of our society's (at least a portion of it) sentiments regarding preservation and outdoor recreation. Gerald Lowrey makes this latter argument in Benton MacKaye's Appalachian Trail as a Cultural Symbol (an unpublished dissertation).