Is ATC the problem

[Kaptain Kangaroo]

i "blame" facebook, hiker journals and other websites where hikers show pics and write how they snuck dogs in, drank in hostels, etc

This is exactly right.... the problem is not too many people on the trail, it is too many people with bad attitudes (who love to publish their behaviour which then tends to normalise it & encourages more.)

Need less "Hike Your Own Hike" and more "Hike a Responsible Hike"

[Del Q]

More is better. People and kids are mother nature deprived. That was the original purpose of the AT