AT '16: 1,378 miles GA-NY
trail journal // blog
I don't think the movie has anything to do with the up in people. I mean, look at the world right now. People are getting over having no money, and are starting to look for things to do. The world is in a state of "abnormalities".
A long hike hike is different than say..spending $1000 money going to Florida for a few weeks. People are looking to retire doing things different than their ancestors. I know a lot of older people are selling their homes to hit the road in a rv.
donald trump is for president...and we actually have a non-traditional guy making it in the long run. (Bernie sanders)
people le are just doing things differently now days. They saw the at on Facebook, thought it sounded cool, and went for it.
Perhaps the high reported numbers of section hikers are due to spring break which most colleges have in March. I started the 26th last year and there were some spring break folks on the trail doing the GA section. It'll be interesting to see if those numbers fall off in April.
There's about a 20% increase when compared with last year. We just hit the 1,100 mark yesterday. Over 800 of those have hit the trail in March alone.
http://appalachiantrailclarity.com/at-for-newbies/
Great blog site for new and/or female hikers! www.appalachiantrailclarity.com
Just out of curiosity, I wonder how many have already gotten off the trail?
I'm doing a 3 day section SOBO in northern SNP on hike naked day. It will be interesting to see how many NOBOs I pass.
Don't know exactly, but there have been quite a few who have gotten off trail already...some at the top of our stairs at Amicalola. :P
Great blog site for new and/or female hikers! www.appalachiantrailclarity.com
from mollies ridge 3/28 I stayed the nightat the shelter, pretty full, on my way south to shuckstack I saw aout 20, some from birch spring early then a few from fontana I guess, a mixture of people with aout 20% older weather was very clear after monday til at least thursday, everyone quite concerned about mileage and time.
I am section hiking this Saturday April 2 from Deep Creek, NC to Dicks Creek, Ga. I will be heading South so I plan on counting thru hikers that I see/meet heading North. This can give a sample of hikers that started 4-6 days prior from Springer.
I will update this thread next week with how many I count.