Predictions for the AT 2025

[fiddlehead]

Let's see, predictions for 2025 anyone?

1/ Trail will be 2240 miles long (added switchbacks)
2/ Bridge across the Kennebec
3/ Hidden cameras in every shelter and road crossing (what do they call it? CCTV?)
4/ Internet access at every point along the trail with blinking lights on your PDA (or whatever they choose to call computers by then) for all your friend's locations live.
5/ Dehydrated beer will be the craze that year.
6/ Fees for all camping (per night) Probably a standard $27.00 a night or something like that.
7/ Sleeping bags will have thermostats to dial in your comfort level
8/ Baltimore Jack will be attempting the first wheelchair hike of the trail
9/ Lone Wolf will be his support crew complete with battery change at every road crossing
10/ Wolves will be what everyone is afraid of as the bears and moose will be mild in comparison.
__________________

[JAK]

Sustainable hiking will be all the rage amongst hikers, outfitters, service providers, and trail club.
Those that fake it best will get rich and laid often. AT will be straightened out and paved.

JAK will still be posting without ever having stepped on the AT.

[Engine]

Sustainable hiking will be all the rage amongst hikers, outfitters, service providers, and trail club.
Those that fake it best will get rich and laid often. AT will be straightened out and paved.

JAK will still be posting without ever having stepped on the AT.

Shelters will be every 3 miles on a paved wheelchair access trail with a Starbucks every other shelter. The shelters will all require ATC membership which will have risen to $300 a year, and tenting will no longer be allowed. Due to air pollution, photos of what the vista used to be will be posted at the old overlooks for the "enjoyment" of the "hikers".

[Footslogger]

Footslogger's heart damage will heal and he will re-hike the AT and set the record as the oldest person to hike the AT twice.

'Slogger

[Blissful]

Footslogger's heart damage will heal and he will re-hike the AT and set the record as the oldest person to hike the AT twice.

'Slogger

Now I like this...

[Blissful]

I hope to be out hiking the trail with my grandkids.

[Railroad King]

Let's see, predictions for 2025 anyone?
9/ Lone Wolf will be his support crew complete with battery change at every road crossing
__________________

Did anyone else read "diaper change" instead of "battery change"?

[Jester2000]

Lone Wolf will still think shelters suck.

[max patch]

Let's see, predictions for 2025 anyone?

1/ Trail will be 2240 miles long (added switchbacks)
2/ Bridge across the Kennebec
3/ Hidden cameras in every shelter and road crossing (what do they call it? CCTV?)
4/ Internet access at every point along the trail with blinking lights on your PDA (or whatever they choose to call computers by then) for all your friend's locations live.
5/ Dehydrated beer will be the craze that year.
6/ Fees for all camping (per night) Probably a standard $27.00 a night or something like that.
7/ Sleeping bags will have thermostats to dial in your comfort level
8/ Baltimore Jack will be attempting the first wheelchair hike of the trail
9/ Lone Wolf will be his support crew complete with battery change at every road crossing
10/ Wolves will be what everyone is afraid of as the bears and moose will be mild in comparison.
__________________

None of the above.

[tenbeer]

i Hope To Be Out Hiking The Trail With My Grandkids.

Me Too!!!!!!

[JAK]

If I could pick only one, just one, which one I would choose?

1. The AT will be improved, better conserved for natural habitat and sustainable hiking.
2. I will have hiked some sections of the trail, perhaps with my wife and daughter.
3. I will have learned to be a better person by then.

Perhaps all three are possible, and not all that crazy really.
Think global act local maybe.

[Newb]

The AT will be an urban trail, winding among the suburbs and townhomes that used to be national forests.

[fiddlehead]

None of the above.

You're so creative.

[leeki pole]

Much like the huts in The Whites, every shelter will serve meals, have a staff and a hike-through window for those really wanting to rough it. Fees will be about $175 a night for a shelter bunk. Satellite phone will be available as well as television. Wi-fi internet access will be available albeit for a small fee. An ATV will be located at the shelter to rescue those who may have overstepped their bounds and need to relax and refresh at the nearest town.

[JAK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQB2-Kmiic

[Monkeyboy]

They already have hidden cameras in the shelters.......

[bigmac_in]

They already have hidden cameras in the shelters.......

Well, that means they don't have my picture.

[Monkeyboy]

They look like this

[Chaco Taco]

Door bells in all shelters for late arrivals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7dBuHVfSCA

[jrnj5k]

things wil be exactly like they are now but people will be less patient