I have been reading a few articles as im considering doing a through hike either in july southbound this year or next year northbound and most of them mention staying in hostels at some times on the trail.
I would have thought that this defeats the object of doing a thru-hike, to get away from society for a while, living in the wild.
It seems that by staying in a tent or a shelter on the trail lots of money could be saved that would be spent in towns.

Is staying in town sometimes necessary?