Originally Posted by
BuckeyeBill
Yes us "old school hikers want it to remain a wilderness". That's our entire point! I am not directing this at any "New school Hikers", but instead of learning how to read a map and use a compass, they whip out their phone because "I got an App for that." Maybe not on the AT, but people go from the AT to the PCT or CDT. Out there your phone is not going to get you out of a jam. It will tell you the time and possibly your GPS Coordinates, but if you can't get a signal your pretty much SOL. How many times do we read about students on spring break that say "let's do the AT for a week or two". I just read one of the articles on here about kids from Minnesota who got hemmed in on Max Patch. Two were taken out suffering from hypothermia, and the rest had to wait for a second shuttle to pick them up. This all happened after they were told to turn back and get into town as there was a storm approaching. You aren't in Kansas any more Toto.
I have seen the type hikers that go into town and won't follow the Hostel's rules, get loaded and cause disturbances in bars and restaurants and carry a bottle of some type of alcohol to the top of Mount Katahdin to drink even though the Baxter Park rules state very clearly that this is prohibited. Oh I forgot, those rules don't apply to them, it's only illegal if I get caught. Between this and paving paradise to put up a parking lot, there will come a time when the AT, PCT and all the other trails will be only written about in history books.