Is it one long trail or is it a series of short trails hooked together? I recently noticed in the new Companion that for the first time ever a single map was produced for the entire trail. The exact scale and symbols used in Georgia are used in Maine. It's just a new profile map but it is a start. Hopefully the new trend will create a real Appalachian Trail. Thru-hikers can tell almost immediately when one section ends and the next one starts because things are different. It's not just the blazing, signage and maps with various scales, colors and and legends. The names of things also vary widely, I thought I knew what a shelter was. And the rules!
Trail clubbers, who maintain the trail between hogface bottom and rotten crotch gap will have no idea what I'm talking about. So we now have a single consistent profile map, I'm ready for more consistency, one single Appalachian Trail. Time for the Park Service to step up and take over the whole trail. States, Federal agencies, trail clubs don't need a piece of the action.