This might be the right hyperlink for it: https://www.facebook.com/groups/474050112796297/
On my first thru hike in '76, it was like that. Now, after a second thru and the equivalent of a third in section hikes, there aren't a ton of surprises left. Not dissing the AT - not by a long shot - just interested in some fresh ground that seems relatively undiscovered by the long distance hiking community.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
This seems to me to be vastly overstated. The AT, at least the mid-Atlantic and Virginia sections that I've hiked outside of thru hiker season, is generally well marked but is hardly some type of spoon fed cruise of a hike. It is what you make it. That being said, I am looking at the Tuscarora this spring for something a bit different.
Seems odd to be complaining about the existence of an AT web forum... on an AT web forum.
An abundance of information on a subject may well reflect the interest in that subject. It doesn't mean that there's nothing new to learn about it.
I can't imagine walking from Georgia to Maine (or vice versa) and not being surprised once or twice, at least.
Here is a more intelligible hyperlink: https://www.facebook.com/groups/GETHiking/
When was the second thru? Have you done the Long Trail yet?
I understand that the AT can feel like a circus at times and in certain places. That's one of the reasons I've been exploring other trails as well.
One of the problems I worry about is the occasional town stop. Along the AT corridor, ragged hikers are a common sight and probably don't elicit all that much response from the locals. Along the GET, or similar lesser-known trail, you don't have that advantage. Folks may react with alarm. I suppose it was like that in '76 along the AT as well.
I hiked the MA mid-State trail in sections, and often wonder if it would have been feasible as a thru-hike. The problem is even worse with the Bay Circuit Trail, where I know for sure the answer is no way.
Paul "Mags" Magnanti
http://pmags.com
Twitter: @pmagsco
Facebook: pmagsblog
The true harvest of my life is intangible...a little stardust caught,a portion of the rainbow I have clutched -Thoreau
As others said, the perception is the GET(Great Eastern Trail, there is also the Grand Enchantment Trail GET) is not convenient enough. Many hikers, just like most of society, are followers. They flock to the known and recognized avoiding the unknown usually fearing it like the plague. Not until a critical mass is reached through publicity from GET hikers will others try the GET. It could be there are similarities to why not the GET as to why not a AT section hike rather than attempting an AT Thu-hike? I really think it has very little to do with stretches of road walking as several other better known and recognized routes and trails include road walks of various natures and degrees and yet they are hiked.
Mags makes a good point. Look at the Hayduke Trail which is largely a route which is only now being more hiked since Skurka introduced his affordable HDT mapset package and the information that has been generated surrounding it making it logistically easier/friendly and more recognized. Heck, in all honesty if I had Andrew's package or the HDT information now available for my HDT thru-hike it would have made the HDT so much easier but much less adventerous. For me, I embraced the adventure and unexpected of not knowing so much going in.
I think the Sierra High Route is another good example. Since Andrew again offered his affordable well done SHR mapset package it makes a thru-hike of it easier logistically. Not that this either is necessarily a bad thing.
Yet another example is the Batona Tr in New Jersey's Pine Barrens a route I mostly walked on three day hiking/hunting/fishing/survivalist outings long before it became the much better known named and blazed trail it has become. Did much anyone care about this route as I walked it before it became better know or would they have cared much if I had shared the route I walked before it became the better know Batona Tr(BAck TONAture) as it exists today? No. Not really.
The BMT is another trail very worthy of being hiked. Not until Guidebooks, mapsets, lean tos, umpteen blazes/signage, a critical mass is reached, MUCH CONVENIENCE exist, etc do people get more interested. The BMT has Sgt Rock's excellent BMT materials, good Nat Geo TI maps, easy logistics, etc etc yet still goes overwhelming ignored. Why? Perhaps not enough convenience! Not enough information? I liked Mags take on this. http://www.pmags.com/bread-crumbs-ho...tion-is-enough How many AT Thru-hikers will give consideration to taking the BMT in part or the Tuscarora or Pinhoti or adiffernt route through the Whites...? No, stay on the interstate that is the AT with its many road crossings, lean tos, hiker feeds, MASSIVE MASSIVE OVER ANALYSIS, MASSIVE OVER OPINING, tomes of books- "How To Hike The AT", etc.
Like Mags says lots of alphabet soup hikers who hike much for the convenience of staying on convenience oriented routes/trails. Not all have to!
Personally I like, and think backpacking is an ideal activity for it, available to many more who could but don't, to come up with their own adventerous spirited hikes...and NOT having to publicly advertise them so fully by doing such things as giving them a name for people to latch onto. Although, I do like the creativity and out side of the box thinking of designing routes as Andrew Skurka(Great Western Loop, Alaska Circumnavigation), Cam Honan(Southeast Serpentine), Aria Zoner(Hot Springs Routes in Cali and Idaho), Eric Shlimmer(Trans Adirondak Trail), Steve Roper(Sierra High Route), Brett Tucker(Grand Enchantment Tr, Sky Islands traverse), Joe Mitchell/Mike Coronella (Hayduke Tr)...etc have.
I'd just like to throw out this thought: Most of us, the 99%, aren't going to thru-hike any of the long trails. One of the best things about many parts of the AT is that it can be combined with other trails in a local trail system to create loop hikes. Out and backs are okay, but most of us would likely prefer to not cover the same ground twice. It's probably more psychological than anything, as we really aren't going anywhere in particular anyway. The most used parts of the AT tend to be in areas where it is part of a greater trail system. Hike logistics can be difficult. The biggest one is often getting back to your vehicle or getting to a trailhead and hiking back towards it. Sometimes two people can take two vehicles, but this has its own inefficiencies and doubles costs. Hiking a weekend on a end to-end puts you 20 miles away from your vehicle, a week puts you 100.
Maybe more blue blazed and supporting trails would help in this sense.
"That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett
Under no circumstances am I complaining about any trail forums least of all this one. My point, which apparently I failed to articulate, is that the AT has become, for me, just a tad too predictable and civilized. I did my first thru with guidebooks given to me by my cousin that were at least 10 years out of date and a brand new data book that had minimal info about services in towns, etc... . Trail magic was something that happened spontaneously and unpredictably and there was a sense that we were kind of headed off into terra incognita. I called home about once every once to two weeks from pay phones in town. Part of what makes a long hike feel like an adventure for me, is the sense of being cut loose from the leashes and at least feeling like I'm kind of on my own (obviously, with civilization just down the hill in virtually any direction that sense is more perceived than real). I continue to do section hikes on the AT and will until I'm non-ambulatory - heck, I did one in New England this past summer and we had a ball - but it did not feel like an adventure. Lots of information is not the problem. Huge interest in the trail is not the problem. In fact, there isnt much of a problem at all from my perspective - I would just like to recapture that feeling of exploring a lightly traveled, somewhat unknown long trail right here on the east coast.
And yes of course, a hike from Georgia to Maine would include plenty of surprises - great people to meet - wonderful campsites you didnt expect - an encounter with wildlife that just about stops your heart. I just happen to think (hope) that there are probably more opportunities for those moments on the GET than of the AT. In the last decade, I've been taking a lot of weekend hikes on the Benton MacKaye Trail and it reminds me quite a bit of how the AT was once upon a time so I have evidence that these experiences are still possible here in the east - and that's really all I was saying.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
Second thru was SOBO in 1980. Yes, I did the LT in 2010 - loved it, especially the northern half.
The circus aspect is pretty horrible down here in the spring but by May its mostly cleared out.
Even in '76 long distance hikers were a relatively common sight in AT towns - not too many eyebrows raised in places Hot Springs and Duncannon. Did get some repulsed looks in Hanover and Salisbury though.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
Make a documentary about it or a movie like the A.T. and PCT has.... people will magically want to hike it.
I hear you Full Conditions. Let me respectfully offer this. Don't YOU become so predictable and civilized. Recognize the AT for how it was intended... a larger system...a much broader complex... of interconnected trails rather than THE AT. One can include other modes of travel by paddling, packrafting, bicycling, horse back riding, etc between trail broken sections too to make a muck larger multi faceted multi powered movement journey.
I am appalled by the lack of imagination from largely east coasters in a rut that they are so stuck in an AT only hiking rut and for the most part haven't embarked in exploring these options more so. If you do this the AT becomes more palatable through creatively possibly including sections of the AT in a larger journey. We need to think outside of not only the AT normals but our own self imposed ways of thinking. It's waiting.
Great Eastern Loop? IAT? IAT with AT alternates(Bartram Tr, BMT, Tuscarora, etc)?
Here are some ideas. http://kickasstrips.com/2014/06/rena...ry-of-the-usa/
AWESOME! Cool what Renata Chlumska did.
To spur the imagination combine a hiking, packrafting, and biking trip. Ever packraft with a mountain bike attached to the bow? It's been done by the imaginative. Involving the AT on such a multi powered trip is awaiting.
Hiking and bicycling -- I could talk about that for a while. It's a great way to travel, if you've got the time.
I haven't yet tried aqua-blazing. I don't think I'd enjoy portaging a water craft.
I met a GET thru-hiker on the Cumberland Trail here in Tennessee, an older woman from California with her dog. Myself? I have hiked almost all of the finished Cumberland Trail and a big chunk of the Sheltowee Trace in TN/KY. So far, I have not hit anything like some of the big mountains on the AT, but the rest of the footpath is very similar. I have found some few shelters so far, very similar to some on the AT. Have run into hikers on most every trip, not as many at the AT, but not totally alone either. I have run across services similar to the AT, except for true hostels, but not as often as on the AT.
Also hiked the Foothills Trail in SC and small part of the Pinhoti in AL, but not sure if they are considered part of the GET?
There are guides for the Cumberland Trail, the Sheltowee Trace, the Foothills Trail, and the Pinhoti Trail.
Haven't seen the link posted yet, so here it is:
The Great Eastern Trail link.
Last edited by Rain Man; 02-03-2016 at 13:58.
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