Re[2]: [at-l] Appalachian Trail: The Quick Way

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob Cummings)]

Section hikers miss the opportunity to live in the wilds for six, maybe eight months, a major loss.
In at least partial compensation, they get to see different sections in different seasons.
"Traditional" thru hikers see only Georgia and North Carolina -- or Maine -- in the spring, and in
fall only Maine or the south.

However, the main problem with section hiking is that it is too difficult for most of us. Section
hikers have the problem of planning trail access dozens of times, rather than just once. They must
get in shape dozens of times, not just once. Actually, my hike was a bit of a compromise. I did a
2,000 mile section one year and 160 miles the next! (I skipped southern New England in order to make
Katahdin before snow fall and picked it up a couple of years later.)

Weary '93