[at-l] Solitude and safety, NOBO vs. SOBO? (was: young,Female SOBO)

[spiriteagle99 at hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

Weary wrote:
>Facts:  Each year around 3,000 people start at Springer, mostly in the 
>weeks
>between mid February and mid April. That's an average of 50 a day, 
>converging on
>shelters that for the most part are designed to hold eight people.

In general, this was a pretty good summary of some of the realities that 
newbie thruhikers run into in the South.   What didn't get said is that most 
of those who start at Springer (and probably Katahdin) somehow feel 
constrained to camp ONLY at shelters and hostels, thereby creating the 
"congestion" you mention.  I even ran into the same general attitude in a 
couple of those who had previously thruhiked the AT - in that they went 
looking for "established campsites" on the PCT.  "Ridiculous" is a wonderful 
word - and seems to cover that situation - and that attitude. Therefore I 
found this statement was a welcome addition -

>  A dedicated loner can escape some of the crush of humanity by camping 
>away
>  from the established shelters. And the crowds thin out after a couple of
>  months (only 300 or so of the 3,000, actually make it to Katahdin).




>A few of us are working to widen the corridor, to produce alternative 
>trails,
>and to provide buffers to improve wildness. It's these efforts that 
>produced
>some of the list acrimony of recent days.

Hmmm - widening the corridor will do nothing to alleviate the crowding on 
the AT now, will it?  There's only one Trail - only one shelter system - and 
widening the corridor won't provide more.

But what really got me curious was the "to  produce alternative trails".  
Really??  I know that I proposed an "AT Trail System" back in January - and 
that you made no comment on it at the time.
http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/at-l/2003-January/009465.html

But I've seen nothing in reference to the concept since then.  So why do you 
think that anyone is actually working to provide "alternative trails"?

One piece of information you might or might not have is that NPS did a study 
back in 92 titled "Toward a Regionwide Network of Trails for the 
Mid-Atlantic States".  I found out about it and got a copy several months 
ago.  But they rejected the concept for reasons unknown.


>It's my observation that the most successful thru hikes are by those who 
>can
>except the trail as it is, rather than agonizing over the failure to find 
>the
>trail of their dreams.

Yup --

Walk softly,
Jim

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