[at-l] re:Hiking the Appalachian Trail

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 06:36 PM 8/17/2005 -0400, The Weathercarrot wrote:
>Greg Brown writes:
>
><< I had often wondered what the average durations of thru-hikes have been 
>in relation to advancements in gear, etc and from what I have read in the 
>past the average length of a hike seems to have increased, just as Jim 
>said. Jim, do you have any thoughts or speculations on why the length of 
>time for the average thru hike has increased in duration over the
>years?  More time spent in towns?  Perhaps even greater frequency of
>shelters to encourage shorter hikes?  >>
>
> From researching this very question, it seems to me that the largest 
> difference between the trail of the 50's-70's and today is the amount of 
> distractions encountered by the long distance hiker.  The community of 
> the trail has developed into a very significant part of the experience, 
> in the form of a higher number of hikers inevitably creating a more 
> social environment, as well as the hiker-oriented services in towns 
> responding to that trend. Where once the focus was primarily on hiking 
> itself, that focus has diversified to the point where hiking is merely 
> one of several components. When only a handful of hikers came through 
> each year, they were alone for much of the time, and towns regarded the 
> thru-hikers as an occasional novelty, but hardly enough to spark the 
> level of support systems and services that later developed. So it was 
> easier to stay focused, and just keep walking.
>
>The average start date was around the 15th of April, which was reasonable 
>considering that few needed more time than that to get to Katahdin, and 
>they were able to miss the sometimes sketchy spring weather of March. The 
>big transition time occurredd between the mid-80's and mid-90's. Even as 
>late as 1991 you could still start on March 1st and hardly see anyone for 
>weeks. By 1995 that had completely changed. The starting window became 
>wider and wider as people started earlier because they either wanted to be 
>ahead of the increasingly large crowds, or because the perception of what 
>was feasible took an abrupt turn.  In a remarkably short amount of time, 
>mid and early March as a start time was deemed to be normal, and February 
>was on the verge of being common. Again, part of that was to get ahead of 
>the crowds, but also because of evolving perceptions. Meanwhile, on the 
>other end, the finishing time remained roughly stable over the decades, 
>since there was always less wiggle room with Baxter state park, as well as 
>harsh conditions setting in throughout ME and NH above tree line by 
>mid-October. But overall, the standard season has increased from 4-5 
>months to more than seven months as the culture has changed. Average 
>durations now hover around 5 months and three weeks, just shy of  6 
>months. A large chunk of that is in the form of days off in town, and a 
>general feeling that there's plenty of time to get to Maine and there's 
>lots of fun stuff to keep everyone occupied when you're not actually 
>walking through the woods.....
>
>wc

That's a pretty good analysis. I've read 90+ accounts of thru-hikes/section 
hikes/aborted thru-hikes over the years. I thought that it was about 70 
then decided to count them up. I came up with 93 but there were quite a few 
more that I can't track because they were on-line and I didn't save them. I 
notice many of the same trends WC speaks of.

There has been a wide variety to the trail experience. Some of that is 
accounted for by the age of the hiker. Younger hikers tend to take the 
experience less *seriously*, that is to say they treat it more as an 
extended vacation. Middle age hikers tend toward using it as an opportunity 
to reexamine their lives and older ones as an opportunity for an adventure 
before their bodies are no longer able. As I was reading one recent account 
a couple of months ago it occurred to me that there has been a shift in 
focus over the years as well. Earlier accounts tended to focus more on the 
trail and/or encounters with locals along the way. Contemporary accounts 
tend to be more *my hike* and/or fellow thru-hiker oriented.

Those last observations are likely the result of the increased numbers of 
those attempting a thru coupled with social changes. In the early years 
there just weren't that many people on the trail to socialize with so 
hikers met a higher proportion of non-hikers. The shift in focus to a more 
personal viewpoint may be related to a shift in social norms. When I was in 
high school we were admonished never to write in the 1st person. Also the 
more *delicate* aspects of living were not discussed, men never cried and 
*feelings* were something you kept to yourself. Anyone who grew up in the 
'40s or '50s can relate to how important a 'social mask' was in that era.

Over the years the experience has changed because of the larger numbers of 
people out there, the increased services available to hikers and the mode 
of writing about the experience has also changed. Despite this there have 
always been exceptions to every *norm* and the Rodale books illustrate some 
of them. I can't recall off hand which one, but there was at least one 
winter hike included in that collection. I recommend those books to anyone 
interested in the trail and at 2000+ pages they will get you through a long 
winter unless you are a fast reader.