[Magdalen] Appalachian Trail

[Suzie Buchanan]

There is definitely a growing problem in the outdoors of people with no
respect for it - does that surprise anyone?  We are overgrowing our
environment.  Simple fact.

You no longer hike the Appalachian Trail to "get away from it all".   There
are simply too many people hiking it now. If I ever get the time to do a
long trail in one hike - I will probably do the Pacific Crest Trail rather
than the AT, because of this issue.

But I also still love the AT.  If you get out at the right times, you can
still have the "away" to yourself.  But there is that mass crowd that
starts at the southern end all at the same basic time, because weather and
timing and everything else in life means that you all try to start on April
1 or May 1 or some other date around then.  So that you can do the entire
thing (2000 miles of walking - this is not an easy thing) before the late
fall/early winter weather in Maine keeps you from finishing.  I try to
avoid hiking in areas that would put me with that group.  That is where the
problems develop.

I love hiking.  But I probably will never do the entire AT in one trip.  At
least, not if I can't figure out how to do it without being impacted by the
"party" crowd.  It is maybe not as bad as some would portray it - - but it
has definitely become an issue on the Appalachian Trail.  But I have loved,
and supported, the AT community for many years.  I have lived close to the
AT most of my life, and hiked well over 500 miles of it.  It was part of my
upbringing - my father led many trips for many groups on it as he worked on
his PhD in Environmental Education.  I have provided support to many hikers
- both to thru hiker friends, and to those who are what is known as
"section hikers" - those of us who love to get out and hike and camp and be
away . . but can't give up 6 months to do the entire thing at once.  We do
"sections" of it at a time.

But - - if you want some good reading about why and how people choose to
hike - read Jan Liteshoe's TrailJournal from her 2003 AT thru hike.  She is
a good friend of mine, and a really good writer.
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=25148
<http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=25148>
I did end up being her trail journal transcriber (remember this was 2003 -
it was hard to get electronic stuff out there "on the spot" at that time -
she would use a PocketMail device to send emails to me (you'd find a pay
phone and hold the PocketMail device up to it and listen as it made all
those wild electronic squeal like noises that we used to know meant that
you had connected electronically - remember those noises as you would
connect your computer to something online?) and I would edit and upload
them to her trailjournals page - it was a HUGE success that year - probably
the most followed trail journal. I had started that year as the support
person for someone who actually died a week before his hike started . . .
such a hard tale that is.  But we were all friends, and when Jan's original
transcriber couldn't manage the task . . .I picked up for her. )  And I do
show up as a hiking partner in the first chapter of her published book on
her Long Trail hike - An Ordinary Adventurer
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ordinary-Adventurer-Vermonts-Adventurers/dp/0979708109

Trail Names - these are really important.  I can hike, and leave messages
in trail registers so that others can track me and know where I am . . .
without leaving a gender identity.  As a female who hikes solo a lot - this
is really important to me.  And it's an important part of also exploring a
deeper identity than your family and circumstances have assigned to you.
My trail name?  Spike.  (Shades of my high church past???  Many hiker
friends simply think that they maybe shouldn't get too close to my hiking
poles.)

I love the AT.  I love the hiking community.  But I also recognize that the
times . . they are a changin'  There is some party/entitlement element
creeping in.  It is not the majority - but it definitely impacts all who
hike.

spike

On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 2:53 PM, Jon Egger <revegger at gmail.com> wrote:

> Interesting, but sad article from one one of my daily visits;
>
>
> http://apnews.myway.com//article/20150830/us--hikers_behaving_badly-67c12c398a.html
>
> I was surprised that regular trail walkers have nicknames, like bikers or
> bar patrons.  Any comments on the trail?
>
> Grace and peace,
> jon
>