[pct-l] The HERD on the AT is . . . disappearing!

[Moynihan]

I remember a few people on the AT saying that since 2000, the big millineum,
the number has dropped back down to a more realistic number. A number
representing a larger percentage of people who actually might complete a
thru hike, or a good portion, rather than a number of millenium crazed, do
gooders, better their lives and never done this before people. It might also
have to do with Bryson's book too.
These are just things that I have heard and have come to see being very
feasible.
I myself never had the chance to see a herd in the beginning on the AT last
year, I also never did anything like this before. I saw one up in NH and
Maine and  I am eager to be part of it. Not so eager about water sources
being clearer out though.


Hoping not to be the thirsty cow of the herd.
~Spirit


3/14/07, Eric Lee (GAMES) <elee at microsoft.com> wrote:

> So upon doing some more reading at http://www.appalachiantrail.org I found
> something that left me scratching my head.  Here are the numbers of
> thru-hikers starting in Springer, per year:
>
> 2001: 2,375
> 2002: 1,875
> 2003: 1,750
> 2004: 1,535
> 2005: 1,392
> 2006: 1,150
>
> Yes, that's over a 50% *DECREASE*, not increase, in the number of
> north-bound starters between 2001 and 2006.  The number of south-bounders
> starting in Katahdin is much smaller but is decreasing as well.
>
> (Side note: can you imagine 2,375 hikers starting in two months?  Yikes!
> An *average* day on the AT in 2001 would have made the herd leaving
> ADZPCTKOP last year look positively wimpy!)
>
> Can someone explain those numbers to me?  Is the AT (or thru-hiking in
> general) really getting that less popular?  Are a lot more people starting
> in the middle and doing flip-flops? Did someone accidentally turn the chart
> upside down before they posted it on the site?  Am I just reading it wrong
> and these figure actually represent the number of posts Switchback has sent
> to pct-l?  <grin>
>
> More to the point, is this a global phenomenon?  Have we seen a similar
> decrease in the number of PCT hikers?  (I don't think so).  Can we expect to
> see a decrease soon?  Or is the AT decreasing in part *because* the PCT is
> increasing in popularity?
>
> I've always feared that the popularity of the PCT will continue to grow
> until it rivals the AT in scope (with all the attendant changes that kind of
> impact implies), but if thru-hiking is losing its coolness factor then maybe
> there's hope for a reprieve.  Maybe.
>
> Eric
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