[pct-l] Effect of a book on AT numbers

[Ann Gerckens]

Sly wrote: “Do you seriously think the majority of hikers that year read the book only a year before and thought, "Hey, I'm going to hike the AT just like a failed Bill Bryson?"”
   
  Seems plausable to me.  I met an amazing number of hikers in '88 who had never backpacked before; had never heard of the AT until...the 1987 National Geographic article.
   
  Splat!