[pct-l] A T vis a vis P C T - DIFFERENCES :

[JOHN F PATTERSON]

Mucho . The East ( A T ) is ' wet ' and green / has people - lots of water / the West ( P C T )  is dry and brown ( relatively ) - is isolated ; water a problem often . As well there are shelters - three sided affairs about every days hike on the A T ( I think some 260 from Maine to Georgia . ) No shelters on P C T . Too , P C T tends to ' traverse ' as it rises - A T doesn ' t ; is as if someone thought to ' go over the mountain ' and did just that - straight up and over . A T is hard [ difficult - maybe too difficult ; Earl V Shaffer , first to thru hike the AT , on his last ( thru ) hike complained of the ' P U D s ' - purposeless ups and downs ] - is green and humid ; P C T has grandeur , one hikes in sneakers / almost always arid . A T tends to be social as well as tasking people ; hikers accumulate at shelters . P C T is essentially all in National Parks - or State Parks , Forests , etc . Park Rangers oversee most of P C T . Never see a P Ranger on A T ; do see '
 ridge runners ' hired ( nominally ) by the A T administrators . All - both are N Parks themselves . A T opened 1937 .  A tribute to our for-bearers these wonderful trails . 
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