[pct-l] Is the PCT crowded this year?

[Uriah Pariah]

'Crowded' is a relative term, no doubt. More crowded than it's been? Of course. But that's how things go as the world and the US become more crowded. 

I suspect the book and the resultant movie WILL affect the numbers, or have already, as inspiration is often derived from sources other than the trail. My source was that intrepid youngster Eric Ryback, way back when. Yesterday it was Bryson's 'A Walk in the Woods.' Today, it's Wild. And naturally (or unnaturally), the rapid spread of information, ala the Internet and that mystifying cultural mechanism called social media, will only further matters.
Sure, any one of the 3,000 people have and can have his or her own reasons for hiking (or perhaps none at all, as was the case with me), but everyone of them got their inspiration from somewhere. My guess is that the trail, laying ever so silently and obscurely, wasn't it. In any case, if it's true that it's 3,000 souls attempting it this year, that's nearly ten times the number as just a decade or so ago. Something's affecting the influx, especially, as stats show, these past couple of years. So be it; it's a wonderful trail.

      From: Robert E. Riess <robert.riess at cox.net>
   
No, the PCT is not crowded this year.  No, a permit limit of 50 a day is not 
needed, but I can hardly wait for it to be declared a success.    I 
seriously doubt a book and a movie about drug abuse and infidelity could 
possibly influence any serious person to embark on an endeavor as ambitious 
as a thru-hike.  It would be speculation of the purest form to offer a guess 
as to the influence of the book and the movie, unless every single hiker has 
been surveyed.  If there are 3000 hikers, there are likely to be 3000 
reasons for hiking.  Good luck to the Class of 2015.  You have excellent 
weather, but you'll have to marshal your water carefully.  Be safe out 
there.  BR