The Appalachian Trail is one of the longest thru-hiking trails in the United States, extending approximately 2,190 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. Each year thousands of hikers from around the world flock to this trail, scrambling up Maine’s highest peak to complete a grueling months-long journey. Those who have trekked five to six months straight to reach this point should feel rewarded by completing this challenging feat. However, due to a surge in popularity among portions of this trail, this hike has become more of a challenge of avoiding partying and disrespect to nature.
Increasing crowds and partylike behavior have prompted officials to threaten to reroute the end of the trail off Katahdin and out of Baxter State Park. The proclamation has come as a shock to the hiking world with Katahdin being the trail’s northern terminus for over 80 years. For the thousands who set out each year to follow the Appalachian Trail’s entire path, moving the trail’s endpoint off this rocky high point would be a momentous detour, forcing long-distance hikers to end their trek elsewhere than the iconic Maine mountain top.
AT endpoint Mount Katahdin
Aside from moving the endpoint, long distance hikers have even more to fear as there has also been discussion of limiting the number of hikers allowed on the Appalachian Trail. Jensen Bissell, Baxter’s director, said the park already curbed the number of day hikers by limiting cars in the parking lots, but now he wants to cap the number of long-distance hikers too. One way he plans to do this may be to require permits. He told The New York Times his goal was to “make sure that the 2,000 people we have today won’t become 3,000 next year or 8,000 in 10 years.”
With the release of “A Walk in the Woods,” starring Robert Redford, hikers on the Appalachian Trail are only expected to soar. In 1999, a year after the book the film is based on was published, the number of long-distance hikers on the Appalachian Trail increased by 45 percent according to Ronald J. Tipton, the executive director of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which manages the trail in partnership with the National Park Service and more than 70 local agencies.
The idea of the hiking increase isn’t far fetched. The Pacific Crest Trail received an influx in hiking traffic along the trail on the West Coast after last year’s movie “Wild”, starring Reese Witherspoon was released. “A Walk in the Woods” is expected to have the same effect, encouraging more people to get off the couch and out into the great outdoors.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy, however, argues the trail can still handle more people. “We believe the A.T. can accommodate more people if they can be educated to use the trail responsibly,” said Laurie Potteiger, a spokeswoman for the conservancy, to the New York Times. They are even promoting the movie “A Walk in the Woods” on their website.
Baxter is one of the strictest state parks to begin with. They ban hiking in groups larger than 12 people, drinking alcohol in public, littering, camping off the trail, and any form of partying on the mountaintop.
Bissel’s concerns started long ago, writing an open letter in November to the conversancy noting that these rules were being violated with greater frequency and warning that if such activity continued, Baxter would no longer host the trail. He added that while Appalachian Trail hikers only account for 3 percent of the park’s visitors, they used up the most resources and left behind the biggest mark on the land.
Bissel isn’t the only one concerned for the well-being of the Appalachian Trail. His concern is shared by various managers up and down the long-stretching trail who see not only more total hikers but more disrespectful hikers who cause damage to the trail. The result has been an uptick in trash, destruction, and misuse of the trail that has been undermining the wilderness experience many hope to take in when they start the trail.
So what will happen with the expected increase in hikers? Time will only tell if this free activity becomes more restricted.
What are your thoughts on limiting the number of hikers along the Appalachian Trail?
Photo Credit: daveynin , Jeffry Stylos , Shenandoah National Park , Nicholas A. Tonelli , David McSpadden
