From down the grapevine, apparently there is gonna be 60+ starts on march 1st! holy cow. someone might wanna sell tent plot tickets on the top?? 
hahahah
60+ ppl! thats gonna be some trail erosion eh… like queueing at supermarket or paying a cheque in at the bank. shesh.
i knew a lot of ppl do the trail, i just didnt think… 60+ ppl starting off on the same day…
Bloody Cactus
Lemmings.
I know someone will take offense to that, but for the life of me I can’t figure out either why everyone comes up with the same (early) start date! Leave in April man, April’s where it’s at. No peeps, no competition for anything, walk into Trail Days.
:oh
Bluebearee
60 starts up on March 1st. By Unicoi Gap, maybe 10 of them will still be on the trail.
Doyle
there will tons of free gear lying around as hikers will abandon the trail or in order to get off it quicker, and lightening their load.
Billy Arnold
Yeah same thing last year. It was also a saturday so it was crazy busy up on Springer. It actually didn’t feel crowded on the Trail, just at shelters. 20 some odd tents around Hawk Mtn shelter and at Gooch Gap. It was like a traveling family for 3-4 days until Neels Gap. After that, people quit, took zero days, small days etc. Spread out a lot. Do one big day and you will see so few people, i recommend it.
A-Train
BC, you’d better be careful if you decide to stand a while on the rock on top of blood mountain, there’s 60 people out there who will be peeking up that kilt. Are you gonna be going commando? Or will those March 1st temps, how can I put it tactfuly…shrivel your ambition?
Ross
Ross
There’ll be (at least) two of us in a kilt on March 1. I bet if we start flashing our…bagpipes…around, it might weed out the number of people who want to hike!
Haiku.
Haiku
To all those planning on leaving March 1, I would consider going on another day (sometime in Feb). The trail will be an absolute mess.
Bankrobber
I’ve heard about the free gear for years and when we thru-hiked in '02 I didn’t see much stuff and most of it I would have. A pair of blue jeans, a flannel shirt, a pair of painter coveralls, tennis shoes, video camera, half of a closed cell foam pad, a fifth of vodka, etc. Now food is a different story. At Stover Creek we found a half gallon jar of vitamins. No kidding, I’ve never seen one that large. MRE’s were in every shelter from Springer to Dick’s Creek. If anybody found all of this free gear, let me hear about it. At Neel’s Gap there was a truck load of gear shipped home. STAFU got an 80 lb maildrop at Neels Gap. He had two one-gallon ziplocks full of GORP. You can just sit around and get free food at Walasiyi.
Have a great hike in your kilts. We hiked with Trail Yeti in '02 and he wore a kilt the entire trail. Happy Trails
Papa Smurf
Doyle, I met over 50 people that started in the March 1 group last year. I think they estimated that almost 80 started that day. So that is only 20 some people that dropped off in over 300 miles. (AND these are just the people tht I met.) That was all the way in Erwin. I still think that people are staying on the trail longer than most people believe.
Miss Janet
I remember seeing a tent fully loaded while doing a day walk about 1/2 miles from Rt 16 in PA near the Mason Dixon line with a sign written in cardboard saying take anything you want including the tent. Apparently who left had no idea what they were doing or something. Inside the tent was about 10 cans of Ravoli , a cheap Walmart 50 degree bag, and a Army duffel bag among other things. I ate the four cans of the Ravoli at nearby Pen-Mar, everything else was not needed. When I came back three days later, the entire thing was gone as I was going to clean up what was left.
Weird to say the least.
Benner
60 will start, by neels gap 10 or so will drop out, by Fontana another 10, and maybe Miss Janet will see 40 or so of them. BUt by the time those 60 get to maine there will only 10 of them left, and half of them will lie about the enetire state they missed on the way.
Chef
Yeah, I tend to agree with Miss Janet. Many of those figures are bogus, and It seemed like hardly anyon was really dropping out. That 50% drop out by Neels Gap that many were saying is NOT true at all, or at least from what I saw.
I’d say more than half of the people who started 3/1 made it all the way.
And yeah, be on the lookoout for free gear! Someone ditched a mountain hardware sleeping bag, therma rest, Arcetyrx pack and lots of other goodies a couple miles north of Dicks Creek Gap. A buddy of mine hiked with an extra pack all the way from there to Franklin (40 miles) and sent it home. Some people made out like it was christmas!
A-Train
i think I will miss florida on the way…but right now I can’t wait to get out of here…hehehe gotcha Chef
Burn
Last year, I heard rumors of over 60 people starting from Springer on March 1. I was one of them. I wondered how that would be. About eight of us spent the night on Springer, along with other section hikers, friends and well-wishers. We left in the morning wondering where the “pack” of Pack 3/1 was. The thing is, folks spread out all over the day. So, it wasn’t like a rush for the Sooner State land. Eventually, we met most of our March 1 compatriots at the shelters, or by being overtaken by strong, young hikers like A-Train. As A-Train said, it sorts itself out by Neel’s Gap. You can have as much privacy as you want by skipping the shelters, but the truth is, some of my strongest friendships were made in those first few days, people I continue to be glad to see. Why miss out on that? As for March or April start, that just depends on temperment. Why dictate for others, or insult?
Jan LiteShoe
Wait a sec . . . 60 starters really isn’t that much. MY grapevine reports that of the 60:
five will be hiking totally nude;
three more are planning on thru-hiking backwards;
a minister will be performing three, same-sex marriages;
President Bush will be announcing “Start your Leki’s”
Brutus