Its like I95 the Appalachian Trail is. If a side trail departs from the AT and then reconnects, its the same effin trail. Its ok to take 295 or 495. It is a SYSTEM of trails. I will bet that even the mighty AT was once a system of shorter trails connected later. (If they weren’t, I guess my foot is in my mouth). Thanks everybody for the great advice I have recieved on this forum. SOBO in 2 weeks----Roberto
roberto
If you WERE to take 295 or 495 and then hook back on to I-95…you couldn’t honestly say you drove the entirety of 95. You could say you took pretty much all of 95, but you didn’t do the whole thing. SOOOoooo…instead of some people saying they THRU-hiked the AT…perhaps they should say they HIKED the AT…or they hiked from Georgia to Maine ON the AT. Those two would be more acurate.
C-Giddy
The hard part is at the end of the year when the ATN comes out. We have to cross reference our journals with the thruhiker list. Like Santa, this one naughty, this one nice. It takes hours and hours. Then we send our reports to Purist Central. There the accountants using complex computer programs tabulate the results. The hard part is hikers who are very early or very late. We do not have enough tattletale agents at this time. They are just assumed to be guilty. Then we all get mad together. It is Immensely Satisfying. Now there is a reason for hiking the AT.
Blue Jay
smokin, cussin, drinkin,-----wouldnt want to offend anyone, maybe i will take a blue BLAZE
roberto
That is why the ATC refers to us as 2000 milers, and takes our word for it. It is up to us to be true to ourselves.
FLETCH
Actually, though some smaller local trails were used (mainly in New Enlgand and the longest predating section being the Long Trail in VT at roughly 105 miles), the AT was almost entirely built from scratch for the purpose of the Benton Mackaye’s vision (which was originally from Mt. Washington in New Hampshire to Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina). In this regard, the AT differs much from the PCT which was built using the John Muir Trail (~250 miles) in CA, the Oregon Skyline Trail in OR (virtually all of OR), and the North Cascades Trail in Washington. I think these are the names, anyway, I haven’t read up in a while on this subject and I don’t have access to my books right now.
-Howie
Hungry Howie
When and if I finish (being a section-hiker, who knows?), I shall be proud to put in for my 2000 mile badge. But I do know that when I get to the Presis, I will be taking the side trails over the tops of Eisenhower, Adams, Jefferson, &c. I will call them ‘Good Weather Bypass Trails’. Being a purist myself (out from the shelter on the same trail as I took in. I made sure I made up the section in Harpers Ferry where I got lost, …), I thumb my nose at anyone who would disagree. :pimp
Harry Dolphin