My Hiking Partner and Wife Jen is wondering if the population of females on the trail has increased over the last ten years or so. I think she would feel better about having others of her gender to relate to.
After watching 5 million steps it seems the ratio in 1986 was extreme. Arent more women taking up the sport now in the 21st Century? I know that when we hike the National Forests we come upon alot of female hikers.
Cross
Cross
I think it depends on when you start. My wife got real lonley for female conversation. To much testosterone in the shelters at night. It seemed that most of them started after the weather was warm. We saw very few until Harpers Ferry. But then we did start in Feb.
Bushwhack
From what I saw last year is that there seemed to be fewer women on the trail than other years. But then again I started at Springer in May. Judging by journals entries there were definitely more women starting early on in the season around March and April.
Jason
Ganj
The largest surge of young hikers was during spring break from college. Many women took the spring off to thru hike and resumed school in the fall.
Bramble
We started (my son&I) in Feb. the first time and saw several young women hiking alone and they seem very happy & capable. I’m going back on theAT in Feb or Mar this year and hope to see some other ladies nearer to my age.(67) but even if I don’t I had no fears last year & don’t expect to this year. I tent both for the privacy & because my dog will be with me. We also found the tent much warmer in the cold weather. Happy hiking. Cowboy
Cowboy
During my throughhike this year i was suprised by the amount of female hikers hiking the AT. Quite a few were married and had left their husbands home. Ouite a few in the 50+ bracket and a lot of them in the 20 to 30 year age.
Grampie
i hiked this past year as a solo woman. in the beginning, i felt like “one of the guys”, always in a shelter full of men. however, it seemed that the further i hiked, the more women i encountered. i always felt safe yet was always excited to meet a fellow female thru-hiker.
yellow