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Found a stat that blew my mind about trail crowding
I was reading through some National Park Service data last night for fun and found out that over 3 million people hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2023. Not thru-hikers, just day hikers on sections. That number shocked me because I always thought it was mostly thru-hikers out there. I looked it up on the ATC website after a buddy mentioned how busy the trail near Harpers Ferry felt last summer. It made me wonder if the popular sections are getting too packed for a good experience. Has anyone else noticed a big jump in traffic on their local sections in the last few years?
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the_ben14d ago
Did you look at the numbers for white mountain sections too?
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young.spencer13d ago
@the_ben yeah the white mountain numbers are pretty wild, especially the northern presidentials where the weather stations recorded 140+ mph gusts last winter. That section from Madison to Washington is basically its own climate zone.
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