Oddbean new post about login | logout I'd like to do it. I've heard many times that it's basically a frat party now. People suggest the CDT or PCT instead. Doesn't matter, I can't disappear for 6 months. When our son gets bigger and can haul a full pack load, we're sectioning these things.
The frat party is actually easily avoided if you do the really hard thing and start at the north end and head SOBO. The 150miles near the northern terminus is stupidly hard to do if you haven't got a really good set of trail legs built. People do it, and the two friends who are pushing me to do it did that themselves, so it's obviously possible. I just... Can't be bothered at the moment.
That makes sense. They won't be taking the hard way. Adding to what others have said, there's nothing wrong with saying, "I hiked X sections on the AT."
Nope. The addicts and party people are mostly weeded out (pun intended) by then, anyway, so, while you might meet up with some of them in the middle, it's evidently progressively better as you go. Nope. Nothing wrong with that at all, really.