One of North America’s oldest marked hikes, the Appalachian Trail, known affectionately as the AT, is the granddaddy of long-distance footpaths. Stretching for 2,180 miles from its rolling beginnings in Georgia to its craggy finish in Maine, the venerated trail is about to gain a new level of popularity thanks to the film A Walk in the Woods, released in the UK today.
When writer Bill Bryson set out to hike the AT in 1996, he knew little about backpacking and almost nothing about thru-hiking (doing a long trail end to end). Its physical, mental and logistical challenges led him and his comically out-of-shape hiking buddy Katz to abandon their quest less than half of the way to Maine.
How many filmgoers who go to watch Robert Redford (who plays Bryson – yes, really) and Nick Nolte (Katz) bumble their way down the trail will be inspired to take to the AT? Will they make it further than Bryson did? And will they leave the trail better than they found it? Concerned for how the trail might fare under the harsh glare of Hollywood, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) has launched a campaign called #ProtectYourTrail, with the aim of educating new hikers on the “Leave No Trace” principle: a set of guidelines designed to minimise visitor impact on natural places.
Members of the ATC – a non-profit network based in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia – were on hand during filming to ensure the crew treated the trail with respect, adhering to the seven Leave No Trace principles, which include travelling and camping on durable surfaces, disposing of waste properly and respecting wildlife.
But while the ATC says the 78-year-old trail can handle more visitors – provided they practise LNT ethics – others say it’s time to impose limits on the number of hikers. In 2014, 2,742 thru-hikers voluntarily registered with the ATC, with 714 intrepid backpackers completing the full trek – a success rate of one in four. The trail has seen a steady 10% increase in thru-hikers since 2010, with an estimated three million people hiking some portion of it each year.
Perhaps the most impressive statistic of all is the number of volunteer hours that go into maintaining it: in 2014 more than 5,000 volunteers spent a staggering 241,936 hours working on the trail.
That dedication is a reflection of how beloved the AT is by all who walk any length of it. Dennis Procopio, a veteran thru-hiker from San Jose, California, who goes by the trail name Fusion, says: “Hiking the AT offers a truly sacred escape from the rat race. The AT is a place of altruism, non-judgment and kindness and there is collective intention to enable healing and self-discovery.”
Reviews of the film have been mixed, but if you are inspired by it, you don’t need to commit six months to walking in the woods. A three-day hike along Virginia’s Triple Crown section between Roanoke and Blacksburg, or a 10-day trek across northern Maine’s infamous 100-mile wilderness may be enough to satisfy your wanderlust. Even a short hike can change your life: just be sure to leave no trace.
• Mary has hiked big chunks of the AT in each of the 14 states it runs through, except Georgia. Someday, she’ll hike it all.
billbryson.co.uk; maps and advice at appalachiantrail.org; more on the Leave No Trace centre at lnt.org
