This week I decided to chose a destination a little closer to home, partly because I love the East Coast, and also because I wanted to write about something I could possibly visit in the near future, as opposed to dream destinations. So The Appalachian Trail is the focus of my writings. Of course seeing the entire trail may be slightly ambitious of anyone, considering it passes through fourteen states, beginning in Georgia and ending in Maine.
This impressive distance is officially measured at 2,180 miles, and is one of the longest uninterrupted marked footpaths in the world, just to put that into perspective. Of course out of the 2 to 3 million people that visit the trail every year very few actually intend on taking on the entire trail. Most nature lovers tend to go to the nearest marked path of the trail and venture for a few miles.
That’s not to say that it isn’t done, in 2010 it was said that somewhere around 11,000 people completed the trail, and many more actually endeavored to do it, with a success rate of about 29%. Personally I’m not sure if I’d be able to dedicate myself to the entire trail. It takes anywhere from 5 to 7 months to complete on average, and while time management has never been a strong skill of mine, I doubt even at my most driven I would find the dedication to complete it. But I have every intention of exploring the parts of the trail that pass through Pennsylvania. Luckily they reside close to my hometown, so I plan on dragging my friends and family out with me this summer, no matter the protest they put up.
Perhaps when I’m older and richer and have a considerable amount of time on my hands I’ll actually try to take on the entire trail, but I think I’ll stick to small hikes for the time being.
Sources:
http://www.appalachiantrail.org/hiking/find-a-hike
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Trail
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