[at-l] Thru-Hiker stats for 2009 from Laurie at the ATC

[snodrog5 at gmail.com]

 [image: Default] *Thru-Hiker stats for 2009*
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Our final estimate for northbound thru-hikers leaving Springer Mountain,
Georgia this year is 1425 -- 14% higher than last year.

This final number is based on analysis of counts from the register at
Amicalola Falls visitor center, the Springer Mountain GATC caretaker counts,
and the Mountain Crossings outfitter store at Neels Gap, 30 miles north of
Springer Mountain. This year we believe approximately 9% dropped out before
or at Neels Gap.

In Harpers Ferry, we recorded 608 northbound thru-hikers through July 5.
That’s 8% more than on that date last year. Since the number of starters was
14% higher than last year, that also means the drop-out rate has been higher
for the first half of the Trail. The reason most thru-hikers give for their
fellow hikers not reaching Harpers Ferry is the rainy weather this year.
Some hikers have also had to leave the Trail when they ran out of money.
Whether the percentage of hikers in that category is higher this year than
in years past is hard to say.

Here are tallies from various points along the Trail (and the approach
trail):

Amicalola Falls State Park, GA -- 820 (about 58% of those counted by the
Springer ridgerunner signed in here)

Springer Mountain, GA total -- 1425 (estimate)

Springer Mountain caretaker -- 874 (counted by GATC ridgerunner on duty 10
days out of 14, from February 27 – May 17) A second talley totalled 896.

Neels Gap, GA -- 1325 (estimate)

Fontana Dam – 911 (counted by caretaker and ridgerunners)

Harpers Ferry, WV -- 616 (through July 6—we expect to see roughly 100 more)

Katahdin, ME -- 3 (2,000-miler reports received by ATC)

To see how these numbers compare with previous years, see our website at
http://www.appalachiantrail.org/2000milers.

Thru-hikers came from 49 states (all but North Dakota) and 13 countries
other than the U.S.: Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, England, France,
Holland, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Scotland, and
Switzerland. Not surprisingly, the country with the most hikers was England
(11), but this year 10 New Zealanders started. Both the Springer and Fontana
caretakers kept counts of hikers by state and country. The Springer
caretaker also tallied hikers by gender. This year 22% were female, down
from 25% last year.

Thanks to all who helped with this count: Jim Burson and all those who
helped with and supported hiker registration at Amicalola Falls State Park;
Roger Dunton, Springer Mountain caretaker; GATC for their
caretaker/ridgerunner program; Winton Porter and the staff at Mountain
Crossings at Neels Gap; Carl Goodman, Fontana caretaker, and ridgerunners of
the Great Smoky Mountains National Park; and the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club.
Thanks also to the many volunteers at ATC Headquarters who take and print
out photos, assign numbers, and instruct hikers on filling out the photos
(we get our thru-hiker and section-hiker counts from the photos we take),
John Fletcher who does the behind-the-scenes work to keep the photo program
running smoothly, and Andrew Downs.

Thanks also to the 6000 all-but-anonymous volunteers—the A.T.’s ultimate
“trail angels”-- who make the A.T. experience available to all.

Laurie Potteiger
ATC
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