The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, or simply the “AT”, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States that extends from Springer Mountain in northern Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. The trail is marked at regular intervals with a 2 inch by 6 inch, white rectangle or “white blaze” painted on trees, rocks, or manmade objects along the entire length of the trail. The AT is approximately 2184 miles long and passes through 14 states. The trail is maintained by various volunteer clubs and is managed by the National Park Service and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. The majority of the trail passes through wilderness and forest lands although occasionally it runs directly through small mountain towns.
The trail has more than 250 rustic shelters and campsites spaced 5 to 15 miles apart. When the trail passes near a town, hikers often leave the trail, either by walking or hitching a ride. They go into town to eat at a restaurant, buy or repair gear, use the post office, stop by a library to check email, buy groceries, do laundry, and get a good nights sleep in a hotel or hostel. Along the AT a decent sized town comes along after 3-5 days of hiking. So hikers tend to hike for a few days, then resupply in town and continue on. Occasionally, friendly locals offer up their yards for hikers to pitch their tents in or even open up their homes to treat hikers to home cooked meals and soft beds.
Hikers who attempt to complete the entire trail in a single season are called “thru-hikers”. Rugged terrain, weather extremes, illness or injury, and the time and effort involved make this very difficult to accomplish. Traditionally, a few thousand people start off from Springer Mountain in Georgia each spring attempting to complete a “thru-hike”. Roughly a quarter of them don't make it out of North Carolina and another quarter drop out somewhere in Virginia. Only a few hundred of the original hikers make it all the way to Katahdin. Conservative estimates would suggest that only about 10-15% of the would-be thru-hikers complete their journey; however, some data now suggests that those numbers have been slowly climbing in the last decade.
Typically a thru-hike will require 4 to 7 months to complete. Most hikers choose a south to north direction for their hike, as winter conditions last in the New England states well into May. These hikers are often referred to as “NOBO” hikers, or NOrth BOund hikers. Another term for this direction of hiking is GAME, or GA (Georgia) to ME (Maine). On the contrary, hikers that start in Maine in the summer and hike to Georgia into the winter (which is more difficult) are referred to as SOBO, SOuth BOund, or MEGA, Maine to Georgia, hikers.
Women make up about 25% of the total hike completions reported. I sure hope I'm in that number for 2013.
Interesting info 2000-milers
To view the trail in more detail
Applachian Trail Maps and Guides
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