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More bear encounters, fewer thru-hikers, more hikers from abroad: the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) released its 2023 Wrapped as it continues to collect data from the 2024 hiking season, and some of its stats are surprising.
In 2023, the ATC received 33 bear reports across the Appalachian Trail, with more than a third of them taking place in the state of Virginia. Bear reports, which hikers usually make when a bear enters a shelter area, attempts to steal food, expresses aggression, or causes damage, have trended up in recent years. However, hikers may be adapting: In 2023, just 2% of thru-hikers and 1% of section hikers reported that their food storage was damaged or their food was stolen by bears, a decrease from previous years.
Animal sightings are not uncommon along most of the Appalachian Trail, but aggressive bear activity has primarily taken place in the Smokies, parts of Tennessee, and in the Shenandoah region, where many bears have been conditioned to seek out human food.
Bear populations are growing along the Appalachian Trail, which could be one reason for the increased number of encounters. Some trail states have seen 1,000% bear population increases since 1990. There are also more people on trail than there were several decades ago, raising the risk of an encounter.
While bear activity on the Appalachian Trail has been steadily growing, human activity may be declining in some categories. Since Appalachian Trail officials do not require the registration of attempted thru-hikes, it can be difficult to estimate the number of attempts and successful hikes every year. However, current estimates suggest that about 3,000 people attempt a thruhike every year – which is down by about 1,000 since the start of the pandemic.
Although the number of attempted thru-hikes may be declining, completions remain steady. Of 2023’s attempted thru-hikes, 1,201 people reported completing the trail – or about a third of hikers. Comparatively, the ATC recorded 1,440 completions in 2022. Between 2015 and the start of the pandemic, the organization recorded 1,036 to 1,116 completions every year. This likely indicates that a higher percentage of thru-hikers are successful despite less thru-hiking traffic overall.
Another interesting finding is that the Appalachian Trail seems to be gaining international popularity. In 2022, about 12% of hikers came from other countries, the bulk of which traveled from Canada, Germany and England. In 2023, 292 or about 24% of reported 2,000-milers came from abroad, with about 7% traveling from Canada, and 8% coming from Germany and England.
Domestically, the top states of origin for amongst thru-hikers included North Carolina, Georgia and Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Virginia. The majority of section hikers came from Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina.
While not an insignificant number, some less surprising numbers included the 3 million people who stepped foot on the Appalachian Trail, including day hikers, thru-hikers, and section hikers.
With millions of visitors hitting the Appalachian Trail every year, volunteer work has become increasingly important. Over the course of 2023, trail volunteers logged 170,147 hours of work, which is the equivalent of 7089.5 days or 19.4 years of work. The ATC estimates that the whole trail requires about 200,000 volunteer hours in a normal year, making 2023 a pretty standard season.
From 2024