The AT is shorter this year

Did you know that the length of the Appalachian Trail changes every year?

Maintaining the 2200-ish mile trail is a never ending job. Maintenance crews from 30 different AT clubs volunteer to take care of the trail, performing the routine work of brush clearing, rebuilding washed out trail, repairing shelters, etc. 

In addition, trail crews often need to reroute sections of trail. New obstacles appear each year that need to be circumnavigated, such as flood or storm damage, broken bridges, or road construction. Sometimes there are land ownership changes or vegetation restoration initiatives. Though most of these are minor detours, small changes across 14 states can add up to several miles. 

According to the Washington Post, less than half of the original trail remains due to the numerous re-routes over the years.

The route hasn’t just changed, it has gotten longer and longer. When the AT was officially finished in 1937, it was announced as 2,050 miles. When I hiked in 2023, it was 2,198.4, almost 150 miles longer. 

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.

Heraclitus

The exact trail length of the AT in the early years is murky. In addition to the ever-evolving route, imperfect measuring methods made it impossible to get a precise number. Plus, I’m not sure if anyone really cared how long the entire trail was back then, at least not to the same level of precision as hikers today. In those days, no one even imagined that someone would attempt to hike the entire trail in one go. The first thru-hike was in 1948, but the popularity of thru-hiking didn’t explode until the 21st century. 

Hikers also didn’t use to have devices in their pocket recording their hike to the .01 mile. When I hiked the AT my phone told me exactly how far I had hiked each day. We’ve become accustomed to that degree of accuracy, but I imagine to the mid 20th century hiker, a rough ballpark number would have been perfectly acceptable.

Even in 1998, Bill Bryson had a hard time figuring out the length of the trail. In A Walk in the Woods, he wrote:

The precise length of the Appalachian Trail is a matter of interesting uncertainty. The U.S. National Park Service…manages in a single leaflet to give the length of the trail as 2,155 miles and 2,200 miles. The official Appalachian Trail Guides, a set of eleven books each dealing with a particular state or section, variously give the length as 2,144 miles, 2,147 miles, 2,159 miles, and “more than 2,150 miles.” The Appalachian Trail Conference, the governing body, in 1993 put the trail length at exactly 2,146.7 miles, then changed for a couple of years to a hesitantly vague “more than 2,150 miles,” but has recently returned to confident precision with a length of 2,160.2 miles. In 1993, three people rolled a measuring wheel along its entire length and came up with a distance of 2,164.9 miles. At about the same time, a careful measure based on a full set of U.S. Geological Survey maps put the distance at 2,118.3 miles.

What is certain is that it is a long way, and from either end it is not easy.

Since Bryson’s best-seller, accurate measuring techniques improved, interest in thru-hiking has boomed, and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy began an annual tradition of announcing the official trail length for the coming year. The graph below shows the official trail length steadily growing over the last decade. 

My year, 2023, was the longest the trail has been in the last 10 years. I wasn’t able to find detailed data to confirm, but I believe 2023 was the longest year ever. It’s a fun badge of honor to have. 

On December 15th, the ATC announced the official length for 2024: 2197.4 miles, exactly one mile shorter than 2023. Kids have it so easy these days. 

Not counting the 0.1 mile decrease from 2015 to 2016, this year marks the first shortening in the last decade, and probably much longer, possibly ever. Maybe the trend is reversing.

Regardless, whether the trail gets longer or shorter, the essence of the AT never really changes. 

The AT turns 87 in 2024. That old soul has adapted to the times with admirable resiliency. With less than half of the original trail remaining where it was first laid in 1937, it’s obvious that the AT is more than the physical trail itself. The spirit of Appalachia is not confined to one path. It’s not about where the trail’s GPS coordinates land; it’s about the adventure, self-discovery, and connection to nature.