In his book, Bryson mentions that some ladies have in fact been killed whilst hiking the AT.
Whether or not this is true I have no way of knowing
The incident that he mentions in the book is very much true, however given the number of women who have hiked some portion of the trail and the number of women who’s been killed or injured by another person while doing so it becomes pretty safe as statistics go.
Some ladies have in fact been killed whilst taking a hard crap in the morning.
Two murders by a psycho / thousands of hikers = pretty good odds.
I’ve hiked bits and pieces of the AT in Shenandoah NP, somewhere in North Carolina, and possibly some other place(s). Always day hiking. But we hiked as much of the AT in Shenandoah as we did in part because it made my grandmother so happy to hike the AT as opposed to any other trail in the park. She had previously hiked (day hiked) a number of other portions of the AT. She didn’t see the appeal of camping in the woods (or backpacking) let alone thru-hiking, but she seemed to feel that walking on the AT even briefly was prestigous. (Grandma’s mental health was declining. Not horrendously so at the time, but significantly so).
We have the famous west coast trail on Vancouver Island that is now heavily regulated since it become so popular. Toilet paper and excrement adjacent to the trail was very disconcerting to me back in the 70s, yet nobody talked about it. I wonder if the popular Appalachian Trail is like that.
The AT is 2200 miles long, goes through National Parks, National Forest, state parks and forests, small towns, past major highways, through remote wilderness, rural farmland, suburban neighborhoods, and just about everything except a major metropolitan center. It varies dramatically along its length. Some areas are heavily used with 100’s of hikers sharing the same stretch of trail. Other areas you won’t see people for a few days. Still others will allow you to pull off the trail for a cup of coffee and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s in the middle of the day.
Just to note for everyone that this thread got lost on the AT for about 6 years.
So that would make this more a thread for section hikers, not through-hikers. Section hikers take years or even decades to finish a thread, whereas through-hikers do it in one hiking season.
For those who haven’t read it, Wild is an amazing read.
Gotta feel sorry for the thread, then. 
Because based on my sampling of stretches of the AT in Virginia and Maryland, I concur with Bryson: there’s a lot of walking in the midst of trees, and only occasional moments where you actually get a decent view. Like Finagle said, one forested path looks a whole lot like another.
One of these years, I’d like to bicycle the combined length of Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway, which goes through pretty much the same territory as the AT through most of VA and much of NC. It would be easier, and the views would be a hell of a lot nicer.
I live half a block from the AT. The bridge near my house that I have to cross if I want to get anywhere is actually part of it. So I am on it at least twice a day.
This wasn’t true back in 2007, so I’m justified in adding it on now.
Good point. My wife and her old college roommate started when they graduated. Her roommate finished about 10 years ago - after 25 years. So 7 is nothing.
Completed it March 18 to Sept 1 of this year GA to ME (GAME) of this year, it was awesome beyond what I could have ever expected, it was living, it was life, and I believe a start of something much bigger in my life.