![]() And distressingly often, trash from well-intentioned trail magic coolers ends up strewn along the trail. There’s no question that if done improperly, some forms of trail magic can cause problems. Untended coolers tucked along the trail inevitably attract animals, from hornets to raccoons and bears, which may end up euthanized because they’ve become habituated to humans and human food. “Hikers who only have a few hours or days to enjoy the sanctuary of the AT may not appreciate distractions from the natural environment.” “Sometimes these acts of generosity (no matter how well-intentioned) may result in additional work for volunteers or may compromise the natural environment,” the ATC declares on its website. Others accuse trail angels of scrubbing the AT experience of its challenge and making the trail “too easy.” Some critics also have claimed, without evidence, that trail magic is responsible for luring more and more - and too often, more unprepared - hikers to the trail. ![]() In my thousands of miles of long-distance hiking, I have never met a hiker who seriously altered her plans to take advantage of rumored magic magic is not as ubiquitous as some critics claim - on the AT I experienced no magic at all for more than 700 miles between Grayson Highlands, Va., and New York I never expected magic - it was always serendipitous - but I always appreciated it and the trail was plenty hard, and plenty wild, with or without magic. Still, as a hiker who has both given and received trail magic, on the Appalachian and Colorado trails, I find the current wave of anti-magic sentiment a tad… overwrought. A hiker’s tent in a field near Newport, Va. ![]()
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