Then there’s the matter of having the correct permits for all the states, and having concealed carry permits. While it is now legal to carry a gun through national parks with the correct permits, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy discourages carrying firearms on the trail. Do I need it to survive? Does it have multiple functions? Can something else in my pack replace this item? Will I use it every day? Actually, I could probably make a flow chart about this. So I’ve come up with criteria things must meet to make it into my pack. If I took all of them I’d never finish the trail because my pack would be too heavy to enjoy anything. There are so many “what-if” items I could take on the trail. Even if it were strapped to the outside of my pack I’d have to get the pack off to get to it, and again we run into the problem of other hikers being deterred from sharing their company with me.
How is the gun going to help me? If it’s inside my pack I’d have to unstrap it, dig through it, find the gun… It would be too late by the time I got it. So someone is trying to kill me or my dog, or abduct me somehow. In the case of a robbery, I’m always just going to give up whatever I have because no physical possessions are worth my life. I wouldn’t want it if I was being robbed. Okay, let’s say I’m in a scenario on the trail where I want to use a gun. Yes, we should be safe, stay in communication with other hikers as well as home, and hike away from people that give a bad vibe. I want the Appalachian Trail to continue to be the kind of place where we don’t bring those kinds of outside concerns. So carrying a gun might alienate me, but more than that carrying guns on the trail won’t foster the kind of community I want to see out there. Best case scenario you’ll get a trail name related to the gun. If you’re carrying a gun strapped to your pack people may well avoid you. I’ve joined a lot of hiker forums and groups (such as the Trek, hey thanks for having me) and the general consensus is that guns have no place on the Appalachian Trail. A gun is not something I would want to involve in a robbery anyways. As for robbery, I’ll reduce the risks for this by not taking jewelry and not camping near roads.
Statistically, I’ll be safer on the AT than I am walking home from work. This is certainly a lower crime rate than what I face in my home city. There have only been a handful of murders on the Appalachian Trail since the 1970s, and it was likely less frequent before then. So, despite being comfortable with American’s rights to own and carry guns, for me the trail is not a place to have one. So I am not lugging a gun with me for more than two thousand miles. Listen, one of my number one concerns preparing to hike the trail is how much (or preferably little) my pack will weigh. Long Story Short: no I will not carry a gun Guns are Heavy So, although I’m hardly the first to do so, I’m going to cover the topic today.
So although the answer seems obvious to me now, it’s a normal question. To be fair, it’s one of the first questions I asked when I started researching. One of the first things many people ask me when I say I’m getting ready to hike the trail is “Are you taking a gun?”.
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