Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
I don't know the pandemic schedules, but in any case it's normally 90 minutes, as Metro North and LIRR ran mostly weekend expresses pre-pandemic. I have no idea what you're talking about re. 4 hours. The point is that the AT rarely comes close to major metros, and this is about as close as it gets. And it's obviously a bonus that there's easy rail access.
We're talking about Manhattan. Imagine if you live in Seattle, or Yokohama. Imagine how long the trip will be! There are weekend buses to AT from different points in the tri-state area, but it isn't generally helpful to talk about random chartered buses from Ronkonkoma or Yonkers.
If you're essentially anti-transit and trying to invent any excuse to not take a train to a hiking/camping trip, it isn't like you're barred from driving. By car, you can probably reach the Appalachian trail in about an hour from Manhattan during pandemic times (but even longer if coming from further away, imagine that!). Or you could theoretically bike/walk from Manhattan, right over the GW Bridge, and you're in the Palisades, which eventually connects to the AT (or you can just stay in the Palisades for the day and get a dose of quasi-wilderness, though within earshot/eyeshot of civilization). For those of us who are car-free, it's nice to have options.
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I'm not anti-transit, I'm pro-transit. I acknowledge that it can be done, but I'm also living in the reality that a fraction of one half of 1 percent of people are taking the Harlem line to go hiking on the AT and camping in the woods.
Maybe there are some people in New York City that do that because they don't have the financial means to get out to PA, WV, Upstate and beyond to New England.