this whole passport thing has me scratching my head. with more and more people hitting springer every spring, the campsites are already overcrowded . we've got the walk in the woods movie coming out which will add to the throngs of clueless wanderers, and now this whole passport idea- a nice souvenir perhaps,but apparently many of these stamps need to be collected at locations that are off trail.
so in promoting thru hiking, the atc is now encouraging getting off the trail as much as possible?
imo,it encourages this tick list mentality, rather than hike for the hike itself, to hike for the "accomplishment"
does thru hiking need any more promotion?

particularly if they dont enjoy the woods.

you can still do that if you go off season, and of course, theres tons of trails to get lost on where you wont see a soul for days. ive blueblazed the whites in nh in august primetime on trails where i didnt see more than one or two people a day.by contrast the 100 mile "wilderness" was so crowded in august i laughed when i originally had thought of the section as "remote"
thats why i chose the bmt to start my hike this year.