I hit the tail end of the hiking season for GA on the AT. Saw maybe 8-12 hikers per day, almost all northbound while I was southbound. Most thru-hikers leave in March and April - only a few college students starts in May, and some section hikers. And it was getting hot by mid May. My first night in NC there was 5 people in the shelter. After that I never shared a shelter with more than 1 other person, and was alone one night atop Springer. It was a gorgeous area and easier hiking than what New Englanders are used to.

The Benton MacKaye Trail was a different character than the AT, being far less used (saw one other hiker in 6 days) and not well marked or maintained. Often crawling over or around blowdowns, following indistinct tracks through the woods, even wading through waist-high mayapples a few times. Some wonderful old growth forests following the TN/NC border along a high ridgeline.