Note: Studying Sustainable Practices of Appalachian Trail Community based on Reddit Topic Modelling Analysis

Thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT) is an adventure of a lifetime that necessitates long-term planning and knowledge of challenges and practices in the outdoors. One important but oft-ignored step is to establish awareness about sustainable practices captured in Leave No Trace (LNT) principles for minimizing the impact on the trail. This paper seeks to understand practices of hikers with regards to trail sustainability and LNT. Since hikers often leverage virtual communities on social media for asking questions and sharing resources, we analyzed Reddit top-level comments on /r/AppalachianTrail to understand AT hiking discussions and explore their connections with sustainable practices in the outdoors. The findings will inform AT stakeholders and researchers in the field about the hikers’ practices and the role of social media platforms in supporting sustainable trail management.