This entire post raises questions from me. I appreciate this feedback greatly but if it requires zero skill what is the challenge of it? Or what is the big draw? I am asking this seriously, thinking there must be a good reason.
Let me take a run at this Kevin.
I rode my bicycle across the country from Seattle to Boston in '86, so I understand something of the draw of a long distance challenge. As one guy put it, the panniers (saddle bags) don't accept excuses. Can you ride across a continent? Walk from Georgia to Maine? Once a question like that takes root in your head... well... It can become something of a quest.
My bike tour definitely affected me and the course of my life. I internalized the patience needed for long sustained efforts in a very, very deep way. Yes, you *can* cross a continent on your own. Just not today. My cousin did the AT in the 90s and it had a similar deep spiritual affect on her life. So much so she wrote a book about it. The trip can be life changing.
Being an aging yuppie, I'll push back a little bit on Carl's yuppie comment. Suggest reading Guy and Laura Waterman's "Forest and Crag" on the development of hiking in the New Hampshire region, including the rise of the Appalachian Mountain Club. "Yuppies" from the Boston and NYC areas have always played a big role in the development of outdoor recreation in New England and the Adirondacks going back to the turn of the century. Heck, Ethan Crawford's Hotel in the 1800s was geared towards tourist from Boston coming up by train. Crawford cut the first hiking path up to the summit of Mt. Washington. I think the history of land preservation and recreational hiking in California was similar. Not defending Volvo driving smugness here. Just noting that "yuppies" have been a part of the scene since the get go.
Regarding the issue of deep wilderness vs suburban hiking, I did a fair bit of hiking in California both in the Big Sur/Ventana Wilderness area and the Sierra (Yosemite, Whitney). IME, hiking in the east and in California aren't dissimilar. Within a 1/2 day of a trail head, you might on rare occasions encounter problem makers such as kids looking to party or homeless (in Big Sur) or worse. A day's hike in, you really see no problems. And you see a lot of really stunning places. Having hiked numerous parts of the AT through Mass, VT and NH (and a lot more trail hiking not on the AT per se), just because your within a day's walk of a road, doesn't mean it isn't beautiful, or wild or deadly. You can die of exposure in the White Mountains of New Hampshire while watching the lights of Gorham and do it just as easy as twisting an ankle.
You can "see" the town of Gorham, NH and Rt 2 from this spot. Lots of people have had to be rescued from near here and several have died near here. This is just off of the AT and if you squint, you can see the AT going over the crest of that last mountain (Madison). IMO, it's worth hiking here.
Krumholtz by
Pinnah, on Flickr
Regarding the issue of skill... It takes tremendous skill to travel safely with modern backpacking equipment and an insane amount of skill to tackle a long distance trip like the AT. The skill set is
different than the skills needed to hunt or to do primitive living in the bush but it's just as refined of a skill set. Living out of your pack (or saddle bags) for months at a time is just different. Not everybody has the chance to build up to it. Not impossible or secret knowledge but it's still skill.
Also, it strikes me as odd that an entire site of people would pack up because of a fixed blade spotting. What is the reasoning? Was it the Kabar style, something insiders know, or just a fixed style knife???
What is this?
H 15 drop point 2 by
Pinnah, on Flickr
Well, ok, it's a modified Schrade H-15 but there's a deeper answer to this.
Unlike nearly all my backpacking buddies, I hunt. I hunt with my cousins up in northern Vermont. I've taken one of cousins backpacking and watched him struggle a bit with life on the trail. Took a hiking bud hunting and watched his mind get blown moving through the woods, off trail with guns and big knives.
I've concluded that we (in the US) have several different outdoor sub-cultures. I think there's the hunting crowd (of which I count myself one). The tactical/survivalist crowd (I'm not in that camp). And there's the backpacking/mountain climbing crowd.
These cultures develop certain insider rituals and rules, different markers of who is in the club and not in the club. If I mentioned a "necker" up at hunting camp, they wouldn't know what I was talking about! They would also wrinkle their nose at the standard issue SAK favored by many backpackers. On the other hand, most of the folks at hunting camp have a big fixed blade hanging off their belt and it's nothing to be in a small village store getting coffee to see hunters wearing them in town. That's a cultural thing. A big knife is accepted.
In all my years backpacking on both coasts, I've only rarely seen a fixed blade knife being worn. Culturally speaking, it's as jarring to see a fixed blade on the trail as it would be to see one at a Little League game or at your local shopping mall.
And if that knife is presented as a "tactical" knife.... well... There's just no getting around this... A knife is a weapon and to display a weapon in public in a setting where they normally don't get carried... that's just going to create problems.
I carry that H-15 on winter ski trips and on trips with the kids in which I think a camp fire might be feasible (harvest wood near many hiking locations just isn't sustainable) but I carry it in my pack. It comes out in camp or only when needed.
EDITED TO ADD:
One of the distinct sub-cultures is the thru-hiker. As a group, they are really their own animal. We see them in waves in late summer. Some are friendly. Most stink. Many are deep "in the zone" suffering a bit from calorie debt and nursing bum ankles and knees in hard terrain with more hard terrain ahead of them. I watched one guy pissing across the Maine/NH border in the Mahousics. That's how he celebrated his last border crossing.
One bit of thru-hiker culture that is great is summed up in the acronym you see in AT shelter logs.
HYOH
Hike your own hike.
People should carry what ever they want to make them happy. That's a good thing to take to all aspects of life.
. My foray with razor blades and camping lasted one trip. Great item to have in your first aid or survival kit but not to my liking for solo carry. Now I would just carry a good slipjoint and if I feel like it a fixed will make it into the bag for fun. 
