Having hiked the three major US long trails, how do they compare?
Briefly, the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) remains my favorite. It is the wildest, with the most complete immersion into the outdoors and biggest test of outdoor skills. The Pacific Crest Trail is the most accessible, a great first trail. The Appalachian Trail (AT) is the most challenging physically, but the easiest logistically and has the best network of on and off trail support.
PCT is the easiest hiking, on the best tread, with great views. Typically you tent or tarp (hammocks don't work well in desert or above tree line) on the trail side (or just sleep under the stars since rain and bugs are scarce). Towns occur every 3-5 days to buy supplies or pick up a package at a Post Office. Trail towns provide adequate support, those less coddling than the AT. You can choose to hike alone or in group, and tend to be near same people as most start in the second half of April and travel around 20 miles per day. The hiking season slams shut when the snows come to the North Cascades, so those who dawdle or take too many zero days do not finish in one year.
The AT provides the hardest hiking, with some mountaineering portions, and is unfortunately a highly eroded poor trail of rocks and roots, nicknames the "Green Tunnel" due to scarce views. Most hikers sleep in shelters (for camaraderie, privies or due to rain), or nearby in a tent or hammock (to avoid bugs or snoring). Town occur every 2-3 days for restaurants and resupply. Towns are a big part of the AT experience, including hostels and Trail Angels. You can choose to hike alone or in temporary group, and tend to keep meeting new people since paces and start dates vary widely (anywhere from 10 to 20 miles per day, with starts from Feb to May).
The CDT provides some harder hiking but is mostly moderate or easy, with good tread or forest road, and great views. It is by far the most remote, with the most wildlife. It demands strong outdoor skills, both daily skills like orienteering as well as emergency skills since you are well off of the grid. You tent on the trail side, with towns every 3-8 days for packages. You will hike alone unless you pair up deliberately.
Did the AT change me? Did I learn anything, or grow?
I like to think that our travels always morph me at least a little. For sure I re-learned old lessons. It took a while to accept the trail as it is and not create my own frustration that it was more eroded than I expected. The Lyme Disease episode again exercised my tenacity to stick to a goal and see it through, and also exposed my bull headedness to keep plowing forward when it would have been wiser to get medical care earlier. Strengths to excess become weaknesses, a lesson I already knew but got to relearn again.
Statistics?
The AT segment took 4.7 months, or 141 days. I only zeroed 16 days, mostly due to the physical or emotional exhaustion related to Lyme Disease. I averaged 17.6 miles per hiking day, or 15.6 miles per day overall. Ironically, my lower mile days were in the middle section, which is the easiest and generally fastest, due to the heat and Lyme Disease, otherwise my trek would have been 2-3 weeks shorter.
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