I spent the last couple days working on writing a BT mock hiker at the thru hike rate, which is generally 20 miles per day in the west, north and east. Then generally 15 miles per day in the south. And while I still have yet to account for the Akron, Road Fork and Whipple Sections, I can say with certainty that OTHR's 2016 Edition will eliminate every camping/ lodging deficiency on the Buckeye Trail. Transit on the Akron Section supports going from Brecksville to the northern Massillon area and vice versa. There's probably 120ft of redundancy (where you have to hike a portion of trail that you've already done, or will do) in the south.
As for The Wilderness Loop, it became compliant this past summer. And the best way to do a an unassisted thru hike through here is when traveling clockwise (CW), its best to pass the Road Fork Section and hike counterclockwise on the Whipple Section, complete it and come back on the Road Fork Section. From the Village of Belle Valley, use a GPS, Google Maps or Map Quest to plot a direct pedestrian route to the shelter between Stockport 06 - 07 from Belle Valley Section, Pt. 26. It's important to do it from exactly there because BT's underpass of I-77 will act as a shortcut. All together, this route should be somewhere in the ball park of 18 miles and one hiking day long. That's in comparison of doing a 30mi, 3 day redundancy from BV 25 to Stockport 07. In essence, the road is easier and more straight.
It's the first time in 6 years that OTHR has been able to cover every gap. For once, the transit hike model has fulfilled what it was really designed to do. I'm quite pleased about it.
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