The notion of the routes being over run with cyclists seems kind of crazy to me. Most of the time I haven't seen many riders during the day on the AC routes. In some cases meeting riders in camp in the evening was common though and I always considered that a big plus.

I had to chuckle at B. Carfree's comment since it has always seemed to me that most AC routes went out of their way to climb hills and hit smaller roads than I might prefer. The people I have ridden with on them also thought AC went out of their way to climb hills and in some cases we deviated from the route to avoid them.

I think the maps are a great value if they go where you want to go. They are not great for sections where you want to go far off route, but when I have improvised I either pick up a state map or use google maps on my phone to plan the day. My preferred approach is to mostly follow an AC route, but improvise parts of the trip as the whim hits me.