Pre Hike 5: What is the A.T. Anyway?

Many people ask me what the Appalachian Trail is.  I try to hide my shock...I think the world should know and love the A.T., but am always happy to talk about the trail, so I oblige. 

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, known as the Appalachian Trail or A.T. (yes, I'm lazy and often simply type AT) is one of the longest continuously marked footpaths in the world, measuring around 2, 190 miles in length.  The trail passes through fourteen states along the crests and valleys of the Appalachian Mountains from the southern terminus at Springer Mountain, Georgia to the northern terminus at Katahdin, Maine. 

The A.T. was completed in 1937 and is a part of the National Park System.  It's managed under a unique partnership between the public and private sectors including, the National Park Service, the USDA Forest Service (USFS), state agencies and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy...as well as 31 local trail-maintaining clubs. 

In 1948, Earl Shaffer told a friend he was going to “walk off the war” to work out the sights, sounds, and losses of World War II. Four months later, Earl Shaffer became the first person to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.  Now it's estimated 2-3 million people visit the A.T. every year and about 1,800-2,000 attempt to "thru-hike".  A thru-hike is defined as "hiking a long-distance trail end-to-end".  If you complete the entire A.T. within 12 months or less, you are considered a Appalachian Trail thru-hiker. 

I will dedicate another entire post to someone who inspired hundreds, maybe thousands of people to hike.  Her name is Grandma Gatewood and she thru-hiked the A.T. for the first time at the age of 67 in 1955.  She was an amazing, steadfast pioneer and I'm happy to write about her...but for now...more about the A.T.

Fun A.T. Facts:

 

 - More than 350 three-sided shelters exits along the Trail

 - Virginia (where I'm starting from) is home to the most miles of the Trail...about 550 of them. 
    West Virginia is home to about...four. 

 - Maryland and West Virginia (really?  nooo, really?) are the easiest states to hike, while New
   Hampshire and Maine are the most difficult (Thankfully, I'll have two master hikers, Lorie and
   Patricia joining me during the toughies!).

- The total elevation gain of hiking the entire A.T. is equivalent to climbing Mt. Everest 16 times,  or
   about 442,500 ft!! 

- “Thru-hikers” walk the entire Trail in a continuous journey. “Section-hikers” piece the entire Trail
   together over years. “Flip-floppers” thru-hike the entire Trail in discontinuous sections to avoid
   crowds, extremes in weather, or start on easier terrain. I'm a Flip-Flopper...in case you're
   wondering!

 - An A.T. hiker typically burns 5,000-6,000 calories a day.

 - Hikers almost always adopt a "trail name" while hiking the Trail.

Luckily for me, I've been given my trail name already.  Perhaps it will stick?  Drum roll.  "Shire".  Short for "Punky of the Shire" - in honor of my persistent and perhaps, quite annoying quest to find the Shire...even in the high desert!  I seek out it's lush pastures and rolling green hills and mossy embankments.  The little Hobbiton houses tucked into the mountainside.  The "how can anyone be unhappy in this sliver of amazingness". 

My love and obsession with the Shire shouldn't really come as a shocker to those who know me...I mean, I'm quite sure I convinced my parents when I was in elementary school that I lived in a tree house in another life (I often spent entire days in the Swiss Family Robinson house in Disney).  Or perhaps they just acquiesced to my insistence in the matter.  A little question mark of my childhood I don't actually need answered. So, instead of visiting the "real" Hobbiton in New Zealand...I'm going to walk in the green tunnel.  And I'm looking forward to ever moment of it. 


Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.
                                                                                ~Henry David Thoreau