Appalachian Trail Overview & History

The trail stretches through 14 states:  Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia.  The A.T. continuously changes in length due to trail relocation each year: 1937 - 2,054 miles; 2003 - 2,172.6; 2005 - 2,174.9.  The A.T. became a continuous trail on August 14, 1937. The Civilian Conservation Corps completed the final link of the A.T. in Maine.  Earl Shaffer became the first to report a thru-hike in 1948.  The A.T. was selected as the first National Scenic Trail in 1968.

The A.T. began as a vision of forester Benton MacKaye.  Benton MacKaye's history with the A.T. is a unique story among A.T. historians.  Benton MacKaye had the idea of linking the Appalachian mountains.  In the New England region of the mountains, trail linking had already been underway.  However, Benton MacKaye saw larger visions of communities on the trail as a society: a "'playground': it should stimulate every line of outdoor non-industrial endeavor'" (Read his 1921 article: "An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning." Journal of the American Institute of Architects).

Two-inch by six-inch vertical white paint marks (known as "Blazes" to hikers) mark the trail. "Blazes" are painted on trees, signs, roads, and any visible object a hiker could see.  A "Double Blaze" (one Blaze above another Blaze) is placed before turns, junctions, or to let the hiker know to be attentive.  The A.T. is currently protected along more than 99 percent of the trail.  The A.T. is federal and state owned or by "right-of-way" (private landowners designate their land as part of the A.T., a.k.a. as a "corridor"). The A.T. stretches through more than sixty federal, state, local parks, forests and crosses hundreds of roads.  "It's estimated that 3-4 million visitors hike a portion of the Appalachian Trail each year, although precise figures are difficult to determine. More than 7,000 hikers have let the ATC know that they have completed the entire Trail."(atc.org)  The Appalachian Trail represents perfection in nature; however, the A.T. is continuously under attack from man.  Some predict the A.T. may not last another 50 years due to various consumption by industrial growth and visitor damage.  Not only does the A.T. face man's consumption, but the A.T. is used politically as a land conservatory issue.  Unfortunately, many A.T. authorities, organizations, and common citizens treat the A.T. as part of our society and fail to allow the A.T. to be an individual with amazing merits.

	A Blaze marks the Appalachian Trail.
	This Bronze Plague designates the completion of the Appalachian Trail on August 14, 1937 in Maine.
	"It were as well to be educated in the shadow of a mountain as in more classic shade Some will remember, no doubt, not only that they went to college, but that they went to the mountain"      - Henry David Thoreau
	The shelter Earl Shaffer helped build for other hikers; however, Earl Shaffer did not approve of the other volunteers putting in a floor to the shelter.  Earl Shaffer wanted hikers to experience nature, not comfort.