Jester2000
10-21-2009, 18:36
This was written in March of 2000, days before I left for my thru-hike:
Most people on the East Coast have at least a vague passing knowledge of the Appalachian Trail. Not unlike my knowledge of algebra. While I have previously described it to people as "a really, really long walk," what follows is my understanding of the trail and its history, culled from various sources.
The trail was conceived by a complete nutjob named Benton MacKaye. Today people refer to him as a "visionary," but you really only get the visionary title after you're dead. So at the time he was nuttier than low-sugar GORP. How else to explain that he first publicly described his vision in a 1921 edition of The Journal of the American Institute of Architects? Architects! Anyway.
The trail, as conceived by Mackaye, was supposed to go from North Carolina to New Hampshire. Local trail clubs gradually began to build portions of the trail, and in 1925 the Appalachian Trail Conference, of which I am a dues paying member, was formed. Under the auspices of the ATC (auspices? I know what you're thinking. "He MUST be plagerizing this." I'm not! Check my SAT scores! I'm so brilliant people have to look at me through a piece of cardboard with a tiny hole in the center so as not to go blind! Now where was I? Ahh, yes, auspices . . .) Under the auspices of the ATC and its president, Myron Avery, construction of the trail really got going, and it was completed in 1937. The trail, measuring 2,025 miles, was an incredible feat of organization, a tremendous example of hard work, a heartening display of volunteerism, and, more than anything, showed that man could triumph over his own selfish nature, the excesses of the Twenties, and the Depression of the Thirties. Before everyone got a chance to get all smug, the trail was overgrown, displaced, demolished, and unusable.
Following World War II, while some members of "The Greatest Generation" were going insane with consumerism ("I NEED a car and a fridge and a television and a 'fill-in-the-blank-with-something-better-than-what-the-neighbor-has.'") Where was I? Ahhh, the Greatest Generation. You know, I can't help but think that the greatest generation was actually the generation of Spaniards who brought the Reconquista to a close and then went on to discover, take over, and colonize the Americas. They're the reason the Irish eat potatoes, for crissakes! Now I'm completely lost. Hang on while I reread the beginning of this paragraph.
Got it.
In 1948 Earl Shaffer completed the first ever thru-hike of the trail, using road maps. Road maps! And at the time, remember, roadmaps were free! He finished his hike the very same month that a magazine released an interview with Avery, who said that it was impossible to hike the trail end to end continuously. Or maybe I'm just making that part up. But the bit with the road maps -- 'struth!
In the 60's and 70's, many, many people were stoned out of their gourds. But that's not the whole story. Also during this time period the government directed the National Park Service to attempt, insofar as it was possible, to create a corridor of protected public land for the trail.
Today, no one seems to have a clue about how long the trail actually is. Some publications give multiple conflicting distances within pages of one another. Some people prefer to say, in an attempt not to be wrong, "longer than 2,000 miles." I have also seen "just under 2,200 miles." I prefer to say, "bigger than a breadbox, and, now that I think about it, ALSO bigger than the Empire State Building."
What no one disputes is that it begins at Springer Mountain, Georgia and ends at Katahdin, Maine. Actually, that's not true. Some will say it ends at Baxter Peak. These people are being nitpicky. They argue over whether it's "Denali" or "McKinley." Others will say it ends at Mount Katahdin. These people didn't understand the redundancy of the title of the syndicated version of "CHiPs" called "CHiPs Patrol."
Ultimately, what no one disputes is that this page has wasted a good five minutes of your time. I apologize. Unless you're at work. In that case, you're welcome.
Most people on the East Coast have at least a vague passing knowledge of the Appalachian Trail. Not unlike my knowledge of algebra. While I have previously described it to people as "a really, really long walk," what follows is my understanding of the trail and its history, culled from various sources.
The trail was conceived by a complete nutjob named Benton MacKaye. Today people refer to him as a "visionary," but you really only get the visionary title after you're dead. So at the time he was nuttier than low-sugar GORP. How else to explain that he first publicly described his vision in a 1921 edition of The Journal of the American Institute of Architects? Architects! Anyway.
The trail, as conceived by Mackaye, was supposed to go from North Carolina to New Hampshire. Local trail clubs gradually began to build portions of the trail, and in 1925 the Appalachian Trail Conference, of which I am a dues paying member, was formed. Under the auspices of the ATC (auspices? I know what you're thinking. "He MUST be plagerizing this." I'm not! Check my SAT scores! I'm so brilliant people have to look at me through a piece of cardboard with a tiny hole in the center so as not to go blind! Now where was I? Ahh, yes, auspices . . .) Under the auspices of the ATC and its president, Myron Avery, construction of the trail really got going, and it was completed in 1937. The trail, measuring 2,025 miles, was an incredible feat of organization, a tremendous example of hard work, a heartening display of volunteerism, and, more than anything, showed that man could triumph over his own selfish nature, the excesses of the Twenties, and the Depression of the Thirties. Before everyone got a chance to get all smug, the trail was overgrown, displaced, demolished, and unusable.
Following World War II, while some members of "The Greatest Generation" were going insane with consumerism ("I NEED a car and a fridge and a television and a 'fill-in-the-blank-with-something-better-than-what-the-neighbor-has.'") Where was I? Ahhh, the Greatest Generation. You know, I can't help but think that the greatest generation was actually the generation of Spaniards who brought the Reconquista to a close and then went on to discover, take over, and colonize the Americas. They're the reason the Irish eat potatoes, for crissakes! Now I'm completely lost. Hang on while I reread the beginning of this paragraph.
Got it.
In 1948 Earl Shaffer completed the first ever thru-hike of the trail, using road maps. Road maps! And at the time, remember, roadmaps were free! He finished his hike the very same month that a magazine released an interview with Avery, who said that it was impossible to hike the trail end to end continuously. Or maybe I'm just making that part up. But the bit with the road maps -- 'struth!
In the 60's and 70's, many, many people were stoned out of their gourds. But that's not the whole story. Also during this time period the government directed the National Park Service to attempt, insofar as it was possible, to create a corridor of protected public land for the trail.
Today, no one seems to have a clue about how long the trail actually is. Some publications give multiple conflicting distances within pages of one another. Some people prefer to say, in an attempt not to be wrong, "longer than 2,000 miles." I have also seen "just under 2,200 miles." I prefer to say, "bigger than a breadbox, and, now that I think about it, ALSO bigger than the Empire State Building."
What no one disputes is that it begins at Springer Mountain, Georgia and ends at Katahdin, Maine. Actually, that's not true. Some will say it ends at Baxter Peak. These people are being nitpicky. They argue over whether it's "Denali" or "McKinley." Others will say it ends at Mount Katahdin. These people didn't understand the redundancy of the title of the syndicated version of "CHiPs" called "CHiPs Patrol."
Ultimately, what no one disputes is that this page has wasted a good five minutes of your time. I apologize. Unless you're at work. In that case, you're welcome.