SavageLlama
09-17-2004, 21:45
Just finished "Walking With Spring" - Earl Shaffer's book about his first legendary thru-hike of the AT. Fascinating to read about how different the AT was back in 1948. (I never knew it started on Mt. Ogelthorpe, not Springer, back then)
There are some really great photos in the book but Earl writes about taking many more. Anyone know if they still exist? Or where they can be found? :confused:
I was lucky enough to get to watch Earl's slideshow when he presented it at Trailfest in Hot Springs before his last thru-hike. Yes, he did have some amazing photos (even more amazing when you consider that he actually developed some of his slides on the trail himself!)
I heard that Earl donated many items to the Smithsonian and I think his slides may have been part of the collection, but I can't say this with 100% certainty. If they didn't go to the Smithsonian then my guess would be that his brother still has them. I wonder if anyone ever made an audio recording of Earl speaking while showing his slides, or a video recording that included audio, it would be a wonderful thing if these slides could be scanned, combined with Earl's words and made available on DVD or CD-ROM. Maybe someday.