I just clicked on the blue link to James's W McNeely's 164 page report on the actual route of Earl Shaffer's reported thru hike and was taken aback by the amount of research that went into the project, and the level of detail he provides. Are there any on-line discussion here on WB or elsewhere regarding this project? Given the many, many miles of Trail that Earl Shaffer seems to have missed, and the rides he is said to have accepted to move further down the AT, I would imagine this research has garnered a great deal of attention.