Earl Shaffer's missing sections in 1948

[rickb]

Oh good grief. Who cares? Worry about your own hike, not someone else's. Seriously.

Not sure "worry" is the best word to use in this context, but the curators atthe Smithsonian Institution have cataloged a great deal on Earl Shaffer's historic hike, and even created a display.

So they cared about the hike.

[Ender]

Not sure "worry" is the best word to use in this context, but the curators atthe Smithsonian Institution have cataloged a great deal on Earl Shaffer's historic hike, and even created a display.

So they cared about the hike.

Semantics. It's a thread with a bunch of people nattering like little old gossips about someone else's hike.

[paistes5]

This is a great thread for all the tim foil hat wearing crowd. How about we debate whether we landed on the moon or not?

[ki0eh]

Did the fellow who wrote his analysis of Earl's hike care enough that it got out there that he paid AT Troll for the blue link?

[vamelungeon]

If you make a claim of something and if you write books about it, your claim and writings become open for discussion. Why this is problematic for some I don't know. This IS a discussion forum after all.

[Jack Tarlin]

I doubt there's anyone on this board who liked and respected Ear Shaffer as much as I did (and still do), but Vamelungeon's comment above is absolutely correct. On open discussion forums, things get openly discussed, and that's how it should be.

[Kaptain Kangaroo]

If you make a claim of significance.......the first, the fastest etc. then you must expect your claim to undergo close scrutiny & also to be held to a high standard.

Earl's hike was a not some random, non-significant hike like mine (well not significant to anyone but me). It was a milestone in the history of the trail. Earl claimed that his was the first thru-hike & it is entirely appropriate that such a claim is open for discussion.

[rickb]

Seems to me the ATC has chosen its words carefully when it states that Earl Shaffer was the first to REPORT a thru hike.

If Earl Shaffer did not hike the entire Trail, that hardly diminishes his accomplishment. The same can be said for many hikers who walk (mostly) from Georgia to Maine on something less than a rigorously defined path.

In Shaffer's case his accomplishment was something special not so much for the physical feat or blazes passed, as because it inspired others to not only walk the AT but to love it.

Another accomplishment (and a far greater one, I am sure all will agree) is that the AT got completed at all. Obviously this was the work of many-- it was the result of not only hard work but represented the alignment of different visions all coming together.

Central to all those visions was the idea that the trail would be a defined and marked footpath however. It was always to be more than a collection of separate trails running up and down the Appalachians. Even those sections running through towns had to be blazed and became part of the AT.

In other words, when it comes to the AT, the whole is and always has been more important that than the sum of its parts.

As such, I think there is something inherently cool about someone walking the entire marked trail. Not so much because of what it says about the person hiking it, but for what it says about all the volunteers who put their time an sweat into buliding it and what THEY accomplished. And for what it says about the trail itself.

How much of the Trail that Earl Shaffer hiked may not be important at this point. But I do think it is important that there was person out there who really did thru hike the entire AT. It would be cool to know who he was, and to celebrate the trail thought that "first" as well.

On the other hand, perhaps its more poetic that that the first person to thru hike the ENTIRE trail remains anonymous to history. Like most hikers.

[10-K]

I'm still waiting to find out how many angels can dance on the head of a pin....

[Wil]

I do think it is important that there was person out there who really did thru hike the entire AT. It would be cool to know who he was.

His name was Earl Shaffer. You may have heard of him.

In the context of that time, he hiked the entire AT. Things have changed. Did Columbus land on the American continent in 1492? No. But he is celebrated nonetheless, properly, as is Earl Shaffer. Life is too short to spend time quibbling.

[MedicineMan]

My first thought was ~~humorous ok so dont freek~~ strip him of the gold and give it to Gene, but then some lawyer will be picking through ever turd he dropped.
Then I remembered what Sgt.Rock said one day (paraphrase so help me here Rock) that anyone who walks from Ga to Me even on an interstate deserves a round of applause.
So I have to wonder-was 'thru-hike' even defined until Earl defined it? Do we name (or did the hikers of the times) name something that was considered impossible?
After reading the article and enough of the report to get the ghist if anyone asks me who was the first I'm still going to say Earl....but I was glad to be reminded at Avery was the first 2000 miler
Great thread overall.

[bfayer]

...So I have to wonder-was 'thru-hike' even defined until Earl defined it? Do we name (or did the hikers of the times) name something that was considered impossible?

That's what I was thinking what was the accepted definition of AT Thur Hike in 1948? Pheidippides ran the first marathon without a shoe tag so how do we really know for sure if he ran the whole thing, maybe he caught a ride on an ox cart for a few miles, maybe he cut a switchback or two

While we are at it I would like to reevaluate every home-run in Major League baseball that was hit on a field with less than 400 feet in center field. (Sorry Boston)

Historic events should be evaluated in the context of the time they occur. The concept of an AT purest did not exist in 1948.

[MedicineMan]

I'd like to hear HammockHanger chime in....memories tells me on the ECT she dealth with huge road walks and trail that really wasn't trail....

[Ender]

The concept of an AT purest did not exist in 1948.

I wish it didn't exist now either.

[Sly]

Seems to me the ATC has chosen its words carefully when it states that Earl Shaffer was the first to REPORT a thru hike.


How much of the Trail that Earl Shaffer hiked may not be important at this point. But I do think it is important that there was person out there who really did thru hike the entire AT. It would be cool to know who he was, and to celebrate the trail thought that "first" as well.

Isn't that what every thru-hiker since Earl has done, REPORT their thru-hike?

Gene Espy? I doubt it, he had many of the same obstacles as Earl. Chester? No way, I doubt it was marked for southbounders. Wait, wasn't Myron Avery a southbounder? Grandma Gatewood? Earl said she was a fraud, and it takes one to know one. Ed Garvey? Wasn't he partial to blue?

Who knows, it was probably Warren Doyle that was first to hike the ENTIRE trail.

[rgarling]

...Grandma Gatewood? Earl said she was a fraud, and it takes one to know one....

Perhaps we can cut each of these characters some slack. I found this comment by Jack Tarlin:

According to the late Earl Shaffer, who was absolutely in a position to know, Ms. Gatewood's accomplishments, especially in so far as actually hiking all the miles she claimed, are actually open to debate. In the presence of a roomful of witnesses at the Ruck hiker Gathering in January of 2002, when overhearing a discussion of her travels and subsequent fame, Earl had this to say: "Grandma Gatewood was a fraud!"

I am credibly informed that while his listeners were shocked, no one dared dispute this at the time, and Earl provided several examples to corroborate his remark. Apparently, on more than one occasion, even tho he was far ahead of her on the Trail, she magically managed to beat him to camp or town, and there was no question in Earl's mind how she managed to do so.

I include this not to slam Ms. Gatewood, but merely to provide another perspective. According to Earl, at any rate, the phenomena of blue-blazing, trail-skipping, and mileage padding is not limited to recent times.

Given the information we now have about how Earl approached his hike, it is possible that this could be explained this possibility: He was off the trail a bit, bushwacking his way along the 'missing' trail, while Grandma Gatewood actually knew where the trail was because she had the guidebooks.

[Sly]

Perhaps we can cut each of these characters some slack. I found this comment by Jack Tarlin:


Given the information we now have about how Earl approached his hike, it is possible that this could be explained this possibility: He was off the trail a bit, bushwacking his way along the 'missing' trail, while Grandma Gatewood actually knew where the trail was because she had the guidebooks.

Ummm, it was meant as a joke, but do we know Grandma Gatebook had guidebooks, never got lost and never missed sections of trail? It's impossible to know for sure so this entire conversation is meaningless.

[MedicineMan]

Sly I enjoyed your post #115 but meaningless, nah, all this reinforces that the concept of a 'thru' is like religion and honor-a very personal decision and reminds me of a hike with my 82 year old Scoutmaster 4 or 5 years ago to a peak near my house....from there you can see points along roughly 70 miles of the trail...I said 'well Earl came right through here' and my Scoutmaster replied 'he was nowhere near here' then explained to me where the trail was at the time relative to the present location. So some readers of this thread may be completely new to the huge history of the trail and are now getting some insight into its placement over time despite the wonders of purism.

[hikerboy57]

medicine man, I think you're right. The report is excellent from a historical context, and seeing how much the route has changed over time..I think at this point it no longer matters who was the first pure thru hiker. Im not sure we can ever be sure who walked every step of the AT without GPS tracking.But the thread has introduced quite a few characters that few were aware of before.Theres almost as much reserach on this thread as the report itself.

[MedicineMan]

An emphatic yes that this thread has been a fantastic learning opportunity for us that are in love with this trail and like all the details (good and bad)...and personally I felt quite happy and justified blue blazing to Humpback Rock in SNP knowing it was the old trail (in fact under the blue you could still see remains of the white blazes). And a lot of us old timers remember hiking the Iron Mtn trail when it was the AT. Now in Vermont I missed a 3 mile section due to a creek that was transformed into a 20 yard class IV river-had to hike back to the nearest road and hitched to the next road crossing.....and yes I'm going back to fill that in!
Earl was a pioneer, to me just as much kin to the first who walked on the moon...space blazing? I don't care how they got there since there were creating a route as they went, just glad they got back and just as glad Earl had the guts togo for it.