Date: 2007-01-12
To: What Is the Appalachian Trail?
Miles today: 0.0

The Appalachian Trail or simply The A.T., is a 2,175-mile hiking trail extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. Along the way, the trail passes through North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. The trail was originally conceived by Benton MacKaye, a forester who wrote his original plan shortly after the death of his wife in 1921. MacKaye's utopian idea detailed a grand trail that would connect a series of farms and wilderness work/study camps for city-dwellers. On October 7, 1923, the first section of the trail, from Bear Mountain west through Harriman State Park to Arden, New York, was opened. The trail was completed in 1937. It fell into disrepair during World War II, when Trail maintainers were unable to work on it, and parts of the route were lost. After the war, a concerted effort was made to restore it, and it was once again declared complete in 1951. Two-inch by six-inch vertical white paint marks (known as "Blazes") mark the trail. Blazes are painted on trees, signs, roads and any visible object a hiker could see. The A.T. is currently protected along more than 99% 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 sity federal, state, local parks, forests and crosses hundreds of roads.In 1948, Earl Shaffer of York, Pennsylvania, completed the first documented thru-hike. Since then, over 9,000 hikers have reported walking the entire trail. Throughout the length of the trail there are shelters and camp sites available for hikers. The shelters, sometimes called lean-tos or huts, are generally open, three-walled structures with a wooden floor. Shelters are spaced less than a day's hike apart, most often near a water source and with a privy. They generally have spaces for tent sites in the vicinity, as well. In addition to official AT shelters, many persons offer their homes, places of business, or inns to accommodate AT hikers. The Appalachian Trail is home to literally thousands of species of plant and animal, of air, land and sea. This list includes 2,000 different rare, threatened, endangered, and sensitive plant and animal species. Mice are perhaps the most frequently encountered "wildlife" found along the trail (especially in shelters), though deer, wild ponies, bears, moose, rattle snakes and many other animals are frequently encountered by hikers.Trail hikers who are attempting to complete the entire trail in a single season are termed thru-hikers; those who traverse the trail during a series of separate trips are known as "section-hikers." The trail's rugged terrain and cold weather conditions during the spring and fall make thru-hiking an extremely demanding experience. Only about 20% of those who make the attempt actually report to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy that they have done so. Completion of the trail generally requires five to seven months, although some have done it in as little as three months, and several "trail runners" have completed the trail in less time. Thru-hikers are classified into many informal groups. "Purists" are hikers who stick to the official AT trail, make a conscious effort to not miss any of the Trail, and do not use the side trails that can cut miles from the route. "Blue Blazers" take side trails marked by blue blazes. "Yellow Blazers" hitchhike. This last name (which may derive from yellow road stripes or the slang meaning of "yellow" for scared) generally carries a negative connotation.Some additional fun facts:- Lowest elevation: 124 feet. - Highest elevation: 6,625 feet. - There are 165,000 blazes along the length of the Trail. - Elevation changes along the A.T. is equivilant to ascending and descending Mt. Everest 16 times.- Some of the worlds most severe weather on record occurs along the A.T., including the highest recorded wind gust on the planet (231 mph on Mt. Washington, NH).- It takes approximately 5 million footsteps to walk the entire length of the Trail.