The Trail

The Appalachian Trail, or the A.T., is a hiking trail that extends from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine. It stretches 2,175 miles across the Blue Ridge Mountain Range up to the Northern Appalachians. In 1921 Benton MacKaye conceived of a trail connecting small farms and wilderness areas for city dwellers. Sections of the trail were completed during the ’20s under MacKay’s direction. By 1930, Arthur Perkins and Myron Avery took up the cause, extending its length and connecting pieces. Avery became the first hiker to hike the trail end-to-end, but it was not until Earl Shaffer hiked the trail in 1948 that it was completed in one trip. This is known as a thru-hike or a thru-hiker. Today the trail is protected and maintained by the National Park Service and over thirty volunteer based organizations dedicated to conservation.

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The A.T. is designed to be hiked providing over 200 shelters at regular intervals and connecting small towns making re-supply convenient and easy. The Trail is recognizably marked with 2×6 inch white blazes making navigation simple. Every year approximately 1500 people set out to thru-hike the A.T. every year though only roughly 300 complete the trek.

There are many approaches to hiking the trail, but the most common is a south to north approach, also known as NOBO (northbound) or GAME (Georgia to Maine). The trip begins in early spring and follows the warm weather north, reaching the summit of Mount Katahdin in the fall. Some hikers will begin the trip in Maine and hike south in an effort to avoid the northbound crowds. However the approach, to thru-hike requires four to six months of physical and mental stamina and a desire to escape civilization.