Earl Shaffer at Smithsonian

[Daniel Eagan]

Hope this hasn't already been posted:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/documentsgallery/exhibitions/appalachian_trail_1.html

Online portion of a Smithsonian exhibit "Earl Shaffer and the Appalachian Trail." A few photos and diary excerpts.

Also mentioned here: http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/osaycanyousee/2010/07/discover-unexpected-treasures.html

which has a beautiful vintage color photo of New Hampshire.

 

[MindlessMariachi]

great link. I had hoped to meet Earl on my AT thruhike in 2002 - I met lots of hikers who had met him over the years. Apparently he would pop up at hiker haunts along the trail, and could sometimes be found walking along on the trail. I was in a town in probably Virginia and picked up a newspaper to find that he had died. Anyway, his book Calling Me Back to the Hills is really cool - he wrote it about his 1998 thru-hike, which he did 50 years after his first.