The routes, and who drew them
A regional planner proposed it before anyone walked it
Benton MacKaye laid out the Appalachian Trail in 1921 as an argument about labour and land, not a route for hikers — yet what he described became the template for every long trail that followed.
The Benton MacKaye Trail near Wilscot, Georgia — the route that carries his name.
Photo: Benton MacKaye Trail near Wilscot · Wikimedia Commons
Wildcat Ridge on the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, White Mountain National Forest.
Photo: Wildcat D and E Mountain Peak Wildcat Ridge Trail Appalachian National Scenic Trail view White Mountain National Forest Eastern White Mountains · Wikimedia Commons
1921 · 1948 · under five kilos
The year a trail was written down before it existed
MacKaye published the proposal in the Journal of the American Institute of Architects. The trail was declared complete sixteen years later.
The first reported end-to-end walk
Earl Shaffer reported walking Georgia to Maine unbroken at a time when the idea was not thought possible. The Conference doubted him.
One walker's argument cut the load by three quarters
Ray Jardine treated every item as optional until proven otherwise, and took base weight from around twenty kilos to under five.
An Appalachian Trail white blaze in winter.
Photo: Appalachian Trail Blaze · Wikimedia Commons
How a route tells you where it goes
Two inches by six, painted on a tree
A fixed size, a fixed spacing, and a double mark that means the route turns. Above the treeline the paint runs out and stacked stone takes over.
Who keeps the paint wet
Supported by
Two groups of four. Marks and names only.
Fourteen states
Georgia to Maine, and the five places on it this site covers
The trail runs the length of the range rather than across it, which is why the completed route is roughly twice the length of the mountain spine MacKaye estimated in 1921.
Numbered south to north, in walking order
Twenty kilos to five
The ultralight argument, and what it traded.