Issue Date: September 21, 2008

The Appalachian Trail: A national wonder

Stroll through these 10 fun facts about one of our first National Scenic Trails.

by Martin Mazloom

Throughout the 20th century, the American people mustered their grit to achieve bold endeavors of lasting significance: building the Golden Gate Bridge, helping to destroy Nazi tyranny, sending men to the moon and expanding American commerce -- everything from Big Macs to iMacs -- all over the world. But American pluck achieved something else truly remarkable in the last century, which continues to provide solace, joy and wonder to countless souls. Quite simply, it is a footpath. A very long footpath.

Its name is the Appalachian Trail.

More than 2,175 miles long -- about the distance between Los Angeles and Chicago -- the Appalachian Trail (also called "the AT") winds through 14 states, from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. America's longest marked footpath, the AT passes through such stunning landscapes as the 100 Mile Wilderness in Maine, the Presidential Range in New Hampshire and Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Since the Appalachian Trail was completed in 1937, millions of people have trod some section of the trail, but just over 10,000 persons have been recorded as having hiked the full length of it.

Forty years ago in October, Congress passed the National Trails System Act. The act officially recognized the Appalachian Trail as one of America's first National Scenic Trails and placed it under federal authority for protection.

To celebrate the anniversary, we've gathered some compelling facts about the AT. We hope they'll move you to abandon your love of labor sometime soon and look instead to finding renewal on this great American labor of love.

In 1921, former Forest Service employee Benton MacKaye proposed the radical idea of a hiking trail extending along the Appalachian Mountains. Later that decade, admiralty lawyer Myron Avery of Washington, D.C., came on board to help with the project. Sadly, he and MacKaye had different visions about the AT and clashed. MacKaye left the project, but Avery saw the AT through to its completion in 1937.

The AT is managed cooperatively by a number of governmental and private organizations, including the National Park Service, the USDA Forest Service and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, an 83-year-old non-profit organization. Volunteers are crucial to the AT's preservation: About 6,000 volunteers spend some 200,000 hours each year maintaining the trail.

Every year, 3 million to 4 million people hike some part of the Appalachian Trail. But only a small number -- usually less than 2,000 -- attempt to hike the entire trail, which can take five to seven months. About one in four makes it the whole way.

About 165,000 white "blazes" -- 2-by-6-inch paint marks on trees, posts and rocks -- mark the direction of the trail.

Two-thirds of the U.S. population live within a day's drive of the AT.

It takes about 5 million footsteps to complete the entire length of the Appalachian Trail.

In 1948, Earl V. Shaffer became the first reported person to walk the whole trail in a single trip. He chronicled his 123-day journey in his book Walking With Spring.

Ten years ago, a best seller by Bill Bryson, "A Walk in the Woods," described his noble but unsuccessful attempt to hike the entire trail with an old friend. Robert Redford is producing a film adaptation of the book and will play Bryson.

The AT is home to more than 2,000 rare, threatened, endangered or sensitive animal and plant species, including the Virginia northern flying squirrel, Shenandoah salamander, Bicknell's thrush and Gray's lily.

Along the AT, hikers can see a plethora of awe-inspiring flora and fauna, including white-tailed deer, moose, black bears, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, loons, trillium and jack-in-the-pulpit.

Martin Mazloom last wrote about asteroids for USA WEEKEND.