As president and CEO of Heritage Retirement Advisors in San Diego, California, Brian Gibbs is an experienced retirement planning professional and tax reduction planner. Outside of work, Brian Gibbs enjoys traveling and hiking in his free time.
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail commonly called the Appalachian trail or AT, is the lengthiest hikers-only trail in the world. This mountain trail in eastern America runs 2,193 miles from Mount Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia, although the distance varies yearly due to new improvements and routes. The Appalachian Trail is one of three main long-distance trails in the United States.
The Appalachian trail was proposed in 1921 by Benton MacKaye, a conservationist and regional planner for Massachusetts. MacKaye published a paper in the Journal of the American Institute of Architects titled “An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning.” This paper laid out a strategic blueprint and illustrated the potential sociological benefits of the trail.
In 1922, MacKaye’s idea was publicized by an article in the New York Evening Post, and by October 1923, the first section of the trail, which ran from Bear mountain to Arden, New York, was opened to the public. In 1925, MacKaye held a two-day Appalachian trail conference in D.C, which identified the trail as a hiking-specific trail. The conference also led to the formation of the Appalachian Trail Conference(now referred to as the Appalachian Trail Conservancy)
The Appalachian trail was constructed through a combined effort of volunteers from the civilian conservation corps, federal agencies, and various hiking clubs, all coordinated by the Appalachian Trail Conference. They completed construction in 1937, but in 1938, a hurricane severely demolished parts of the trail shortly after.
In 1948, a man named Earl Schaffer claimed the first public thru-hike by hiking the entire Appalachian trail in one season. This gave rise to a great deal of publicity, and soon more people began to do the same. In 1968, the trail became a part of the National Trail System established by Congress.
The Appalachian Trail runs through 14 states along the Appalachian mountain range, and hiking the entire trail takes five to seven months. With five hundred and fifty miles, the state of Virginia encompasses over a quarter of the trail, passing through Chesapeake, the Ohio Canal National History park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Shenandoah National Park. Hikers find this route challenging due to heavy spring rainfall.
Another popular route runs along the state lines from Tennessee to North Carolina, passing through soaring peaks such as the Standing Indian Mountain, the Nantahala outdoor center, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The summit of Clingman’s dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National park is the highest point of the Appalachian Trail at 6,643 feet.
The White Mountains of New Hampshire are known among hikers for being some of the toughest landscapes along the Appalachian Trail, as some facets of the trail here go above the treeline. The Mahoosuc Notch, along the trail in Maine, is known among hikers as the trail’s hardest mile. The Hundred-Mile Wilderness, also in Maine, is the most deserted path on the Appalachian Trail. With only four miles, West Virginia has the shortest path on the Appalachian Trail.
The Appalachian Trail is protected and preserved by 31 trail clubs. It is managed by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the United States forest service, and the National Park Service. Every year, over three million people hike through the trail.
Brian Gibbs (San Diego) 