Editing Appalachian Trail (section)

==History==
[[File:AppalachianTrailInMaineCompletionMarker.jpg|thumb|Marker on the trail near [[Sugarloaf Mountain (Franklin County, Maine)|Sugarloaf Mountain]] in [[Maine]]]]
The trail was conceived by [[Benton MacKaye]], a forester who wrote his original plan—called "An Appalachian Trail, A Project in Regional Planning"<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nelson |first=Garrett Dash |date=2019-04-04 |title=An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning |url=https://placesjournal.org/article/an-appalachian-trail-a-project-in-regional-planning/ |journal=Places Journal |issue=2019 |language=en-US |doi=10.22269/190404 |s2cid=134414991 |access-date=November 10, 2021 |archive-date=November 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110172536/https://placesjournal.org/article/an-appalachian-trail-a-project-in-regional-planning/ |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=jasonmiller>{{cite journal|last1=Miller|first1=D. Jason|title=BackPacked Architecture: The Appalachian Trail and Its "Primitive Huts"|journal=Journal of Appalachian Studies|date=Fall 2015|volume=21|issue=2|pages=247–262|doi=10.5406/jappastud.21.2.0247}}</ref>—shortly after his wife's death in 1921. MacKaye's idea detailed a grand trail that would connect a series of farms and wilderness work/study camps for city-dwellers along the Appalachian Mountains from the highest point in the North ([[Mount Washington]] in New Hampshire) to the highest in the South ([[Mount Mitchell]] in North Carolina). Hiking was an incidental focus of his plan.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.appalachiantrail.org/about-the-trail/history |title=Appalachian Trail Conservancy - History |date=April 29, 2011 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429032220/http://www.appalachiantrail.org/about-the-trail/history |archive-date=29 April 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1922, at the suggestion of Major [[William A. Welch]], director of the [[Palisades Interstate Park Commission]], his idea was publicized by [[Raymond H. Torrey]] with a story in the ''[[New York Evening Post]]'' under a large headline reading "A Great Trail from Maine to Georgia"<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of the Appalachian Trail |url=https://visitmadisoncounty.com/history-of-the-appalachian-trail/ |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=Visit Madison County, NC {{!}} Tourism Development Authority |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Torrey |first=Raymond H. |date=7 April 1922 |title=Outings---A Great Trail from Maine to Georgia |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Harriman/comments/u2zwq6/a_story_in_the_new_york_evening_post_a_fullpage/#lightbox |work=[[New York Evening Post]] |pages=9}}</ref>

On October 7, 1923, the first section of the trail, from [[Bear Mountain State Park|Bear Mountain]] west through [[Harriman State Park (New York)|Harriman State Park]] to [[Arden, New York]], was opened. MacKaye then called for a two-day Appalachian Trail conference to be held in March 1925 in Washington, D.C. This meeting inspired the formation of the Appalachian Trail Conference (now called the [[Appalachian Trail Conservancy]]) (ATC).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.appalachiantrail.org/about-the-trail/history |title=Appalachian Trail Conservancy - History |work=appalachiantrail.org |access-date=July 16, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429032220/http://www.appalachiantrail.org/about-the-trail/history |archive-date=April 29, 2011 }}</ref> [[Arthur Perkins (Connecticut judge)|Arthur Perkins]], a retired judge, and his younger associate [[Myron Avery]] took up the cause. In 1929, Perkins, who was also a member of the [[Connecticut Forest and Park Association]] and its Blue Blazed Trails committee, found [[Nestell Kipp Anderson|Ned Anderson]], a farmer in [[Sherman, Connecticut]], who took on the task of mapping and [[Trail blazing|blazing]] the [[Connecticut]] leg of the trail (1929–1933). It ran from [[County Route 22 (Dutchess County, New York)|Dog Tail Corners]] in [[Dover, New York|Webatuck, New York]], which borders [[Kent, Connecticut]], at Ashley Falls, {{convert|50|mi}} through the northwest corner of the state, up to [[Bear Mountain (Connecticut)|Bear Mountain]] at the [[Massachusetts]] state line.{{sfn|Tomaselli|2009|pp=47–61}} A portion of the Connecticut trail has since been rerouted (1979–1983) to be more scenic, adhering less to highways and more to wilderness, and includes the Ned K. Anderson Memorial Bridge.{{sfn|Tomaselli|2009|pp=67-75}}

Anderson's efforts helped spark renewed interest in the trail, and Avery, who led the project after Perkins's death in 1932, was able to bring other states on board. Upon taking over the ATC, Avery adopted the goal to build a simple hiking trail. He and MacKaye clashed over the ATC's response to the construction of a road that overlapped part within Shenandoah National Park;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Adkins|first=Leonard M.|title=Along Virginia's Appalachian Trail|date=2009|publisher=Arcadia Pub|others=Appalachian Trail Conservancy.|isbn=978-0-7385-6630-6|location=Charleston, SC|pages=8|oclc=489457380}}</ref> MacKaye left the organization, while Avery was willing to reroute the trail. Avery served as Chair of the ATC from 1932 to 1952, the year he died.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.patc.us/history/archive/avery.html|title=Potomac Appalachian Trail Club - Myron Avery Portrait Of A President|website=www.patc.us|access-date=December 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170523005540/http://www.patc.us/history/archive/avery.html|archive-date=May 23, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://appalachiantrailhistory.org/exhibits/show/builders/mavery|title=Appalachian Trail Histories {{!}} Myron Avery · Builders|website=appalachiantrailhistory.org|access-date=2020-01-29|archive-date=January 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126212926/http://appalachiantrailhistory.org/exhibits/show/builders/mavery|url-status=live}}</ref> He was the first to walk the trail end-to-end, though not as a thru-hike, in 1936. In August 1937, the trail was completed to [[Sugarloaf Mountain (Franklin County, Maine)|Sugarloaf Mountain]] in Maine, and the ATC shifted its focus toward protecting the trail lands and mapping the trail for hikers.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

In 1977, the Appalachian Trail Conference honored [[Paul M. Fink]] as "the guiding influence" in establishing the Trail in Tennessee and North Carolina in the 1920s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://collections.library.appstate.edu/findingaids/ac174|title=Guide to the Paul M. Fink Papers, 1663 - 1974, undated &#124; Special Collections at Belk Library|website=collections.library.appstate.edu|access-date=July 2, 2019|archive-date=July 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702150705/http://collections.library.appstate.edu/findingaids/ac174|url-status=live}}</ref> Fink was inducted into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame in 2019.<ref>{{cite news |title=2019 Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame inductees announced |url=https://cumberlink.com/news/local/appalachian-trail-hall-of-fame-inductees-announced/article_741737b1-4cb8-5cd2-ba02-a08b820eb01b.html |publisher=The Sentinel |date=April 1, 2019 |access-date=July 2, 2019 |archive-date=July 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702151909/https://cumberlink.com/news/local/appalachian-trail-hall-of-fame-inductees-announced/article_741737b1-4cb8-5cd2-ba02-a08b820eb01b.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1922, only a year after MacKaye's article proposing an Appalachian Trail was written, Fink began corresponding with hiking leaders in New England about building the Trail. When Avery began planning the Trail's route in the south, Fink was the first person he contacted.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.atmuseum.org/2019-class.html|title=2019 Class|website=Appalachian Trail Museum|access-date=July 2, 2019|archive-date=July 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702151910/https://www.atmuseum.org/2019-class.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Many of the trail's present highlights were not part of the trail in 1937: [[Roan Mountain (Roan Highlands)|Roan Mountain]], North Carolina and Tennessee; the [[Mount Rogers (Virginia)|Mount Rogers]] high country, including [[Grayson Highlands State Park|Grayson Highlands]], Virginia; the [[Pochuck Creek]] swamp, New Jersey; Nuclear Lake, New York; Thundering Falls, Vermont; and [[Saddleback Mountain (Rangeley, Maine)|Saddleback Mountain]], Maine. Except for places where the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] was brought in (mostly in [[Shenandoah National Park]], the [[Great Smoky Mountains]], and Maine), the original trail often climbed straight up and down mountains, creating rough hiking conditions and a treadway prone to severe erosion. The ATC's trail crews and volunteer trail-maintaining clubs have relocated or rehabilitated miles of trail since then.<ref name=anniversary>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609073440/http://www.appalachiantrail.org/promo/75th-anniversary|url=https://www.appalachiantrail.org/promo/75th-anniversary|archive-date=June 9, 2012|title=75th Anniversary of the Completion of the Appalachian Trail|year=2012|publisher=[[Appalachian Trail Conservancy]]|access-date=September 1, 2016}}</ref>

In 1936, a 121-day Maine to Georgia veteran's group funded and supported thru-hike was reported to have been completed, with all but three miles of the new trail cleared and blazed, by six [[Scouting in New York|Boy Scouts]] from [[New York City]] and their guides.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.backcountry.net/arch/at/0206/msg00818.html|title=[at-l] ATN article, 1936 Scout Hike|work=backcountry.net|access-date=July 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220045618/http://www.backcountry.net/arch/at/0206/msg00818.html|archive-date=February 20, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> The thru-hike was much later recorded and accepted by the [[Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association]].<ref>{{cite journal |
url=http://www.aldha.org/newsletr/sum00.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716154128/http://www.aldha.org/newsletr/sum00.pdf |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |title=First Thru Hikers Honored by ATC |journal=The Long Distance Hiker |volume=11 |number=3 |date=Summer 2000 }}</ref> In 1938, the trail sustained major damage from [[1938 New England hurricane|a hurricane]] that went through the New England area. This was soon before the start of World War II, and many of the people working on the trail were called to active duty.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.appalachiantrail.org/home/about-us/history|title=Appalachian Trail Conservancy - History|website=www.appalachiantrail.org|access-date=February 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213135107/http://www.appalachiantrail.org/home/about-us/history|archive-date=February 13, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1948, [[Earl Shaffer]] of [[York, Pennsylvania]], brought a great deal of attention to the project by publicizing the first claimed thru-hike. The claim was later criticized for the hike's omission of significant portions due to shortcuts and car rides.<ref name="roanoke.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.roanoke.com/webmin/news/did-the-man-heralded-as-the-first-to-walk-the/article_08e4e205-f2f3-57ee-8528-d81c148bfb2a.html|title=Did the man heralded as the first to walk the entire Appalachian Trail take a shortcut into history?|first=Laurence|last=Hammack 981-3239|website=Roanoke Times|date=July 2, 2011 |access-date=May 13, 2019|archive-date=May 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513161919/https://www.roanoke.com/webmin/news/did-the-man-heralded-as-the-first-to-walk-the/article_08e4e205-f2f3-57ee-8528-d81c148bfb2a.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://hikinginthesmokys.blogspot.com/2011/07/was-earl-shaffer-first-person-to-thru.html|title=The Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog: Was Earl Shaffer the first person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail?|first=The Smoky Mountain|last=Hiker|date=July 3, 2011|access-date=September 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220090434/http://hikinginthesmokys.blogspot.com/2011/07/was-earl-shaffer-first-person-to-thru.html|archive-date=December 20, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/documentsgallery/exhibitions/appalachian_trail_1.html | title=Smithsonian exhibit on Shaffer's 1948 hike | access-date=December 4, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110630203325/http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/documentsgallery/exhibitions/appalachian_trail_1.html | archive-date=June 30, 2011 | url-status=live | df=mdy-all }}</ref> Shaffer later claimed the first north-to-south thru-hike, the first to claim to do so in each direction.<ref name="Shaffer">{{cite book|last1=Shaffer |first1=Earl Victor |title=Walking with spring : the first thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail |date=1983 |publisher=Appalachian Trail Conference |isbn=9780917953842}}{{page needed|date=October 2011}}</ref> [[Chester Dziengielewski]] was later named the first southbound thru-hiker.<ref name="roanoke.com"/> In 1998, Shaffer, nearly 80 years old, hiked the trail, making him the oldest person to claim a completed thru-hike.<ref name="shaffer">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/12/us/earl-shaffer-first-hike-length-appalachian-trail-both-directions-dies-83.html|title=Earl Shaffer, First to Hike Length of Appalachian Trail in Both Directions, Dies at 83|last=Martin|first=Douglas|date=May 12, 2002|newspaper=NY Times|access-date=November 16, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612170837/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/12/us/earl-shaffer-first-hike-length-appalachian-trail-both-directions-dies-83.html|archive-date=June 12, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>(October 26, 1998), "Etceteras". ''Christian Science Monitor''. '''90''' (232):2</ref> The first woman to walk the trail in a single season was [[Peace Pilgrim]] in 1952, while the first solo woman to complete the hike was 67-year-old [[Emma Gatewood]], who did it northbound in 1955, taking 146 days. She repeated the achievement two years later,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Montgomery|first1=Ben|title=This 67-Year-Old Grandma Was The First Woman To Hike The Appalachian Trail Solo|url=https://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/home/my-67-year-old-grandma-was-the-first-woman-to-hike-the-appalachian-trail-solo|access-date=September 7, 2017|work=Organic Life|publisher=Rodale Inc.|date=July 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907213738/https://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/home/my-67-year-old-grandma-was-the-first-woman-to-hike-the-appalachian-trail-solo|archive-date=September 7, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> and then section-hiked it in 1964.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Seelye |first=Katharine Q. |date=2018-06-27 |title=Overlooked No More: Emma Gatewood, First Woman to Conquer the Appalachian Trail Alone |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/obituaries/grandma-emma-gatewood-overlooked.html |access-date=2025-01-24 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=1964 |url=https://appalachiantrail.org/miler-listings-year/1964/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=Appalachian Trail Conservancy}}</ref>

In the 1960s, the ATC made progress toward protecting the trail from development, thanks to efforts of politicians and officials. Wisconsin senator [[Gaylord Nelson]] offered legislation to protect the route.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Miles|first=Jonathan|date=July 25, 2021|title=Walk this Way: A Biography of the 2,190-mile Path Known as the Appalachian Trail|language=en-US|volume=170|page=14|work=[[The New York Times]]|issue=59130|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/books/review/the-appalachian-trail-philip-danieri.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/books/review/the-appalachian-trail-philip-danieri.html |archive-date=2021-12-28 |url-access=limited|access-date=July 25, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The National Trails System Act of 1968 designated the [[Pacific Crest Trail]] and Appalachian Trail as the first [[National Trails System#National Scenic Trails|national scenic trails]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Elkinton |first=Steven |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XgrpG-WKRR4C&q=Appalachian |title=The National Trails System: a grand experiment |date=2008 |publisher=National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior |pages=10–2 |language=en}}</ref> and paved the way for a series of such trails within the [[National parks (United States)|national park]] and [[National forest (United States)|national forest]] systems.<ref>Seaborg, Eric (July/August 1984), "The Road Less Traveled". ''National Parks''. '''58''' (7/8) :34–35</ref> Trail volunteers worked with the [[National Park Service]] to map a permanent route for the trail, and by 1971 a permanent route had been marked (though minor changes continue to this day). By the close of the 20th century, the Park Service had completed the purchase of all but a few miles of the trail's span.{{cn|date=August 2024}}