The Appalachian Trail spans 2,190 miles, from Georgia to Maine. While several million people hike on the trail every year, only around 3,000 attempt to hike the entire trail in one season.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy keeps track of these “2000 Milers” every year. In 2025, 834 hikers earned that designation, joining the more than 20,000 who have met that goal. The hikers come from dozens of countries and range in age from their 20s to 70s.
In 1948, one man was the first to hike the entire trail, 11 years after the AT was completed in 1937. Who was he?
Earl V. Shaffer became the first person to hike the entire trail in one-month period. A World War II vet, he said his goal was to “walk the Army out of his system.”
Earl wrote a book about his experience, “Walking with Spring,” which is still available and includes his photographs from that walk. He walked the AT again in 1965 and in 1998 to mark the 50th anniversary of his first walk. He was 79. His journal and hiking boots are in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
One of the most remarkable stories of hiking the AT is that of the first woman to walk to trail as a solo hiker. At the age of 67, Emma Gatewood walked the entire trail wearing a pair of tennis shoes and carrying a small knapsack. She had 11 children and 23 grandchildren, and left her home in Ohio after telling them she was going for a walk.
You can read about Emma in the book, “Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail.“
– The Travel 100 staff
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