A few short years after the hiking trails from Maine to Georgia were connected into the world’s longest hiking-only footpath, a WWII vet walked the whole thing in one go. He kicked off a challenge that’s still taken on by thousands of people each year.
# Stuff You Should Know: The Appalachian Trail
Get ready for a deep dive into one of America's most iconic hiking destinations—the 2,194-mile Appalachian Trail stretching from Georgia to Maine. Josh and Chuck explore the fascinating history behind how visionary Benton Mackay dreamed up this interconnected trail system in the 1920s, and how the famously stubborn attorney Myron Avery actually made it happen by completing the trail in just seven years. You'll learn about the incredible feat of Earl Schaefer becoming the first person to through-hike the entire trail in 1948 with just a poncho and paper maps, plus some surprising facts about what it really takes to tackle this beast—from the staggering 464,500 feet of elevation gain and loss to practical advice about gear, food, costs, and the real dangers (spoiler: you're statistically safer on the AT than living in regular America).
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