The Appalachian Range stretches from the Canadian Border to the edge of the Mississippi for 3,000 miles, and a hiking trail now follows the backbone of this range from Springer Mountain, Georgia, to Mt. Katahdin, Maine, passing through 14 states over a total length of 2,034 miles. The trail was the brainchild of forester and author Barton MacKaye, who mentioned the idea in 1900. The first mile was cut in New York state in 1922 and the last in Maine in 1937. Myron Avery, who started in Maine in the 1920’s and finished in 1936, was the first to hike its entire length and helped MacKaye turn the idea into reality. During the first 11 years of the trail’s existence, only 6 or 7 people had walked its entire length, each over a period of years, and it was generally thought impossible to cover the full distance in one hike. Earl Shaffer was the first to walk its entire length in one trip, covering the distance south to north in 1948 in 124 days, averaging 16 ½ miles per day. Seventeen years later, at age 46, he reversed direction, averaged 20 ½ miles per day, and reduced his total time by 5 weeks. More than 1000 hikers have now walked the entire length in one season, with the number growing yearly. The Appalachian Trail is now a National Scenic Trail under state and federal protection. In New Hampshire, it crosses the Franconia Notch Parkway not far from this spot, and many hikers report the 154 miles through New Hampshire’s White Mountains as the most rugged section of the trail because of steep terrain and severe weather conditions.