A Hiker’s History of the Appalachian Trail with Mills Kelly, Author and A.T. Historian (Ep 82, Pt 1)
November 11, 2025 • 38 mins
The Appalachian Trail is more than a footpath - it’s a living piece of American history. Stretching over 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine, the A.T. winds through some of Virginia’s most beautiful and rugged landscapes. But have you ever wondered how this legendary trail came to be, and who the dreamers, builders, and hikers were that shaped it?
We’re hiking through history with someone who knows the Appalachian Trail like few others do. My friend, Mills Kelly, is a historian, archivist, podcast host, lifelong hiker, and author of the new book, A Hiker’s History of the Appalachian Trail. His book captures the A.T.’s history, not just as a collection of facts and dates, but as a human story about purpose, adventure, and our search for meaning in the mountains.
Mills shares fascinating stories from the trail’s early days and how it has changed over the past century. And when you think about how far we’ve come - from hikers in wool suits carrying canvas packs filled with fresh produce, to today’s ultralight gear and freeze-dried meals - it’s amazing to see how the trail has evolved right alongside us.
Mills reminds us that the A.T. wasn’t built for heroic end-to-end treks, but for ordinary people to breathe easier and feel a little wilder for a few hours or a few days. That simple idea still shapes lives, towns, and trail culture across Virginia and beyond.
The story of the Appalachian Trail is as much about the people and their experiences as it is about the path beneath their feet. So join us as we hike back through time on the world’s most iconic long-distance trail. Let’s Go!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay,
Virginia is a Mecca for outdoortravel and adventure.
Virginia Outdoor AdventuresPodcast is your local guide for
hiking, camping, kayaking,travel, and so much more.
Get the information and theinspiration to plan your own
adventure.
Right here in Virginia.
(00:22):
I'm your host, Jessica Bowser.
The Appalachian Trail is morethan a footpath.
It's a living piece of Americanhistory.
Stretching over 2,000 miles fromGeorgia to Maine, the AT winds
through some of Virginia's mostbeautiful and rugged landscapes.
But have you ever wondered howthis legendary trail came to be
(00:43):
and who the dreamers, builders,and hikers were that shaped it?
We're hiking through historywith someone who knows the
Appalachian Trail like a fewothers do.
My friend Mills Kelly is ahistorian, archivist, podcast
host, lifelong hiker, and authorof the new book, A Hiker's
History of the AppalachianTrail.
His book captures the 80shistory not just as a collection
(01:06):
of facts and dates, but as ahuman story about purpose,
adventure, and our search formeaning in the mountains.
Mill shares fascinating storiesfrom the trail's early days and
how it has changed over the pastcentury.
And when you think about how farwe've come, from hikers in wool
suits carrying canvas packsfilled with fresh produce to
(01:27):
today's ultralight gear andfreeze-dried meals, it's amazing
to see how the trail has evolvedright alongside us.
Mills reminds us that the ATwasn't built for heroic
end-to-end tracks, but forordinary people to breathe
easier and feel a little wilderfor a few hours or a few days.
That simple idea still shapeslives, towns, and trail culture
(01:50):
across Virginia and beyond.
The story of the AppalachianTrail is as much about the
people and their experiences asit is about the path beneath
their feet.
So join us as we hike backthrough time on the world's most
iconic long-distance trail.
Let's go.
Virginia Outdoor Adventures issponsored by Brakes Park and
(02:13):
Heart of Appalachia.
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Stay close to the adventure withlodges, cabins, and campgrounds
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Your next outdoor adventurestarts in the heart of
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Tap the links for Brakes Parkand Heart of Appalachia in your
show notes.
SPEAKER_01 (03:15):
Jessica, thanks so much for having me back.
SPEAKER_00 (03:17):
What do you love about Virginia's outdoors?
SPEAKER_01 (03:20):
Yeah, I mean, I'm a hiker, I'm a kayaker, I'm a
fisherman, I'm an outdoorphotographer, I camp, I
backpack, I volunteer on theAppalachian Trail.
I kind of do it all.
SPEAKER_00 (03:31):
So this is not your first appearance on Virginia
Outdoor Adventures.
You came on the podcast, oh, Idon't know, maybe two seasons
ago or so.
It was episode 43 where youtalked about Virginia's lost
Appalachian Trail.
And that was a super popularepisode.
I got some fantastic feedback,particularly from people who
were surprised to learn thatthere was a section of the AT
(03:53):
that had been rerouted throughVirginia, especially those folks
who live near that portion ofthe AT and didn't even know it
was there.
And just the impact that it hadon the communities.
That was so interesting.
So I'm very excited to have youback to talk about your new
book.
SPEAKER_01 (04:08):
It was just so much fun to be on the show and to
talk about the book and to hearfrom you that the reaction was
so positive from your listenercommunity.
SPEAKER_00 (04:16):
Mills, you are a historian, an archivist, a
podcast host, and also alifelong hiker.
And you've authored a couple ofbooks, and your newest book is
called A Hiker's History of theAppalachian Trail.
What inspired you to write thebook?
SPEAKER_01 (04:32):
It's a book that I started thinking about almost a
decade ago.
And what made me first thinkthat this was the book I wanted
to write was I used to teach acourse at George Mason
University on the history of theAppalachian Trail.
And I wanted a book I couldassign to my students that was
not a walk in the woods by BillBryson and that gave a more
comprehensive history of thehiker experience on the trail.
(04:55):
And there just really wasn'tone.
There were a lot of books aboutthe through hiker experience.
But you know, through hikers areonly, you know, one-tenth of one
percent of all the people whoset foot on the trail every
year.
And so it seemed to me that thatwas only telling a very small
part of the story.
When I looked around, there justreally wasn't a good book that I
could assign to my students.
(05:15):
So, in in part, I was motivatedto write the book because I
wanted something I could usewith my students.
SPEAKER_00 (05:21):
Every time you and I talk about the trail, you are
quick to remind me that lessthan one-tenth of one percent of
all hikers on the AT are throughhikers.
And that's really significant.
So, what would you say thepurpose of the Appalachian Trail
is?
Who is it meant to serve?
SPEAKER_01 (05:37):
So in 1921, when Benton Mackay first came up with
the idea for the AppalachianTrail, he was really concerned
about the health of peopleliving in the big cities of the
East Coast, in particularworking class people.
You know, the cities were loud,they were polluted, we just
gotten out of the influenzapandemic when millions of people
died and the first world war.
He was, you know, it just he wasreally worried about people's
(05:59):
overall health.
And his solution to that wasthat they needed to get some, as
he put it, oxygen in theirlives.
And the way they would do thatwould be going up into the
mountains and hiking andvolunteering to build a hiking
trail.
You know, and so he wasn'twrong.
I mean, hiking in the mountainsis actually really good for you.
And um, just you know, youde-stress, you get some
(06:20):
exercise, it's just good foryou.
And so that was the originalpurpose.
That's been why people go eversince.
There's somewhere between threeand five four million people,
although somebody told meyesterday that the park service
is maybe gonna up that number,all but a tiny, tiny fraction.
There's a couple of thousandpeople who try to through hike.
The rest of them are there for afew hours, maybe a couple of
(06:43):
days, you know, a weekend, maybea week, maybe two weeks, but
almost everybody is just therejust for a couple of hours to
get some oxygen in their lives.
SPEAKER_00 (06:51):
You write in your book that the original trail in
the 1920s was a little more thana hope.
And what did that first versionof the trail look like for
hikers?
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
If you think about it objectively and think, okay,
in 1925, a group of people cametogether and said and formed the
Appalachian Trail Conference,which is now the Appalachian
Trail Conservancy, and theythought, okay, we're gonna do
this, we're gonna build a2,000-mile trail through the
mountains, and but we're justgonna do it on the weekends
because you know, we all havefull-time jobs.
And if you looked back at that,you think, these people were
nuts.
(07:23):
I think that's just not gonnahappen.
In 12 years, it was complete.
And um, so they'd done it.
So it was an incredibleachievement.
But that original trail wasmostly road walking.
Some of it was paved road orgravel road, but a lot of it was
old abandoned roads in themountains, some of which were
fire roads and parks today.
But a lot of them were justroads that you know, farmers who
(07:44):
used to live in the mountainshad made and then abandoned.
Because that was easy.
If you're gonna string together2,000 miles of trail in a hurry,
you take advantage of openwalking areas that already
exist.
So, so really the experience ofthe early days of hiking the
trail was more an experience ofwalking in road beds than it was
walking on a trail like the onewe're used to today.
(08:06):
If you look carefully, you cansee where the ruts are from the
wheels for wet, maybe wagonwheels or truck wheels or
whatever.
And you can see built up on thesides of the trail where people
like got rocks out of the wayand put them on the side of the
trail.
And so if you look carefully,you'll you'll see a lot of it.
And so, you know, you and I havebeen together a number of times
(08:26):
to the Manassas Cab shelter thatI maintain.
That's just located at an oldfarm.
And um, there's a farmhousethere, right where the AT turns
to go down to the shelter,that's where the house was.
That stretch of trail thatfronts where the shelter is,
that's an old roadbed.
SPEAKER_00 (08:42):
One of the things that I really loved about your
book was the photos and thedifferent, you know, artifacts
from the archives that you choseto share in the book.
It's so fascinating to me tolook back on what hikers looked
like in the early days,especially compared to what they
look like now.
And not just in the early days,but you have photos like
throughout the decades.
(09:02):
And you so you can sort of seethe progression of what it
looked like in the beginning towhat it looked like now.
So, what kinds of challenges orexperiences did early hikers
encounter?
SPEAKER_01 (09:13):
I was giving a talk just the other day about the
changing fashion on the trail.
Yeah.
And it's really, it's reallyfun, you know.
I like I showed a picture fromthe like 1932, and several of
the men are wearing suits, likewool suits, you know, with a
vest and a tie and a Hamburghat.
And and some of the women arewearing jotpurrs and um, you
(09:34):
know, leather vests, it lookslike, or suede vests.
SPEAKER_00 (09:37):
You know, I mean, they're and those huge hats.
SPEAKER_01 (09:40):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (09:40):
Yeah, those really huge hats that have like flowers
all over and ribbons on the top.
SPEAKER_01 (09:44):
Yeah, that one was you're thinking there, but
there's a photo from Black RockSummit in Shenandoah National.
SPEAKER_00 (09:49):
Yes, that's the one.
SPEAKER_01 (09:50):
That's from the 1890s, you know.
It's crazy.
Oh my gosh.
I mean, there are photos fromthe from the West Coast of women
dressed like that summoningmountains in the Sierras.
SPEAKER_00 (09:59):
Unreal.
SPEAKER_01 (09:59):
I know.
SPEAKER_00 (10:00):
So Can you imagine wool suits?
SPEAKER_01 (10:02):
Right.
I know.
I don't I don't I can't say thatI've seen anybody hike, any men
hiking with like a vest and atie recently.
And so my gosh.
For in my whole life.
You know, it's also interesting.
I started hiking on the trail inthe 1970s, and when the kind of
standard hiking attire was big,big, clunky boots, hiking boots
that each weighed probably apound and a half, and like
(10:23):
athletic socks with stripes onthe top, and um, and then cut
off blue jeans and a t-shirt.
And that was true for both menand women.
That was just sort of standardhiker attire.
And uh you can see a lot of thatin the photo database that the
Appalachian Trail Museummaintains of photos that were
taken at the ATC headquarters inHarper's Ferry sometime in the
(10:46):
1970s.
And it's just really you it'sfun to look at those because you
can see the evolution of hikerfashion over time.
Now, like if you're out wearingcutoff jeans and a cotton
t-shirt, people would think,what's wrong with that person?
SPEAKER_00 (10:59):
Yeah, for sure.
Um, in your book, you also talkabout or you reference old
manuals from the past where theymake recommendations, including
what to wear.
And some of the recommendationswere like cotton, like blue
cotton jeans.
SPEAKER_01 (11:13):
Yeah, I mean, you know, they because they wanted
people to wear things that weredurable.
And um the problem with those iswhen they got wet, they got
really heavy.
And um, and if you were wet andcold, it wasn't good for you.
Yeah, and those manuals that youmentioned, you know, they were
really helpful to me because youknow, I I operated on the
assumption that if companieswere selling these products,
people were buying them.
(11:34):
You know, if they were sellingthem year after year, that meant
that they had a market for thosethings.
So it was interesting to see thekinds of backpacks that people
had available to them and thekinds of tents they could
purchase.
And so those old gear catalogswere fun to look at.
And the trail clubs had kind ofprescriptive literature that you
sort of stuff you just mentionedthat that said, you know, you
(11:54):
should wear this, you shouldcarry that.
But even then, in like in the1940s, there was always that
trade-off between cost andweight.
The lighter it was, the more itcost.
SPEAKER_00 (12:03):
And you also talked about how the boom in hiker
culture and the interest inhiking the trail just really
helped some of these gearcompanies sort of take off.
SPEAKER_01 (12:16):
Yeah, and it's and it's a really important change
because after about 1965 or so,uh backpacking in particular,
hiking, but also backpackingbecomes much more popular in the
American population in general.
And and so the more people whoare doing something, the more
companies sprout up to supplythem with things.
And then those companies begincompeting with one another to
(12:38):
make better and better gear,because then you buy their gear
instead of somebody else's.
And and so the quality of thegear got a lot better and the
the weight went way down.
And and that's especiallyimportant because if you're
going to put on a backpack andhike for a week, weight really
matters.
And so the lighter the gearbecame, the more accessible the
(13:02):
backcountry became to theaverage person.
SPEAKER_00 (13:05):
And you have some photos of some early gear, and
what surprised me is how muchsome of it has not changed over
the years.
Like you said, some of thestoves, the cooking stoves are
not that much different.
Like they're very close to theoriginal design.
You had a photo of the VibramSouls, and I saw that picture,
and I'm like, wait, my bootright now looks like this.
Like it's not much different.
(13:26):
So it was really fascinating tosort of see the changes over
time, but also how much of itreally hasn't changed.
SPEAKER_01 (13:32):
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, we're still, you know,vibram soles were invented
following a climb by somebody inItaly following a climbing
accident where several of hisfriends died, and they were
wearing hobnail boots, which iswhat people used to wear.
And so he wanted something thatwould be safer in you know, ice
icy conditions in the mountains.
And so the vibram sole came outof that and it became kind of a
standard bottom to hiking shoes,and it was so good that people
(13:57):
really haven't changed it much.
SPEAKER_00 (13:59):
Yeah, it was interesting.
You also mentioned that there isa small but strong community of
hammock campers, and youmentioned the first hammock
being developed by a man namedHennessy, and I went, wait a
second, I own that that hammock,but not only that, but I just
talked to his son on the phonethe other day.
Like, and I think it's his son.
I assume it's his son, they havethe same last name.
(14:20):
And I was like, wait, like thiswasn't even that long ago.
SPEAKER_01 (14:24):
Yeah, I mean, uh, you know, the inspiration for
the hammock tent uh really cameout of the Second World War and
the Pacific campaigns.
Um, the Australian and Americanarmies developed these hammock
tents so the soldiers wouldn'tsleep in the muck in the jungle.
And I can't remember his firstname now.
This guy Hannesy, um, sometimein the 60s saw a photo and he
(14:44):
thought, I want one of those.
So he made one.
And his friends then said, Hey,where'd you get that?
And he said, Oh, I made it.
And they said, Well, can youmake me one?
And and that's how it started.
SPEAKER_00 (14:54):
That's how it goes, right?
SPEAKER_01 (14:56):
That's right.
That's right.
SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
Yeah, I mean, the book is just full of interesting
examples like that.
I I thought it was really coolto see the evolution of gear and
clothing over the years.
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Getting back to the trailitself, were there any parts of
the early trail in Virginia thatplayed an especially important
role in the history of thetrail?
SPEAKER_01 (17:26):
And, you know, the most photographed location on
the trail is McAfee Knob downoutside of Roanoke.
The knob itself has played, youknow, a really interesting role
in the history of the trailbecause so much of the trail,
when it was first developed, wason private land or roads that
the trail clubs had to geteasements from people to let the
(17:46):
trail cross their private land.
As it is, the Appalachian Trailonly passes through two national
parks, the Smokies andShenandoah, but through a number
of the national forests.
But initially a lot of it was onprivate land.
And the Catawba Mountain, whereMcAfee Knob is, was all private
land.
And the knob actually wasn't onthe trail originally.
It was within a couple hundredyards, but it wasn't actually on
(18:09):
the trail.
And then when the AppalachianTrail became a national park in
1968, the landowners on the knobsaid, yeah, we're not selling
our property to the NationalPark Service.
And so they kicked the trailoff.
They were also a little tired ofall the hikers.
It was at a moment whenlittering was really, really
common on the trail and theywere sick of that.
And it was before Leave No Tracebecame a thing, really.
(18:30):
So they kicked the trail off.
And so for 12 years, theAppalachian Trail was actually
on the far side of the CatawpaValley there on can't remember
if it's called Peters Mountainor North Mountain, but it was a
really miserable hike.
I've talked to a couple ofpeople who did it and they said
it was just awful.
And the National Park Serviceultimately had to force the sale
of that land.
It was one of the few instanceswhere they had to force a land
(18:51):
sale for the trail, but uh buttheir Bob Proudman, who was in
charge of all of that, went toMcAfee Knob and he was like,
Yeah, yeah, we gotta do that.
That's a piece we have to have.
So so the knob was kind of atthe center of a lot of the
decisions about land ownershipfor the trail.
Because you know, now we don'treally think about it.
We just assume that every pieceof the trail that we walk on was
(19:15):
always part of the trail, andthat's just not the case.
So that part was really, reallyimportant.
And then I would say that theareas um close to Washington,
DC, both in Virginia andMaryland, were in West Virginia,
were also really importantbecause people in Washington who
had power and authority could goto the Appalachian Trail and
(19:36):
walk on it and see this is areally cool thing.
And so it should be preservedand supported.
And so the fact that the trailis so close to Washington in
Northern Virginia um and inwestern Maryland has been on
South Mountain, has been, Ithink, really important to the
the history of the trail becauseit's it's generated a
constituency in Congress.
SPEAKER_00 (19:57):
Let's explore how the AT culture and hiker
identity evolved because thetrail definitely does have a
culture.
And the first hikers weren'tnecessarily out to conquer the
trail, which I think is what alot of folks set out to do
today.
Instead, they were out for thejoy of walking in the mountains
and basically just connectingwith nature, right?
(20:18):
So has that changed throughoutthe years?
SPEAKER_01 (20:21):
It actually hasn't, because I st I still think that
uh based on my research, thevast, vast majority of people
who go on the trail go for thatreason to just spend some time
in nature.
But regardless of why they go tothe trail, one of the things I
learned was that they all haveone thing in common, and that is
that they they want to touch thewild.
They they want to, you know, seea mother turkey with her chicks
(20:43):
run across the trail in front ofthem.
They want to listen to waterrunning over stones in a small
stream.
They want to, they would like tosee a bear from a distance, you
know, they and or or see arattlesnake from a distance.
So they they just want to havethat sort of wilder experience.
And and the Appalachian Trail iskind of perfect for that because
(21:04):
it's wild, but it's it's notthat wild.
It's kind of controlled wild.
SPEAKER_00 (21:08):
One of the gifts that I think we have now are all
of the logs from the differentshelters across the trail.
And some of the things that youshared in your book were many,
many entries from hikers who hadwritten in the log.
And one of the things thatjumped out quite a bit was
whenever there was a wildlifesetting.
(21:28):
Like somebody almost alwaysmentions whenever they see a
wildlife setting, whether it's abobcat or a snake or whatever.
But like people get reallyexcited about that.
And that's something that Ithink is never going to change.
SPEAKER_01 (21:40):
Yeah, I think that's not gonna change at all.
And I was I was saying tosomebody the other day that if I
was just gonna choose a titlefor the book instead of a
hiker's history of theAppalachian Trail, it would have
been I saw a bobcat with threeexclamation points, because um,
which you know, the Amazonalgorithm's not gonna pick that
up in public sales.
So, but the number of times Isaw in those shelter register
(22:00):
logs where people had writtenthat I saw a bobcat with
multiple exclamation points, um,just shows you how excited they
were by this sort of fleetinginteraction with wildness.
And I'll also just say that, youknow, those shelter logs were
were really critical to the bookitself.
Um, I couldn't have written itwithout them because through
(22:21):
hikers write books about theirhikes, or they have now, you
know, YouTube channels orwhatever Substack newsletters.
But the average person who goesout for just a couple hours,
they they don't write a bookabout their hike because like
who would read that?
And um, oh, you walk for twohours, cool.
And but they did stop at theshelters and they wrote little
tidbits about their hikes.
(22:41):
And and so I spent six monthsjust reading those.
SPEAKER_00 (22:46):
I was just gonna ask you, like, how many of those
logs have you read through?
SPEAKER_01 (22:50):
I can't imagine hundreds, hundreds and hundreds.
And I was really fortunatebecause at the Appalachian Trail
Museum up in Pennsylvania,they've been gathering as many
of those as they can get theirhands on.
And there are three dedicatedvolunteers there who digitize
them.
And for preservation purposesprimarily, so they gave me a
thumb drive with literallyhundreds and hundreds of them.
(23:12):
And um, and so that made itpossible for me to have access
to all of that.
Uh, going back into the 1930s,and so that's how I really began
to understand what the hikerexperience was like and how it
changed over time or how itdidn't.
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delivery.
Who were some of the earliestthrough hikers?
And what do you think motivatedthem to attempt the entire
trail?
Because that was not what thetrail was intended for, right?
SPEAKER_01 (24:22):
The Appalachian Trail was never intended to be a
trail that people hiked from oneend to the other in a you know
in a single hiking season.
And the first person to do it uhwas a World War II veteran named
Earl Schaefer and in 1948, andwhen he uh announced that he had
completed his hike, theAppalachian Trail Conference
said, No, you didn't.
(24:43):
Because they thought it waslike, who would do that?
That's just dumb.
And uh so he had to come toWashington, DC, where they were
headquartered at the time, andkind of submit to what he called
a Gestapo interrogation, wherehe had to prove that he had done
it, um, because they reallydidn't believe him.
And he was ultimately able toconvince them that he had.
And and then um Gene Stevenson,who was the editor of the
(25:05):
Appalachian Trailway News, theirquarterly magazine, uh, wrote a
piece saying, you know, that hehad done it, but that it was
really unusual circumstancesbecause he was a Marine, he was
he had, you know, in incredibleshape because of his war
service, and he was a lifetimebackpacker, and so it's unlikely
that anyone will do this againanytime soon.
(25:26):
And then in 1951, three peopledid it, and the next year three
more, and and it kind of slowlybut surely took off from there
to where this year I thinksomething like 2,500 people
attempted a through hike, and umI'm gonna guess around a
thousand will succeed.
But it didn't really throughhiking didn't really accelerate
(25:48):
as a phenomenon until around theyear 2000.
SPEAKER_00 (25:52):
It sounded to me like the ATC for a while was
tracking who completed thetrail, and people were required
to submit some sort of documentor proof, and then at some point
it just got to be so many hikersthat they stopped, right?
SPEAKER_01 (26:05):
Right.
That's exactly what happenedearly 1970s.
So they did.
You had to like proof that youhad done it.
And if you did, they wouldinvite you to their annual
meeting and they would give youa wooden plaque with uh, you
know, the hand-carved woodenplaque celebrating your
achievement, and and so theymade a really big deal out of
it.
And then in the I guess it wasin the early 1970s, the person
(26:26):
in charge of that, the volunteerwho was doing all of that, just
kind of threw his hands up andhe said, You know, there are
like 250 people on the trailthis year attempting a through
hike, and I can't I can't dothis.
It's too much.
So they switched to an honorsystem, um, which they've used
ever since, which is you writein and say, I completed a
through hike, and you know, Istarted on this date and I
(26:46):
finished on that date, and umthey send you a little
certificate and a patch.
And they they depend on kind ofsocial shaming to prevent people
from lying, because I could sendthem that letter now and say,
Yeah, I just just finished atMount Catahdin and uh send me my
patch.
And they would, but if I putthat patch on my backpack, all
(27:06):
my friends would say, MillsKelly, you are not a through
hiker.
So that's kind of how it works,you know, and um it's really an
honor system.
SPEAKER_00 (27:16):
So I think a lot of people are really fascinated
with through hiker culture.
I think they're interested inthings like people's trail
names, and then there aredifferent events like hike naked
day and the half gallonchallenge.
Can you talk a little bit abouthow the rise of through hiker
culture changed the social lifeof the Appalachian Trail?
SPEAKER_01 (27:36):
Probably the thing that's the most pervasive is
what you mentioned, um having atrail name.
And uh it's not really clear howthat got started.
If you look at the Thruhikerdatabase at the Appalachian
Trail Museum, in the late 1970s,maybe a third of the people
listed a trail name.
But by the end of the 1980s,most did.
(27:58):
Um, and by the 1990s, almostalmost everyone.
There are a few people who don'tdo the trail name thing, but
almost everyone does.
And you're supposed to have yourtrail name given to you by
others, not chosen.
Some people choose theirs,sometimes for very good reasons.
Mostly it's supposed to be givento you.
My one of my favorites was awoman I met whose uh trail name
(28:18):
was Pig Pen.
And and I said, Okay, I gottaask, you know, why?
And she said that early in herhike, she was going down a slope
with a couple of other hikersand it was really wet, and she
slipped and she fell and sherolled over a couple of times in
the mud and she came upcompletely coated in mud.
And one of the other hikers waslike, Wow, you look just like
Pig Pen and Charlie Brown.
And so that's how she got herher name.
(28:40):
But it it also has theadvantage, and I think this is
especially true for women whoare hiking alone on the trail,
of conferring a certain level ofanonymity.
You don't have to give youractual name.
And in fact, it's kind of rudeto ask, well, what's your real
name?
So people sort of don thispersona of their trail name.
And and you know, I have a uhvery close friend who's a nurse
(29:02):
anesthetist in Pittsburgh, youknow, she works with brain
surgeons and she's dips.
She's because her trail name wasserendipity and it got shorted
to shorted down to dips.
And so everybody just knows heras dips, and you know, it's
tattooed on her forearm, andit's that's who she is.
SPEAKER_00 (29:18):
What's your trail name, Els?
SPEAKER_01 (29:19):
Mine is Granddaddy Spartan.
SPEAKER_00 (29:22):
And how did you get that?
SPEAKER_01 (29:23):
I got that because I was um hiking.
When I hike, I don't shave, andmy beard comes in very white and
has since I was in my 30s.
I was hiking with one of mykids, and we stopped at a
shelter in the southern districtof Shenandoah, and there were
some through hikers there.
And and uh so he was chattingwith them, and I was exhausted
because I was hiking with a 16year old who can walk a lot
(29:43):
faster than me.
I was just sort of leaningagainst the wall of the shelter,
really tired, and and my beardwas all white.
And and the movie 300, theanimated film about Sparta, had
just been out, and so still inthe cultural conversation.
And one of the through hikerslooked at me and he's like,
dude, you look Just likegranddaddy Spartan, and that's
how it happened.
(30:03):
It's just sort of random stufflike that.
But you know, and then there arevarious hiking traditions.
Um, hike naked day has beenaround since the 80s, we think.
That's on the summer solstice inJune.
Um, the half-gallon challenge inPine Grove Furnace State Park in
Pennsylvania, where the museumis, um, was started by the um
proprietor of the camp store inthe state park campground.
(30:24):
You know, hikers are supposed tosit down and eat an entire half
gallon of ice cream in one go,which is a lot of butter, fat,
and salt when you've been livingon trail food, and many of them
are regret that they tried it.
Uh, the most physicallychallenging of those challenges
is the four-state challenge.
And you can start at theVirginia-West Virginia line.
So you're in Virginia, that'sstate one.
(30:46):
Cross over into West Virginia,that's state two.
You hike 14 miles in WestVirginia, you cross the Potomac
River, and now you're in inMaryland, and then you hike 30
miles, and uh, and then you'rein um Pennsylvania.
And so altogether comes out tolike 40 miles, I guess, in and
you have to do it in 24 hours.
SPEAKER_00 (31:07):
So, does this mean for those of us who are thinking
about a day hike on the AT inVirginia around June that we
should be worried about runninginto naked hikers?
SPEAKER_01 (31:17):
It could happen, uh, but only on the summer solstice,
or it should only happen on thesummer solstice.
I, you know, I have a a quote inthe book that I loved.
Uh, some guy was doing the hikenaked thing.
He was up in the White Mountainsin in New Hampshire and came
around a bend in the trail, andthere was uh there was a guy
sitting on a rock, you know,having a snack, just a day
(31:37):
hiker, and the day hiker lookedat him like, oh, it's like naked
day, you know, and that was it.
And he just kept going.
And so I don't think it happensin places like Shenandoah
National Park, for instance.
SPEAKER_00 (31:50):
Uh uh.
Okay.
So I imagine there must be somekind of consequences in certain
places if this, if they're ifyou're caught doing this,
perhaps.
SPEAKER_01 (31:58):
We are a very prudish country, and so I'm sure
that that you could end up witha ticket from a local park
authority person or something.
So perhaps.
Yeah.
So it's let's just say I've beenhiking on the Appalachian Trail
since 1971, and I have yet tosee a naked hiker.
SPEAKER_00 (32:15):
Yeah, that's right.
And I don't usually hear toomany people talking about it
either.
It's a little crazy consideringmosquitoes and chiggers and
ticks and just brushing upagainst thorny bushes and all of
that.
SPEAKER_01 (32:27):
Like why no why would you want that?
Yeah.
I think honestly, I think thevast majority of people strip
down, get a photo, and then puttheir clothes back on.
SPEAKER_00 (32:38):
So you could say you participated, but in a little
bit of a smarter, moreconservative way.
Right.
Um, okay.
So we talked a little bit abouthiking gear and clothing, but I
would love to talk about howhiking food has changed,
especially the weight and thetype of food that people used to
carry blew my mind.
SPEAKER_01 (33:01):
People used to carry really heavy food.
And that's it's not becausedehydration didn't exist,
because they they called itdesiccating food in those days
back in the 20s and 30s, but itwas dehydrating.
They and then you know,freeze-drying happens after the
Second World War.
And so it was possible to getvery lightweight foods, but
mostly people ate very fresh.
(33:22):
You know, they went to thegrocery store and they got some
potatoes and some apples andsome bananas and some onions and
and some butter.
And and so they carried freshfood and and so they ate much
more nutritiously, much morenutritiously.
So, you know, it was a muchhealthier diet.
It was just a lot heavier.
(33:43):
And uh, the other thing that washeavy was the cooking gear that
they carried to cook that food,because you know, the
backpacking stove doesn't reallybecome a ubiquitous item on the
trail until the 50s and 60s.
They were around before theSecond World War, but there was
a lot of innovation during theSecond World War that improved
the stoves.
They become pretty, prettycommon.
(34:04):
And once you have a stove, thenyou don't have to know how to
build a fire and you don't careif it's raining.
I mean, it's still inconvenientto cook in the rain, but you
don't have to worry about yourfire going out.
You know, people carried cookpots and and they would get up
in the morning and make biscuitsor cornbread and over the fire.
And so they carried a lot ofcooking gear also that was
(34:25):
equally heavy.
And so, you know, after theSecond World War, it becomes
really increasingly easy to buydehydrated and and then
freeze-dried foods and to use abackpacking stove with just one
little pot.
And and so all of a sudden theweight that people carried went
way down.
Um, the food just got a lot lessnutritious.
(34:46):
We did for our podcast, weinterviewed a couple of um
nutritionists and they were justappalled.
They were like, This isterrible, terrible.
You know, it's really bad foryou.
I mean, I met a guy who'd hikeda PCT one year and then came and
hiked the AT the next year.
And when he was hiking, he livedentirely on energy bars.
SPEAKER_00 (35:03):
Oh gosh.
SPEAKER_01 (35:04):
And now he was like 25, but he lived entirely and he
would go into town and he wouldgorge on five guys in Taco Bell.
And and so, you know, he justate the worst possible diet you
can imagine.
And yet he hiked both of thesevery long trails.
So now, again, he was like 25,so he could do it.
But you know, there was allkinds of fun stuff in there.
Like, when was the last timeyou, Jessica Bowser, ate an
(35:26):
onion sandwich?
SPEAKER_00 (35:27):
Oh, you talked about that, and no, thank you.
I never have, and I don't thinkI ever will.
SPEAKER_01 (35:33):
No, I mean, there are people from it's more of a
southern thing.
There are people I when I askedthat question to audiences,
there's always somebody who'slike, Oh, yeah, when I go see my
grandma in South Carolina, shewould serve onion sandwiches,
you know.
And it's just like bread,butter, and a slice of onion.
No, thanks.
It was really popular, right?
And who knew?
And easy because you just had tohave some bread and some butter
and some onions.
(35:53):
And there you go.
Now you have a sandwich.
You know, so there's stuff likethat.
Um, I I did a deep dive into thehistory of instant pudding and
stuff like that.
So, so the food part was reallyfun and uh to to research and to
read about.
SPEAKER_00 (36:08):
It was fun to learn about because when I think about
how heavy my grocery bags arewhen I carry them in from the
car, and then I imagine puttingthat into my pack.
I I just can't, right?
Like I'm thinking about carryingall that weight plus water, plus
cooking supplies.
And how much time are they werethey spending on the trail
cooking?
You know, it wasn't like justboil some water, pour it in,
(36:29):
wait your 10 to 15 minutes toeat and go.
Like that that didn't happen.
And they were required to burnall of their trash afterwards,
too.
That's a whole nother process.
And having to have water to putthat fire out.
I mean, it just seemed like itwas so much.
But then to go from that and towatch it evolve into things like
when Slim gyms were invented andwhen Pop Tarts were invented and
(36:51):
things that we now considerhiker food.
Personally, I would never eatany of that, but things that we
call hiker food, when thosethings were invented and how it
changed the trail and how, youknow, what people were eating on
the trail.
SPEAKER_01 (37:05):
Yeah.
And it's again, the lighter thefood and the lighter the cooking
gear, the more people canimagine putting on a backpack
and hiking 10, 15 miles.
SPEAKER_00 (37:16):
Join us next week for part two, where we'll look
at how the Appalachian Trail hasevolved into a global icon and
the modern challenges that comewith its popularity.
Mills and I will talk aboutsocial media's impact on the
trail, how hikers can give backthrough stewardship, and what
the trail's rich history meansfor Virginians today.
We'll also bring theconversation closer to home with
(37:38):
practical advice for hiking theAT right here in Virginia.
Whether you're planning a shortday hike or dreaming of a
through hike, Mills has the tipsyou need to get you exploring
the trail.
Virginia Outdoor Adventures isinspired by and supported by
listeners like you, which is whyyour messages and feedback mean
(37:58):
so much to me.
You can text me directly byclicking on Send Jessica a text
message in your show notes.
I answer questions, respond tocomments, and share your
feedback on the show.
Never miss a new episode.
Sign up for my email newsletterand receive my listener resource
guide with the top podcastepisodes, a Virginia outdoor
(38:19):
bucket list, and exclusive branddiscounts for my listeners.
Click on Newsletter Sign Up inyour show notes or visit
Virginia Outdoor Adventures.com.
Thanks for listening.
Until next time, Adventure On.
From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay,
Virginia is a Mecca for outdoortravel and adventure.
Virginia Outdoor AdventuresPodcast is your local guide for
hiking, camping, kayaking,travel, and so much more.
Get the information and theinspiration to plan your own
adventure.
Right here in Virginia.
(00:22):
I'm your host, Jessica Bowser.
The Appalachian Trail is morethan a footpath.
It's a living piece of Americanhistory.
Stretching over 2,000 miles fromGeorgia to Maine, the AT winds
through some of Virginia's mostbeautiful and rugged landscapes.
But have you ever wondered howthis legendary trail came to be
(00:43):
and who the dreamers, builders,and hikers were that shaped it?
We're hiking through historywith someone who knows the
Appalachian Trail like a fewothers do.
My friend Mills Kelly is ahistorian, archivist, podcast
host, lifelong hiker, and authorof the new book, A Hiker's
History of the AppalachianTrail.
His book captures the 80shistory not just as a collection
(01:06):
of facts and dates, but as ahuman story about purpose,
adventure, and our search formeaning in the mountains.
Mill shares fascinating storiesfrom the trail's early days and
how it has changed over the pastcentury.
And when you think about how farwe've come, from hikers in wool
suits carrying canvas packsfilled with fresh produce to
(01:27):
today's ultralight gear andfreeze-dried meals, it's amazing
to see how the trail has evolvedright alongside us.
Mills reminds us that the ATwasn't built for heroic
end-to-end tracks, but forordinary people to breathe
easier and feel a little wilderfor a few hours or a few days.
That simple idea still shapeslives, towns, and trail culture
(01:50):
across Virginia and beyond.
The story of the AppalachianTrail is as much about the
people and their experiences asit is about the path beneath
their feet.
So join us as we hike backthrough time on the world's most
iconic long-distance trail.
Let's go.
Virginia Outdoor Adventures issponsored by Brakes Park and
(02:13):
Heart of Appalachia.
Known as the Grand Canyon of theSouth, Brakes Park is a hiking
destination in the Heart ofAppalachia.
You'll find trails for everyskill level featuring geologic
wonders, canyon overlooks,stream crossings, and abundant
wildlife.
Stay close to the adventure withlodges, cabins, and campgrounds
(02:34):
inside the park.
Beyond the brakes, the heart ofAppalachia invites you to hike
and bike through breathtakingmountain landscapes, paddle
hidden hollows, reel in troutfrom crystal clear streams, or
hop on an ATV to conquer therugged spearhead trails.
Take a scenic drive, embark onan elk tour, and explore
Virginia's treasured Southwest,where you'll also find vibrant
(02:57):
local dining, shopping, andcelebrations.
Your next outdoor adventurestarts in the heart of
Appalachia.
Tap the links for Brakes Parkand Heart of Appalachia in your
show notes.
SPEAKER_01 (03:15):
Jessica, thanks so much for having me back.
SPEAKER_00 (03:17):
What do you love about Virginia's outdoors?
SPEAKER_01 (03:20):
Yeah, I mean, I'm a hiker, I'm a kayaker, I'm a
fisherman, I'm an outdoorphotographer, I camp, I
backpack, I volunteer on theAppalachian Trail.
I kind of do it all.
SPEAKER_00 (03:31):
So this is not your first appearance on Virginia
Outdoor Adventures.
You came on the podcast, oh, Idon't know, maybe two seasons
ago or so.
It was episode 43 where youtalked about Virginia's lost
Appalachian Trail.
And that was a super popularepisode.
I got some fantastic feedback,particularly from people who
were surprised to learn thatthere was a section of the AT
(03:53):
that had been rerouted throughVirginia, especially those folks
who live near that portion ofthe AT and didn't even know it
was there.
And just the impact that it hadon the communities.
That was so interesting.
So I'm very excited to have youback to talk about your new
book.
SPEAKER_01 (04:08):
It was just so much fun to be on the show and to
talk about the book and to hearfrom you that the reaction was
so positive from your listenercommunity.
SPEAKER_00 (04:16):
Mills, you are a historian, an archivist, a
podcast host, and also alifelong hiker.
And you've authored a couple ofbooks, and your newest book is
called A Hiker's History of theAppalachian Trail.
What inspired you to write thebook?
SPEAKER_01 (04:32):
It's a book that I started thinking about almost a
decade ago.
And what made me first thinkthat this was the book I wanted
to write was I used to teach acourse at George Mason
University on the history of theAppalachian Trail.
And I wanted a book I couldassign to my students that was
not a walk in the woods by BillBryson and that gave a more
comprehensive history of thehiker experience on the trail.
(04:55):
And there just really wasn'tone.
There were a lot of books aboutthe through hiker experience.
But you know, through hikers areonly, you know, one-tenth of one
percent of all the people whoset foot on the trail every
year.
And so it seemed to me that thatwas only telling a very small
part of the story.
When I looked around, there justreally wasn't a good book that I
could assign to my students.
(05:15):
So, in in part, I was motivatedto write the book because I
wanted something I could usewith my students.
SPEAKER_00 (05:21):
Every time you and I talk about the trail, you are
quick to remind me that lessthan one-tenth of one percent of
all hikers on the AT are throughhikers.
And that's really significant.
So, what would you say thepurpose of the Appalachian Trail
is?
Who is it meant to serve?
SPEAKER_01 (05:37):
So in 1921, when Benton Mackay first came up with
the idea for the AppalachianTrail, he was really concerned
about the health of peopleliving in the big cities of the
East Coast, in particularworking class people.
You know, the cities were loud,they were polluted, we just
gotten out of the influenzapandemic when millions of people
died and the first world war.
He was, you know, it just he wasreally worried about people's
(05:59):
overall health.
And his solution to that wasthat they needed to get some, as
he put it, oxygen in theirlives.
And the way they would do thatwould be going up into the
mountains and hiking andvolunteering to build a hiking
trail.
You know, and so he wasn'twrong.
I mean, hiking in the mountainsis actually really good for you.
And um, just you know, youde-stress, you get some
(06:20):
exercise, it's just good foryou.
And so that was the originalpurpose.
That's been why people go eversince.
There's somewhere between threeand five four million people,
although somebody told meyesterday that the park service
is maybe gonna up that number,all but a tiny, tiny fraction.
There's a couple of thousandpeople who try to through hike.
The rest of them are there for afew hours, maybe a couple of
(06:43):
days, you know, a weekend, maybea week, maybe two weeks, but
almost everybody is just therejust for a couple of hours to
get some oxygen in their lives.
SPEAKER_00 (06:51):
You write in your book that the original trail in
the 1920s was a little more thana hope.
And what did that first versionof the trail look like for
hikers?
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
If you think about it objectively and think, okay,
in 1925, a group of people cametogether and said and formed the
Appalachian Trail Conference,which is now the Appalachian
Trail Conservancy, and theythought, okay, we're gonna do
this, we're gonna build a2,000-mile trail through the
mountains, and but we're justgonna do it on the weekends
because you know, we all havefull-time jobs.
And if you looked back at that,you think, these people were
nuts.
(07:23):
I think that's just not gonnahappen.
In 12 years, it was complete.
And um, so they'd done it.
So it was an incredibleachievement.
But that original trail wasmostly road walking.
Some of it was paved road orgravel road, but a lot of it was
old abandoned roads in themountains, some of which were
fire roads and parks today.
But a lot of them were justroads that you know, farmers who
(07:44):
used to live in the mountainshad made and then abandoned.
Because that was easy.
If you're gonna string together2,000 miles of trail in a hurry,
you take advantage of openwalking areas that already
exist.
So, so really the experience ofthe early days of hiking the
trail was more an experience ofwalking in road beds than it was
walking on a trail like the onewe're used to today.
(08:06):
If you look carefully, you cansee where the ruts are from the
wheels for wet, maybe wagonwheels or truck wheels or
whatever.
And you can see built up on thesides of the trail where people
like got rocks out of the wayand put them on the side of the
trail.
And so if you look carefully,you'll you'll see a lot of it.
And so, you know, you and I havebeen together a number of times
(08:26):
to the Manassas Cab shelter thatI maintain.
That's just located at an oldfarm.
And um, there's a farmhousethere, right where the AT turns
to go down to the shelter,that's where the house was.
That stretch of trail thatfronts where the shelter is,
that's an old roadbed.
SPEAKER_00 (08:42):
One of the things that I really loved about your
book was the photos and thedifferent, you know, artifacts
from the archives that you choseto share in the book.
It's so fascinating to me tolook back on what hikers looked
like in the early days,especially compared to what they
look like now.
And not just in the early days,but you have photos like
throughout the decades.
(09:02):
And you so you can sort of seethe progression of what it
looked like in the beginning towhat it looked like now.
So, what kinds of challenges orexperiences did early hikers
encounter?
SPEAKER_01 (09:13):
I was giving a talk just the other day about the
changing fashion on the trail.
Yeah.
And it's really, it's reallyfun, you know.
I like I showed a picture fromthe like 1932, and several of
the men are wearing suits, likewool suits, you know, with a
vest and a tie and a Hamburghat.
And and some of the women arewearing jotpurrs and um, you
(09:34):
know, leather vests, it lookslike, or suede vests.
SPEAKER_00 (09:37):
You know, I mean, they're and those huge hats.
SPEAKER_01 (09:40):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (09:40):
Yeah, those really huge hats that have like flowers
all over and ribbons on the top.
SPEAKER_01 (09:44):
Yeah, that one was you're thinking there, but
there's a photo from Black RockSummit in Shenandoah National.
SPEAKER_00 (09:49):
Yes, that's the one.
SPEAKER_01 (09:50):
That's from the 1890s, you know.
It's crazy.
Oh my gosh.
I mean, there are photos fromthe from the West Coast of women
dressed like that summoningmountains in the Sierras.
SPEAKER_00 (09:59):
Unreal.
SPEAKER_01 (09:59):
I know.
SPEAKER_00 (10:00):
So Can you imagine wool suits?
SPEAKER_01 (10:02):
Right.
I know.
I don't I don't I can't say thatI've seen anybody hike, any men
hiking with like a vest and atie recently.
And so my gosh.
For in my whole life.
You know, it's also interesting.
I started hiking on the trail inthe 1970s, and when the kind of
standard hiking attire was big,big, clunky boots, hiking boots
that each weighed probably apound and a half, and like
(10:23):
athletic socks with stripes onthe top, and um, and then cut
off blue jeans and a t-shirt.
And that was true for both menand women.
That was just sort of standardhiker attire.
And uh you can see a lot of thatin the photo database that the
Appalachian Trail Museummaintains of photos that were
taken at the ATC headquarters inHarper's Ferry sometime in the
(10:46):
1970s.
And it's just really you it'sfun to look at those because you
can see the evolution of hikerfashion over time.
Now, like if you're out wearingcutoff jeans and a cotton
t-shirt, people would think,what's wrong with that person?
SPEAKER_00 (10:59):
Yeah, for sure.
Um, in your book, you also talkabout or you reference old
manuals from the past where theymake recommendations, including
what to wear.
And some of the recommendationswere like cotton, like blue
cotton jeans.
SPEAKER_01 (11:13):
Yeah, I mean, you know, they because they wanted
people to wear things that weredurable.
And um the problem with those iswhen they got wet, they got
really heavy.
And um, and if you were wet andcold, it wasn't good for you.
Yeah, and those manuals that youmentioned, you know, they were
really helpful to me because youknow, I I operated on the
assumption that if companieswere selling these products,
people were buying them.
(11:34):
You know, if they were sellingthem year after year, that meant
that they had a market for thosethings.
So it was interesting to see thekinds of backpacks that people
had available to them and thekinds of tents they could
purchase.
And so those old gear catalogswere fun to look at.
And the trail clubs had kind ofprescriptive literature that you
sort of stuff you just mentionedthat that said, you know, you
(11:54):
should wear this, you shouldcarry that.
But even then, in like in the1940s, there was always that
trade-off between cost andweight.
The lighter it was, the more itcost.
SPEAKER_00 (12:03):
And you also talked about how the boom in hiker
culture and the interest inhiking the trail just really
helped some of these gearcompanies sort of take off.
SPEAKER_01 (12:16):
Yeah, and it's and it's a really important change
because after about 1965 or so,uh backpacking in particular,
hiking, but also backpackingbecomes much more popular in the
American population in general.
And and so the more people whoare doing something, the more
companies sprout up to supplythem with things.
And then those companies begincompeting with one another to
(12:38):
make better and better gear,because then you buy their gear
instead of somebody else's.
And and so the quality of thegear got a lot better and the
the weight went way down.
And and that's especiallyimportant because if you're
going to put on a backpack andhike for a week, weight really
matters.
And so the lighter the gearbecame, the more accessible the
(13:02):
backcountry became to theaverage person.
SPEAKER_00 (13:05):
And you have some photos of some early gear, and
what surprised me is how muchsome of it has not changed over
the years.
Like you said, some of thestoves, the cooking stoves are
not that much different.
Like they're very close to theoriginal design.
You had a photo of the VibramSouls, and I saw that picture,
and I'm like, wait, my bootright now looks like this.
Like it's not much different.
(13:26):
So it was really fascinating tosort of see the changes over
time, but also how much of itreally hasn't changed.
SPEAKER_01 (13:32):
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, we're still, you know,vibram soles were invented
following a climb by somebody inItaly following a climbing
accident where several of hisfriends died, and they were
wearing hobnail boots, which iswhat people used to wear.
And so he wanted something thatwould be safer in you know, ice
icy conditions in the mountains.
And so the vibram sole came outof that and it became kind of a
standard bottom to hiking shoes,and it was so good that people
(13:57):
really haven't changed it much.
SPEAKER_00 (13:59):
Yeah, it was interesting.
You also mentioned that there isa small but strong community of
hammock campers, and youmentioned the first hammock
being developed by a man namedHennessy, and I went, wait a
second, I own that that hammock,but not only that, but I just
talked to his son on the phonethe other day.
Like, and I think it's his son.
I assume it's his son, they havethe same last name.
(14:20):
And I was like, wait, like thiswasn't even that long ago.
SPEAKER_01 (14:24):
Yeah, I mean, uh, you know, the inspiration for
the hammock tent uh really cameout of the Second World War and
the Pacific campaigns.
Um, the Australian and Americanarmies developed these hammock
tents so the soldiers wouldn'tsleep in the muck in the jungle.
And I can't remember his firstname now.
This guy Hannesy, um, sometimein the 60s saw a photo and he
(14:44):
thought, I want one of those.
So he made one.
And his friends then said, Hey,where'd you get that?
And he said, Oh, I made it.
And they said, Well, can youmake me one?
And and that's how it started.
SPEAKER_00 (14:54):
That's how it goes, right?
SPEAKER_01 (14:56):
That's right.
That's right.
SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
Yeah, I mean, the book is just full of interesting
examples like that.
I I thought it was really coolto see the evolution of gear and
clothing over the years.
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Getting back to the trailitself, were there any parts of
the early trail in Virginia thatplayed an especially important
role in the history of thetrail?
SPEAKER_01 (17:26):
And, you know, the most photographed location on
the trail is McAfee Knob downoutside of Roanoke.
The knob itself has played, youknow, a really interesting role
in the history of the trailbecause so much of the trail,
when it was first developed, wason private land or roads that
the trail clubs had to geteasements from people to let the
(17:46):
trail cross their private land.
As it is, the Appalachian Trailonly passes through two national
parks, the Smokies andShenandoah, but through a number
of the national forests.
But initially a lot of it was onprivate land.
And the Catawba Mountain, whereMcAfee Knob is, was all private
land.
And the knob actually wasn't onthe trail originally.
It was within a couple hundredyards, but it wasn't actually on
(18:09):
the trail.
And then when the AppalachianTrail became a national park in
1968, the landowners on the knobsaid, yeah, we're not selling
our property to the NationalPark Service.
And so they kicked the trailoff.
They were also a little tired ofall the hikers.
It was at a moment whenlittering was really, really
common on the trail and theywere sick of that.
And it was before Leave No Tracebecame a thing, really.
(18:30):
So they kicked the trail off.
And so for 12 years, theAppalachian Trail was actually
on the far side of the CatawpaValley there on can't remember
if it's called Peters Mountainor North Mountain, but it was a
really miserable hike.
I've talked to a couple ofpeople who did it and they said
it was just awful.
And the National Park Serviceultimately had to force the sale
of that land.
It was one of the few instanceswhere they had to force a land
(18:51):
sale for the trail, but uh buttheir Bob Proudman, who was in
charge of all of that, went toMcAfee Knob and he was like,
Yeah, yeah, we gotta do that.
That's a piece we have to have.
So so the knob was kind of atthe center of a lot of the
decisions about land ownershipfor the trail.
Because you know, now we don'treally think about it.
We just assume that every pieceof the trail that we walk on was
(19:15):
always part of the trail, andthat's just not the case.
So that part was really, reallyimportant.
And then I would say that theareas um close to Washington,
DC, both in Virginia andMaryland, were in West Virginia,
were also really importantbecause people in Washington who
had power and authority could goto the Appalachian Trail and
(19:36):
walk on it and see this is areally cool thing.
And so it should be preservedand supported.
And so the fact that the trailis so close to Washington in
Northern Virginia um and inwestern Maryland has been on
South Mountain, has been, Ithink, really important to the
the history of the trail becauseit's it's generated a
constituency in Congress.
SPEAKER_00 (19:57):
Let's explore how the AT culture and hiker
identity evolved because thetrail definitely does have a
culture.
And the first hikers weren'tnecessarily out to conquer the
trail, which I think is what alot of folks set out to do
today.
Instead, they were out for thejoy of walking in the mountains
and basically just connectingwith nature, right?
(20:18):
So has that changed throughoutthe years?
SPEAKER_01 (20:21):
It actually hasn't, because I st I still think that
uh based on my research, thevast, vast majority of people
who go on the trail go for thatreason to just spend some time
in nature.
But regardless of why they go tothe trail, one of the things I
learned was that they all haveone thing in common, and that is
that they they want to touch thewild.
They they want to, you know, seea mother turkey with her chicks
(20:43):
run across the trail in front ofthem.
They want to listen to waterrunning over stones in a small
stream.
They want to, they would like tosee a bear from a distance, you
know, they and or or see arattlesnake from a distance.
So they they just want to havethat sort of wilder experience.
And and the Appalachian Trail iskind of perfect for that because
(21:04):
it's wild, but it's it's notthat wild.
It's kind of controlled wild.
SPEAKER_00 (21:08):
One of the gifts that I think we have now are all
of the logs from the differentshelters across the trail.
And some of the things that youshared in your book were many,
many entries from hikers who hadwritten in the log.
And one of the things thatjumped out quite a bit was
whenever there was a wildlifesetting.
(21:28):
Like somebody almost alwaysmentions whenever they see a
wildlife setting, whether it's abobcat or a snake or whatever.
But like people get reallyexcited about that.
And that's something that Ithink is never going to change.
SPEAKER_01 (21:40):
Yeah, I think that's not gonna change at all.
And I was I was saying tosomebody the other day that if I
was just gonna choose a titlefor the book instead of a
hiker's history of theAppalachian Trail, it would have
been I saw a bobcat with threeexclamation points, because um,
which you know, the Amazonalgorithm's not gonna pick that
up in public sales.
So, but the number of times Isaw in those shelter register
(22:00):
logs where people had writtenthat I saw a bobcat with
multiple exclamation points, um,just shows you how excited they
were by this sort of fleetinginteraction with wildness.
And I'll also just say that, youknow, those shelter logs were
were really critical to the bookitself.
Um, I couldn't have written itwithout them because through
(22:21):
hikers write books about theirhikes, or they have now, you
know, YouTube channels orwhatever Substack newsletters.
But the average person who goesout for just a couple hours,
they they don't write a bookabout their hike because like
who would read that?
And um, oh, you walk for twohours, cool.
And but they did stop at theshelters and they wrote little
tidbits about their hikes.
(22:41):
And and so I spent six monthsjust reading those.
SPEAKER_00 (22:46):
I was just gonna ask you, like, how many of those
logs have you read through?
SPEAKER_01 (22:50):
I can't imagine hundreds, hundreds and hundreds.
And I was really fortunatebecause at the Appalachian Trail
Museum up in Pennsylvania,they've been gathering as many
of those as they can get theirhands on.
And there are three dedicatedvolunteers there who digitize
them.
And for preservation purposesprimarily, so they gave me a
thumb drive with literallyhundreds and hundreds of them.
(23:12):
And um, and so that made itpossible for me to have access
to all of that.
Uh, going back into the 1930s,and so that's how I really began
to understand what the hikerexperience was like and how it
changed over time or how itdidn't.
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Who were some of the earliestthrough hikers?
And what do you think motivatedthem to attempt the entire
trail?
Because that was not what thetrail was intended for, right?
SPEAKER_01 (24:22):
The Appalachian Trail was never intended to be a
trail that people hiked from oneend to the other in a you know
in a single hiking season.
And the first person to do it uhwas a World War II veteran named
Earl Schaefer and in 1948, andwhen he uh announced that he had
completed his hike, theAppalachian Trail Conference
said, No, you didn't.
(24:43):
Because they thought it waslike, who would do that?
That's just dumb.
And uh so he had to come toWashington, DC, where they were
headquartered at the time, andkind of submit to what he called
a Gestapo interrogation, wherehe had to prove that he had done
it, um, because they reallydidn't believe him.
And he was ultimately able toconvince them that he had.
And and then um Gene Stevenson,who was the editor of the
(25:05):
Appalachian Trailway News, theirquarterly magazine, uh, wrote a
piece saying, you know, that hehad done it, but that it was
really unusual circumstancesbecause he was a Marine, he was
he had, you know, in incredibleshape because of his war
service, and he was a lifetimebackpacker, and so it's unlikely
that anyone will do this againanytime soon.
(25:26):
And then in 1951, three peopledid it, and the next year three
more, and and it kind of slowlybut surely took off from there
to where this year I thinksomething like 2,500 people
attempted a through hike, and umI'm gonna guess around a
thousand will succeed.
But it didn't really throughhiking didn't really accelerate
(25:48):
as a phenomenon until around theyear 2000.
SPEAKER_00 (25:52):
It sounded to me like the ATC for a while was
tracking who completed thetrail, and people were required
to submit some sort of documentor proof, and then at some point
it just got to be so many hikersthat they stopped, right?
SPEAKER_01 (26:05):
Right.
That's exactly what happenedearly 1970s.
So they did.
You had to like proof that youhad done it.
And if you did, they wouldinvite you to their annual
meeting and they would give youa wooden plaque with uh, you
know, the hand-carved woodenplaque celebrating your
achievement, and and so theymade a really big deal out of
it.
And then in the I guess it wasin the early 1970s, the person
(26:26):
in charge of that, the volunteerwho was doing all of that, just
kind of threw his hands up andhe said, You know, there are
like 250 people on the trailthis year attempting a through
hike, and I can't I can't dothis.
It's too much.
So they switched to an honorsystem, um, which they've used
ever since, which is you writein and say, I completed a
through hike, and you know, Istarted on this date and I
(26:46):
finished on that date, and umthey send you a little
certificate and a patch.
And they they depend on kind ofsocial shaming to prevent people
from lying, because I could sendthem that letter now and say,
Yeah, I just just finished atMount Catahdin and uh send me my
patch.
And they would, but if I putthat patch on my backpack, all
(27:06):
my friends would say, MillsKelly, you are not a through
hiker.
So that's kind of how it works,you know, and um it's really an
honor system.
SPEAKER_00 (27:16):
So I think a lot of people are really fascinated
with through hiker culture.
I think they're interested inthings like people's trail
names, and then there aredifferent events like hike naked
day and the half gallonchallenge.
Can you talk a little bit abouthow the rise of through hiker
culture changed the social lifeof the Appalachian Trail?
SPEAKER_01 (27:36):
Probably the thing that's the most pervasive is
what you mentioned, um having atrail name.
And uh it's not really clear howthat got started.
If you look at the Thruhikerdatabase at the Appalachian
Trail Museum, in the late 1970s,maybe a third of the people
listed a trail name.
But by the end of the 1980s,most did.
(27:58):
Um, and by the 1990s, almostalmost everyone.
There are a few people who don'tdo the trail name thing, but
almost everyone does.
And you're supposed to have yourtrail name given to you by
others, not chosen.
Some people choose theirs,sometimes for very good reasons.
Mostly it's supposed to be givento you.
My one of my favorites was awoman I met whose uh trail name
(28:18):
was Pig Pen.
And and I said, Okay, I gottaask, you know, why?
And she said that early in herhike, she was going down a slope
with a couple of other hikersand it was really wet, and she
slipped and she fell and sherolled over a couple of times in
the mud and she came upcompletely coated in mud.
And one of the other hikers waslike, Wow, you look just like
Pig Pen and Charlie Brown.
And so that's how she got herher name.
(28:40):
But it it also has theadvantage, and I think this is
especially true for women whoare hiking alone on the trail,
of conferring a certain level ofanonymity.
You don't have to give youractual name.
And in fact, it's kind of rudeto ask, well, what's your real
name?
So people sort of don thispersona of their trail name.
And and you know, I have a uhvery close friend who's a nurse
(29:02):
anesthetist in Pittsburgh, youknow, she works with brain
surgeons and she's dips.
She's because her trail name wasserendipity and it got shorted
to shorted down to dips.
And so everybody just knows heras dips, and you know, it's
tattooed on her forearm, andit's that's who she is.
SPEAKER_00 (29:18):
What's your trail name, Els?
SPEAKER_01 (29:19):
Mine is Granddaddy Spartan.
SPEAKER_00 (29:22):
And how did you get that?
SPEAKER_01 (29:23):
I got that because I was um hiking.
When I hike, I don't shave, andmy beard comes in very white and
has since I was in my 30s.
I was hiking with one of mykids, and we stopped at a
shelter in the southern districtof Shenandoah, and there were
some through hikers there.
And and uh so he was chattingwith them, and I was exhausted
because I was hiking with a 16year old who can walk a lot
(29:43):
faster than me.
I was just sort of leaningagainst the wall of the shelter,
really tired, and and my beardwas all white.
And and the movie 300, theanimated film about Sparta, had
just been out, and so still inthe cultural conversation.
And one of the through hikerslooked at me and he's like,
dude, you look Just likegranddaddy Spartan, and that's
how it happened.
(30:03):
It's just sort of random stufflike that.
But you know, and then there arevarious hiking traditions.
Um, hike naked day has beenaround since the 80s, we think.
That's on the summer solstice inJune.
Um, the half-gallon challenge inPine Grove Furnace State Park in
Pennsylvania, where the museumis, um, was started by the um
proprietor of the camp store inthe state park campground.
(30:24):
You know, hikers are supposed tosit down and eat an entire half
gallon of ice cream in one go,which is a lot of butter, fat,
and salt when you've been livingon trail food, and many of them
are regret that they tried it.
Uh, the most physicallychallenging of those challenges
is the four-state challenge.
And you can start at theVirginia-West Virginia line.
So you're in Virginia, that'sstate one.
(30:46):
Cross over into West Virginia,that's state two.
You hike 14 miles in WestVirginia, you cross the Potomac
River, and now you're in inMaryland, and then you hike 30
miles, and uh, and then you'rein um Pennsylvania.
And so altogether comes out tolike 40 miles, I guess, in and
you have to do it in 24 hours.
SPEAKER_00 (31:07):
So, does this mean for those of us who are thinking
about a day hike on the AT inVirginia around June that we
should be worried about runninginto naked hikers?
SPEAKER_01 (31:17):
It could happen, uh, but only on the summer solstice,
or it should only happen on thesummer solstice.
I, you know, I have a a quote inthe book that I loved.
Uh, some guy was doing the hikenaked thing.
He was up in the White Mountainsin in New Hampshire and came
around a bend in the trail, andthere was uh there was a guy
sitting on a rock, you know,having a snack, just a day
(31:37):
hiker, and the day hiker lookedat him like, oh, it's like naked
day, you know, and that was it.
And he just kept going.
And so I don't think it happensin places like Shenandoah
National Park, for instance.
SPEAKER_00 (31:50):
Uh uh.
Okay.
So I imagine there must be somekind of consequences in certain
places if this, if they're ifyou're caught doing this,
perhaps.
SPEAKER_01 (31:58):
We are a very prudish country, and so I'm sure
that that you could end up witha ticket from a local park
authority person or something.
So perhaps.
Yeah.
So it's let's just say I've beenhiking on the Appalachian Trail
since 1971, and I have yet tosee a naked hiker.
SPEAKER_00 (32:15):
Yeah, that's right.
And I don't usually hear toomany people talking about it
either.
It's a little crazy consideringmosquitoes and chiggers and
ticks and just brushing upagainst thorny bushes and all of
that.
SPEAKER_01 (32:27):
Like why no why would you want that?
Yeah.
I think honestly, I think thevast majority of people strip
down, get a photo, and then puttheir clothes back on.
SPEAKER_00 (32:38):
So you could say you participated, but in a little
bit of a smarter, moreconservative way.
Right.
Um, okay.
So we talked a little bit abouthiking gear and clothing, but I
would love to talk about howhiking food has changed,
especially the weight and thetype of food that people used to
carry blew my mind.
SPEAKER_01 (33:01):
People used to carry really heavy food.
And that's it's not becausedehydration didn't exist,
because they they called itdesiccating food in those days
back in the 20s and 30s, but itwas dehydrating.
They and then you know,freeze-drying happens after the
Second World War.
And so it was possible to getvery lightweight foods, but
mostly people ate very fresh.
(33:22):
You know, they went to thegrocery store and they got some
potatoes and some apples andsome bananas and some onions and
and some butter.
And and so they carried freshfood and and so they ate much
more nutritiously, much morenutritiously.
So, you know, it was a muchhealthier diet.
It was just a lot heavier.
(33:43):
And uh, the other thing that washeavy was the cooking gear that
they carried to cook that food,because you know, the
backpacking stove doesn't reallybecome a ubiquitous item on the
trail until the 50s and 60s.
They were around before theSecond World War, but there was
a lot of innovation during theSecond World War that improved
the stoves.
They become pretty, prettycommon.
(34:04):
And once you have a stove, thenyou don't have to know how to
build a fire and you don't careif it's raining.
I mean, it's still inconvenientto cook in the rain, but you
don't have to worry about yourfire going out.
You know, people carried cookpots and and they would get up
in the morning and make biscuitsor cornbread and over the fire.
And so they carried a lot ofcooking gear also that was
(34:25):
equally heavy.
And so, you know, after theSecond World War, it becomes
really increasingly easy to buydehydrated and and then
freeze-dried foods and to use abackpacking stove with just one
little pot.
And and so all of a sudden theweight that people carried went
way down.
Um, the food just got a lot lessnutritious.
(34:46):
We did for our podcast, weinterviewed a couple of um
nutritionists and they were justappalled.
They were like, This isterrible, terrible.
You know, it's really bad foryou.
I mean, I met a guy who'd hikeda PCT one year and then came and
hiked the AT the next year.
And when he was hiking, he livedentirely on energy bars.
SPEAKER_00 (35:03):
Oh gosh.
SPEAKER_01 (35:04):
And now he was like 25, but he lived entirely and he
would go into town and he wouldgorge on five guys in Taco Bell.
And and so, you know, he justate the worst possible diet you
can imagine.
And yet he hiked both of thesevery long trails.
So now, again, he was like 25,so he could do it.
But you know, there was allkinds of fun stuff in there.
Like, when was the last timeyou, Jessica Bowser, ate an
(35:26):
onion sandwich?
SPEAKER_00 (35:27):
Oh, you talked about that, and no, thank you.
I never have, and I don't thinkI ever will.
SPEAKER_01 (35:33):
No, I mean, there are people from it's more of a
southern thing.
There are people I when I askedthat question to audiences,
there's always somebody who'slike, Oh, yeah, when I go see my
grandma in South Carolina, shewould serve onion sandwiches,
you know.
And it's just like bread,butter, and a slice of onion.
No, thanks.
It was really popular, right?
And who knew?
And easy because you just had tohave some bread and some butter
and some onions.
(35:53):
And there you go.
Now you have a sandwich.
You know, so there's stuff likethat.
Um, I I did a deep dive into thehistory of instant pudding and
stuff like that.
So, so the food part was reallyfun and uh to to research and to
read about.
SPEAKER_00 (36:08):
It was fun to learn about because when I think about
how heavy my grocery bags arewhen I carry them in from the
car, and then I imagine puttingthat into my pack.
I I just can't, right?
Like I'm thinking about carryingall that weight plus water, plus
cooking supplies.
And how much time are they werethey spending on the trail
cooking?
You know, it wasn't like justboil some water, pour it in,
(36:29):
wait your 10 to 15 minutes toeat and go.
Like that that didn't happen.
And they were required to burnall of their trash afterwards,
too.
That's a whole nother process.
And having to have water to putthat fire out.
I mean, it just seemed like itwas so much.
But then to go from that and towatch it evolve into things like
when Slim gyms were invented andwhen Pop Tarts were invented and
(36:51):
things that we now considerhiker food.
Personally, I would never eatany of that, but things that we
call hiker food, when thosethings were invented and how it
changed the trail and how, youknow, what people were eating on
the trail.
SPEAKER_01 (37:05):
Yeah.
And it's again, the lighter thefood and the lighter the cooking
gear, the more people canimagine putting on a backpack
and hiking 10, 15 miles.
SPEAKER_00 (37:16):
Join us next week for part two, where we'll look
at how the Appalachian Trail hasevolved into a global icon and
the modern challenges that comewith its popularity.
Mills and I will talk aboutsocial media's impact on the
trail, how hikers can give backthrough stewardship, and what
the trail's rich history meansfor Virginians today.
We'll also bring theconversation closer to home with
(37:38):
practical advice for hiking theAT right here in Virginia.
Whether you're planning a shortday hike or dreaming of a
through hike, Mills has the tipsyou need to get you exploring
the trail.
Virginia Outdoor Adventures isinspired by and supported by
listeners like you, which is whyyour messages and feedback mean
(37:58):
so much to me.
You can text me directly byclicking on Send Jessica a text
message in your show notes.
I answer questions, respond tocomments, and share your
feedback on the show.
Never miss a new episode.
Sign up for my email newsletterand receive my listener resource
guide with the top podcastepisodes, a Virginia outdoor
(38:19):
bucket list, and exclusive branddiscounts for my listeners.
Click on Newsletter Sign Up inyour show notes or visit
Virginia Outdoor Adventures.com.
Thanks for listening.
Until next time, Adventure On.
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