The 2,200-mile journey that was never meant to be just a hike

Cultures · Published 30 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 1921, forester Benton MacKaye proposed a grand regional plan for city-dwellers to escape urban life. He envisioned a network of wilderness camps and farms, not a singular, continuous footpath. Today, the Appalachian Trail is a legendary feat of endurance, yet its origins were rooted in social engineering.

The Appalachian Trail (A.T.) was first conceived in 1921 by Benton MacKaye, a forester who developed his 'Project in Regional Planning' following the death of his wife. While modern hikers focus on the physical challenge, MacKaye’s original vision was much broader, aiming to connect wilderness work and study camps for urban residents. The trail was officially completed in 1937, stretching nearly 2,200 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, traversing 14 states.

The trail's development was driven by a mix of individual passion and organized effort. Key figures included Myron Avery, who led the project after the death of Arthur Perkins in 1932, and Paul M. Fink, who was instrumental in establishing the trail through Tennessee and North Carolina. The project's legitimacy was bolstered by the National Trails System Act of 1968, which designated it as a National Scenic Trail. Today, the trail is managed through a complex partnership involving the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, and the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

Thru-hiking—the act of walking the entire length in a single season—is a prestigious but difficult pursuit. While there are over 3,000 attempts to traverse the trail annually, only about 25% are successful. The community has seen a steady rise in northbound thru-hikes since 2010, with 715 reported in 2017. The trail's landscape is also a living history; while much of the route is now protected, the original 1937 path often climbed directly up mountains, leading to severe erosion that modern trail crews and 31 different clubs continue to remediate.

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