By Karen Hendricks – This article was originally published in the Gettysburg Times, June 16, 2018

In April 1948, York County native Earl Shaffer set out to do what no man had done before—hike the Appalachian Trail’s (A.T.) 2,000-some miles in one continuous hike. His motivation was to “walk off the war” and his experiences serving in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Not only was he the first person to successfully “thru-hike” the longest hiking-only footpath in the world from Georgia to Maine at the age of 29, but he went on to do it two more times, hiking in reverse from Maine to Georgia—and being the first to do so—in 1965; and commemorating the 50th anniversary of his first hike with a 1998 trek at the age of 79.

Last month (May 2018), during this 70th anniversary year of Earl’s first hike, two of Earl’s relatives launched their own A.T. adventure to pay homage to the legendary trail figure.

The father-daughter pair, Dan and Kim Shaffer, who called Earl their uncle and great uncle respectively, began hiking the A.T. at Pen Mar Park, Cascade, Maryland, heading north, on Thursday, May 24. During the past week, their trek took them through nearby sites such as Caledonia and Pine Grove Furnace State Parks and Michaux State Forest, with stops at the Appalachian Trail Museum in Gardners and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s (ATC) Mid-Atlantic Office in Boiling Springs.

Kimberly Shaffer

“This is pretty much my stomping grounds, from my teenage years,” says Dan, who was born and raised in York; his mother was from Waynesboro. “Seeing the Michaux and Laurel Lake—it brings back memories.”

Memories are what this hike are about—not only memories of the past, but creating new memories together and keeping Earl’s memory alive.

“This whole experience has been about getting to know Earl–hiking along with my dad and listening to his stories. We’re learning a lot together, learning more about ourselves,” says Kim.

In preparation for this summer’s trek, she recently poured over Earl’s many writings, poems and music, including his book The Appalachian Trail: Calling Me Back to the Hills, published in 1998. She was only 13 when Earl passed away. Although she was born and raised in Arizona, where her father moved and also now lives, she has fond memories of summers spent visiting her relatives in Pennsylvania.

Dan remembers his uncle clearly.

Dan Shaffer

“He was always a lover of the outdoors; a mountain man. Reconnecting with the wilderness brought him peace… He had determination to take on challenges that other people didn’t dare take on until after he showed them that it could be done,” Dan says, referring to his uncle’s historic hike.

“We’re all really happy that Earl has been an inspiration for some of the returning veterans like those involved in Warrior Expeditions. I’m sure Earl would be very happy,” says Dan.

Warrior Expeditions is a program that organizes endurance trips for veterans—hiking on numerous trails such as the A.T., biking on the Trans America Trail and paddling down the Mississippi River. It was founded in order to provide veterans, at no cost, therapeutic experiences that simulated lengthy journeys historically experienced by soldiers returning from battles—time in which military personnel typically processed and came to terms with wartime experiences. The organization pays homage to Earl Shaffer’s then-revolutionary idea to “walk off the war” on its website.

Earl’s dedication to the A.T. became a lifelong passion, says Dan.

“Earl in many ways was a selfless person who played an important role in the 1960s and 70s, in having the federal government assume  responsibility for the Appalachian Trail, in addition to all of his work with trail organizations, maintaining the trail, building shelters, giving talks—probably thousands of times. He was in some ways a shy and private person, but he was always ready to talk on behalf of the trail and his experiences,” Dan says.

That’s exactly what Kim and Dan are doing along the trail—talking with fellow hikers, bringing Earl’s legacy into the conversation when possible, and continuing Earl’s lifelong mission to increase awareness of the A.T.

“It’s an amazing resource. Something like 50 percent of the U.S. population lives within a day’s drive of the A.T.,” Kim says.

According to his 2002 obituary in The New York Times, Earl Shaffer lived much of his life close by the trail, in a wilderness lifestyle—in Adams County: “A bachelor, Earl Shaffer lived most of his life with his cats and goats in a log cabin on a farm in Idaville, Pa., about five miles from the Appalachian Trail. He got electricity two years ago, but never had running water or a refrigerator.”

“Even when Benton MacKaye conceived the idea of the A.T. [in 1921], it was this escape from busy society. Today, it’s still an escape, but it’s also a pursuit of peace, knowing yourself better, really challenging yourself. This is the biggest challenge I’ve ever set for myself, discovering what I’m made of. Getting back to nature, a lot of people are trying to do that as a society, we really do need time alone and time in nature,” Kim says.

Currently, the pair is averaging ten trail miles a day. Kim’s mother (Dan’s wife), Ya-mai Shaffer is shadowing them in a support vehicle. Together, they are visiting many relatives still living in Pennsylvania during the evening hours. After a month together, Dan will return to Arizona, and Kim will continue hiking alone, increasing her daily mileage to 15-20 in order to reach the trail’s northern point at Mount Katahdin, Maine. Then, she plans on returning to Pen Mar Park and hiking south as far as time will allow before returning to her job as a teacher in Arizona. It’s what’s called a “flip-flop hike” in the trail community—hiking the entire A.T. in discontinuous sections.

There are tentative plans in late August, for Kim and Dan to offer a talk at the A.T. Museum where exhibits pay homage to early A.T. trail pioneers including Earl. Some of Earl’s belongings are also on display, housed in one of many historic shelters he personally constructed along the trail.

Thru-hikers are typically given trail nicknames. Kim, following in Earl’s footsteps, was dubbed “Echo” during a recent brainstorming session at the museum.

Kim points out that their ages are similar to Earl’s ages at the time of his hikes—Kim just turned 30; Earl was 29 when he completed his first hike. Dan is 73; Earl was 79 for his final hike. Also, 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of Earl’s birth in 1918.

Dan and Kim Shaffer, May 2018

And, 2018 is the 50th anniversary of the National Trail System Act, which designated the A.T., according to Sara Haxby, senior office manager at the ATC’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Office and Visitor Center which oversees the trail from Rockfish Gap, Virginia to the New York/Connecticut state line. The ATC manages and protects the A.T. on many levels.

“That can be monitoring plant species, monitoring the National Park boundary, or protecting the A.T. from threats such as pipelines, powerlines, encroaching development; making sure various townships are aware of the benefit of having green space,” says Haxby.

Haxby, a native of Massachusetts, completed an A.T. thru-hike in 2009. She says Earl Shaffer’s desire “to walk the army out of his system” is relatable. “I think a lot of people can identify with that situation, to take a different path for a while. Being in the woods, taking care of yourself is a way to rebuild,” Haxby says.

“Walking off the war, which we’re seeing now with soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, is as relevant today as it was then. It’s the healing power of connecting with nature and quieting yourself,” says Karen Lutz, ATC Mid-Atlantic Regional Director.

Lutz, who has served as director of the Boiling Springs office for 30 years, says she met Earl Shaffer several times. “He was a character—he truly was the definition of a character, kind of reclusive.”

Ironically, it was his historic 1948 hike that inspired her own career path.

“When I was in third grade, [growing up near Pittsburgh], we used to get Weekly Readers, and one had an article about the A.T. I don’t remember exactly what it said, but it had to have been an article about Earl in the early 1960s and it captured my imagination. That stayed with me, and I worked at summer camps, going on to earn my master’s in outdoor recreation from Penn State. When I was hired, I was the first woman in a field position with the ATC.”

Lutz says Earl often sat on the front porch of the ATC’s Mid-Atlantic Office, located along the trail adjacent to Children’s Lake in Boiling Springs. She says he enjoyed connecting with hikers and talking about his experiences. It was those types of interactions that cultivated his legendary status and following among many in the trail community. She says in many ways, Kim and Dan’s hike brings Earl’s experience “full circle.”

“When I thru-hiked the A.T. in 1978, there were just 106 of us. Today, there are thousands of thru-hikers,” Lutz says, “But Earl was the first. And he used the trail as a healing experience, which is really what Benton MacKay thought it could be.”

Dan and Kim Shaffer hike past the ATC’s front porch in Boiling Springs, PA where Earl Shaffer often sat, talked with hikers