Appalachian Trail: Vision v. Reality

Meet Benton Mackaye: conservationist, forester, visionary. In 1921 he published An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning setting his dream in motion for a long distance hiking trail to connect self-sustaining woodland communities along the Appalachian ridge.

“The project is one for a series of recreational communities throughout the Appalachian chain of mountains from New England to Georgia, these to be connected by a walking Trail,” wrote Mackaye.

Fun fact: the original vision for the A.T. was not primarily as a hiking trail but a wilderness retreat, a retreat Mackaye saw as solving problems of over-population, pollution, and even mental health.

Enter Myron Avery: lawyer, hiker, native Mainer. He was the “get up and go” behind the Appalachian Trail dream, but his vision was slightly different. He had little use for Mackaye’s recreational communities and set about carving a simple, long-distance hiking trail along the Appalachian spine.

Avery and Mackaye’s difference of opinion eventually led to a falling out that left Avery personally responsible for most of the trail’s physical construction. He extended the length to over 2,000 miles, negotiated permits, organized crews and founded maintenance clubs until, less than seven years later, the trail was complete.  When the final trail marker was posted proclaiming Katahdin the northern terminus of the A.T., Avery dedicated it with a simple, “Nail it up.”

And then there’s me.

My vision for the Appalachian Trail is somewhere between the ideals of Mackaye and Avery. I want to have an adventure, and clear my mind. I want to feel my legs and shoulders growing strong and sore while I push up mountains. But I also want the peace of listening to rain and chirping insects from my sleeping bag, a relaxation only reached through exhaustion.

The trail is my adventure of transition, finishing my undergraduate degree, leaving my job, moving away from the state I’ve called home for 23 years; it fills the space between what my life has been for the last three years, and what it will be in the future.

Most importantly, it’s a deeply personal adventure. I will take from the trail what I put into it, along with whatever surprises it chooses to gift me; it’s true of everyone who decides to hike the A.T., no matter how far or for how long. Every hiker approaches the experience with their own expectations and dreams, and is satisfied, or not, in a hundred different ways 

Mackaye and Avery created a trail that in reality is a different experience than either one envisioned, but that’s the beauty of it. They dreamed up and built over 2,000 miles of wilderness trail; every year it calls to a few thousand intrepid souls: come build your own adventure.