Earl Shaffer’s Little Black Notebook

Here’s something pretty cool from the website of the Smithsonian:

I had never heard of Earl Shaffer but that notebook accompanied him on quite an adventure:

Earl Shaffer was the first person to walk the entire Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in one continuous hike. Shaffer had no expert advice, no previous footsteps to follow, or even guidebooks to help him. At the time, experts believed that a hike of the entire Trail was impossible. Shaffer started his walk in April 1948 at Mount Oglethorpe, Georgia, and completed the Trail four months later at Maine’s Mount Katahdin. Shaffer kept a diary, along with photographs taken along the way, to prove to skeptics that he had really accomplished what he claimed.

Read more: NMAH | Albert H. Small Documents Gallery – Earl Shaffer and the Appalachian Trail | The Little Black Notebook.

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