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What do the Appalachian Trail and the Civil War have in common? One possible answer is Harpers Ferry, WV. In the late 90's I became interested in studying the Civil War. Living in Maryland at the time it was very easy to visit many Civil War towns and battlefields in the mid-Atlantic states. Harpers Ferry was one of those towns, rich in history and in beauty. On one of my visits I noticed white rectangular 2"x6" markings on posts. Come to find out, these rectangles were actually white blazes used to mark the mighty Appalachian Trail (AT) This trail of well over 2,000 miles went from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. Although the halfway point is actually in Pennsylvania, many consider Harpers Ferry the psychological halfway point and it is also the headquarters for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. I couldn't imagine hiking the whole trail, but the trail across Maryland, the state I was living in at the time, was only 41 miles. So in 1999, I completed the Maryland section with my wife Lynn and my dog Snoopy. Maryland accounts for a small 2% of the entire trail, but for now, that was enough for me. I later moved to Maine and in 2002 hiked a mountain named 'Old Speck'. I noticed the same 2"x6" white blazes. I was again on the AT. Wow, if I kept hiking I would eventually meet the trail where I left off in Maryland, but again this seemed impossible.Two years later I decided to hike nearby Mount Washington. It is the highest point in the northeast at 6,288 feet. As I hiked, again I found white blazes, but again I put off any decision to hike the AT. I work in a hospital and a couple weeks later, I overheard of someone in the physical therapy department who was finishing a thru hike of the AT. This was incredible! I never knew anyone who actually did the whole thing. I later met this woman. Her name is Beth Damon and her completion of the trail convinced me that it could be done. Beth encouraged me to do it and said that some people have been hiking sections of the trail for 20 years. In 2005, I began section hiking the AT. I estimate it will take me 5-7 years. As I began my section hike, I started with small hikes close to home, many of which were in the White Mountains. The AT. cuts through the White Mountains for much of the state of New Hampshire. I would often hear hikers talking about the 4,000 footers. They were referring to the 48 mountains in the Whites that were over 4,000 feet in elevation. As if deciding to hike a trail of approximately 2,175 miles was not enough, I then decided to add this White Mountains peakbagging to my list of things to do. As of June 9, 2006, I have decided to expand this list to include all the 4,000 footers of New England bringing the number from 48 up to 67. I later expanded this list even further to include New England's 100 highest. |