Walking with Spring, Earl V. Shaffer
Walking with Spring, Earl V. Shaffer
List: $12.99 | Sale: $9.10
Club: $6.49

Walking with Spring

Author: Earl V. Shaffer

Narrator: Danny Campbell

Unabridged: 6 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/15/2022


Synopsis

In 1948, the Appalachian Trail had been a continuous, 2,000-mile footpath for eleven years, but no one had walked its length alone in a continuous journey—until Earl Shaffer, a quiet Pennsylvanian, became a hiking legend and the first of what is now more than 5,500 A.T. "thru-hikers," walking from Georgia to Maine as spring arrived to each area. In 1998, he hiked again as a 50th-anniversary celebration, to far greater publicity. This is the lyrical account of his fabled 1948 walk.

Written soon after the first of his three thru-hikes, Walking with Spring chronicles Shaffer's adventures along a path that at the time was showing neglect of the war years and has since been rerouted significantly to its permanent location. His simply stated story has served as an inspiration for more than 9,000 men and women who have since followed in his footsteps . . . and many more who have tried.

About Earl V. Shaffer

Earl V. Shaffer (1919-2002) was the first person to report a single-season hike of the whole Appalachian Trail, in 1948, walking of the war. He hiked it again in 1965 and 1998. He lived a modest life in central Pennsylvania, often writing poetry.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Novel Currents on July 12, 2009

I can thank the deepest recession since the Great Depression for the discovery of this treasure. While getting ready for work one morning, I enjoyed an NPR news story profiling the newly-unemployed. It seems a few, those with a bit of time on their hands and money to spare (5 grand or so), decided w......more

Goodreads review by Carolyn on January 21, 2024

Great nonfiction book by the first through-hiker on the Appalachian Trail. That used to be one of my dreams but I’m too old and have health concerns that would not allow that now. It was great to read his adventures on the trail. It was a little slow going but nice to see the advance in clothing, fo......more

Goodreads review by P.J. on January 14, 2014

I'm an old guy - Social Security retirement age. Yet Earl Shaffer accomplished what he called his 'Long Cruise' - the very first Appalachian Trail thru-hike - before I was born (but barely - I happened to be a fetus at the time). The year was 1948. When you're the very first to do something there's a......more

Goodreads review by Elena on September 18, 2018

This is the memoir of the first thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 1948 by Earl Shaffer. He'd returned from service in WW2 depressed and confused, all the more so because he'd lost his best friend and hiking buddy at Iwo Jima. So he decided to hike the entire Appalachian Trail in one long hike, b......more

Goodreads review by Robert on April 22, 2024

A tale of the original walk of the AT was interesting as a slice of time more than a technical discussion of how to hike. The times were different, the trail ran differently, but the reasons for hiking are similar even today. The hospitality of people 70 years ago was amazing. Today there is trail m......more