[at-l] Ed Talone letter, May/June 2000 ATN

[gaudet@attbi.com (Arthur Gaudet)]

(Here is the contents of the letter requesting the Boy Scouts be 
included on the list of those who completed the AT. This appeared in 
ATN, May/June 2000 in the Letters section, page 7 -- RockDancer)

The First Thru-Hikers?

Every year I read with interest the names of that year's thru-hikers 
in the ATN. Mine was so listed for 1983. In 1994 (November/December), 
an article, "The Summer of 1936", documents the thru-hike of Max 
Gordon, Seymour Dorfman, Louis Zisk and three other Boy Scouts from 
Troop 257, Bronx, New York. Regarding their hike, the editor offers 
the caveat that three miles of the Trail were "not yet complete." 
Using this criteria, the following hikers cannot be given credit for 
finishing the Trail:

1. Myron Avery - credited with finishing in 1936, before the AT was even done.

2. Earl Shaffer - during his 1948 hike, the Blue Ridge Parkway 
construction had wiped out much of the route south of Roanoke, which 
forced him to improvise a route.

3. Ed Talone - during my 1983 hike, the AT was not recognized for 
about 5 miles around Sherburne Pass, Vermont, and a second section 
was wiped out by logging in Maine.

4. Every hiker who has had to leave the Trail because of fires, 
landowner disputes (I'm showing my age), and so on.

Before anyone has a stroke, I only list the above examples to 
illustrate the point that even today the AT is hardly ever "an 
unbroken footpath."  The six intrepid hikers of 1936 followed a 
little known and poorly (by today's standards) maintained route from 
Katahdin to Mt. Oglethorpe. Their tremendous achievement should be 
celebrated. I look forward to seeing the names of Max and his fellow 
hikers in the next listing by ATC of those who report completing the 
AT. To Max and the others I say, "Welcome to the Club".

Ed Talone, Silver Spring, MD

Editor's note: The names were added to the listing in this issue.

-- 
Arthur D. Gaudet        	"Is walking down called hiking, too?"          
(RockDancer) 	                 -heard at the top of Mt Washington, NH