[at-l] Earl Shaffer Memorabilia

[spur at mac.com (Chris Bagby)]

Earl Shaffer hiked from Katahdin to Springer in 99 days back in 1965 at age 46, making him the first person ever to thruhike the trail in both directions. Unlike his 1948 and 1998 northbound hikes, not very much has ever been written about it.

The Earl Shaffer Foundation is celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Earl's southbound hike by posting daily entries from his 1965 journal at http://www.trailjournals.com/earlshaffer , along with various bits of Earl's poetry from the vast collection which he wrote over the course of his life. Most of this material has never before been published in any form.

The Foundation is also beginning a series of auctions on eBay to dispose of items owned by Earl at the time of his death, with proceeds going to some of Earl's favorite organizations, including ALDHA, the AT Museum, the ATC, the Wilderness Society and the Salvation Army. The first round of auctions will feature a pack similar to the ones he used when thruhiking, a pith helmet, a down sleeping bag, a wool blanket sleeping bag, and assortments of books from his personal collection. A schedule of the eBay auctions appears online at http://www.earlshaffer.com . 

The first auction is due to begin June 1, 2005. Once they've begun, the auctions can be found by searching eBay on the term "Earl Shaffer".

Spur

webmaster of the Earl Shaffer Foundation