[at-l] Weary's Poem

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 02:46 PM 6/17/2005 -0400, Bror8588@aol.com wrote:
>What I admire greatly about that Initial Thru-Hiker -- Earl Shaffer -- was 
>that he had no guide.  The Springs were found, the trail found him, the 
>walk-arounds on roads were vehicles to get him back into the woods, and 
>even as some get lost on the AT today with Blazes all around, so ES must 
>have on that first great walk.  Was he alone?  Did he meet other hikers to 
>confirm his whereabouts?  Or did he just walk and walk and walk?  Oh, to 
>be bad -- did he pass every White Blaze?

You will forgive me I hope for giving a literal answer to that last. No. 
The trail, where it was marked at all for Earl's first thru, was marked 
with metal diamonds. I have a replica trail marker on the wall over my 
computer table. White blazes, I believe, came later.