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Font ResizeThat's where Earl Shaffer grew up, where he planned to become the first person to hike the entire Trail in one long journey from Georgia to Maine.
It's where he came back to rest, to his brother John's house, when he was halfway through his 50th anniversary hike at age 79 in 1998.
In a way, that land in Shiloh is still tied to Earl Shaffer, three years after he died.
When his brother, John, decided to move to Ohio in April of 2004 to be close to his sons, he sold his house on Church Road to one of Earl's greatest admirers.
The house is on the same land where the Shaffers grew up.
The buyer, Dave Donaldson, had read Earl's book, "Walking with Spring" years ago while living in San Diego.
It inspired him to quit his university job, travel east and hike the Trail.
He even gave himself the Trail name, "Spirit of ยค'48" in honor of Shaffer's initial hike.
The two met each other for the first time in Virginia in 1998, while both were attempting to hike the entire Trail.
They met again in Maine when they were both ready to quit. It was cold. They were worn out from nearly 2,000 miles of hiking.
Shaffer was becoming disoriented. Donaldson
They were at a hostel, 260 miles from the Trail's end at Mount Katahdin.
It was quite an unusual pairing over the final three weeks, the crusty hiking legend and the aspiring school teacher half his age.
"The man was tough," Donaldson said. "Earl was all knees and elbows, and Mount Katahdin is like a mile-high boulder pile. There were some days I saw him take some falls, and I thought for sure he broke his kneecap, but he never complained and just got up and kept walking."
They encouraged each other, pushing each other to the end, never leaving each other's view.
"It was like walking with a legend," Donaldson said. "I knew it was special, but I didn't know where it would lead me. It has absolutely changed my life."
Donaldson went on to head the Earl Shaffer Foundation.
So it seemed he was the perfect one to buy the house on the land where his hiking idol grew up.
It was a cheaper, quieter place to live with his wife and 2-year-old twins than their apartment in northern Virginia.
The perfect place to finish writing a biography about Shaffer. The place to put together a DVD about Shaffer using slides from his 1948 thru-hike. The place to raise his daughter and son, whose middle name is Earl, in Shaffer's honor.
And John Shaffer and his wife, Lois, "know they can always come back," Donaldson said. "They can stay in their old house."
Donaldson can now drive home from his days teaching elementary school in Stewartstown and walk around the area where the Shaffer boys grew up.
Donaldson looks around at all of the development and tries to imagine how Shaffer grew up trapping muskrats along the creek or catching eels or hiking through the farmland.
But every now and then those moments flash past, wonderfully, magically.
"Being here I do feel more of a connection" to Shaffer, Donaldson said. "Having a feel for the land and the things he told me about years ago."
BY THE BOOK
· From how-to guides to history to poetry, there is no shortage of books written about the Appalachian Trail. Here's a sampling:
· "The Thru-Hiker's Handbook" by Dan "Wingfoot" Bruce. Center for Appalachian Trail Studies. 2005. A highly-popular paperback guide that is updated annually. It's easy to carry and contains detailed information on mileage, shelters, campsites, water sources and Trail towns.
· "White Blaze Fever" by Bill Schuette. Virtualbookworm.com. 2003. Journal entries from Schuette (Mountain Slayer) during his 2000 thru-hike. Sprinkled with useful Trail tips.
· "Appalachian Trail Names" by David Edwin Lillard. Stackpole Books. 2002. An alphabetical guide to the origins of about 1,100 place names along the Appalachian Trail.
· "Women & Thru-Hiking on the Appalachian Trail" by Beverly Hugo. Insight Publishing Co. 2000. Interviews with more than 100 female long-distance hikers detail the issues that women face on the Trail.
· "The Appalachian Trail, Calling Me Back to the Hills" by Earl Shaffer and Bart Smith. Westcliffe Publishers. 2001. A coffee-table book detailing Shaffer's 50th anniversary thru-hike in 1998. Shaffer was born and raised in Shiloh. Included are 25 original Shaffer poems and 130 Smith photographs.
· "A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail" by Bill Bryson. Broadway Books. 1998. Back in America after 20 years in Britain, Bryson decided to walk the Trail and provide a humorous, insightful account of his journey.
· "The Appalachian Trail: A Visitor's Companion" by Leonard M. Adkins. Menasha Ridge Press. 1998.
A guide focusing on the geology, trees, flowers, birds, reptiles and mammals along the Trail, and a little history.
· "The Appalachian Trail Reader" edited by David Emblidge. Oxford University Press. 1996. A collection of Trail diaries, poems and historical and personal essays through the years. Included are works by Henry David Thoreau and Trail founding fathers Benton MacKaye and Myron Avery.
· "Walking With Spring" by Earl Shaffer. Appalachian Trail Conference. 1995. Shaffer writes about his account of becoming the first person to hike the entire Trail in one journey in 1948.
· "Walking the Appalachian Trail" by Larry Luxenberg. Stackpole Books. 1994. Luxenberg, who hiked the entire Trail, includes profiles, advice and stories from former thru-hikers.
· "The Appalachian Trail Backpacker" by Victoria and Frank Logue. Menasha Ridge Press. 1991. A 200-page guide to preparing to hike the Trail, with anecdotes about everything from backpacks to footgear to food.
· "Blind Courage" by Bill Irwin. Appalachian Trail Conference. 1991. An account of how Irwin, who is blind, hiked the entire Trail with his seeing-eye dog, Orient.
