Learn more about the history of hiking in the United States and especially on the Appalachian Trail in the following works:

Adam Berg, “To Conquer Myself”: The New Strenuosity and the Emergence of “Thru-hiking” on the Appalachian Trail in the 1970s, Journal of Sport History, 42/1 (Spring 2015): 1-19

Silas Chamberlin, On the Trail. A History of American Hiking (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016)

Edward B. Garvey, Appalachian Hiker: Adventure of a Lifetime, (Oakton, Virginia: Appalachian Books, 1971)