In 1951, four hikers traversed all or almost all of the Appalachian Trail from end to end in one season. Three of those hikers, Gene Espy, Chester Dziengielewski, and Martin Papendick, hiked the entire trail, making them the second, third, and fourth thru hikers after Earl Shaffer in 1948. Bill Hall completed all but 300 miles of the trail, skipping the route between Roanoke and Damascus to save time and money. Pictured here, from left to right, are Dziengielewski, AT founder Benton MacKaye, Bill Hall and Gene Espy. The photograph was taken in October 1952, at a dinner hosted by the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club to honor the three hikers who attended. Papendick was thru hiking the Pacific Crest Trail at the time.

The Plum Orchard Gap Shelter is the northernmost shelter on the Trail in Georgia. This version of the shelter, which is a replacement for an older shelter, was constructed in the 1980s by soldiers from nearby Camp Frank Merrill. It is maintained by the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club.

Benton MacKaye took part in the meeting of several of the southern Appalachian Trail clubs at Cloudland Lodge, Georgia, October 13-14, 1934. In this photograph, he is standing at the summit of Whiteside Mountain, N.C.

The Springer Mountain Shelter is located near the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. This image is of an older incarnation of the shelter. The Georgia Appalachian Trail Club tore down this version of the shelter and replaced it with the larger version that hikers encounter today.

The Hawk Mountain Shelter in Georgia is located in the Chattahoochee National Forest, about eight miles north of the southern terminus of the Trail at Springer Mountain. As a result, it is often the first stop for northbound hikers. This image shows the shelter as it was in 1974. It has subsequently been rebuilt by the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club.

The original southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail was at the summit of Mount Oglethorpe in Georgia. Shortly after the decision was made to extend the Trail to this mountaintop, a monument was constructed at the terminus in memory of Jame Oglethorpe, the founder of the Georgia colony. Dedicated in 1930, the monument was moved about 20 miles to the northeast to the town of Jasper, Georgia in 1958 after the terminus of the Trail was moved to Springer Mountain in order to avoid the encroachment of several large chicken farms on the Trail.

The original southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail was at the summit of Mount Oglethorpe in Georgia. Shortly after the decision was made to extend the Trail to this mountaintop, a monument was constructed at the terminus in memory of Jame Oglethorpe, the founder of the Georgia colony. Dedicated in 1930, the monument was moved about 20 miles to the northeast to the town of Jasper, Georgia in 1958 after the terminus of the Trail was moved to Springer Mountain in order to avoid the encroachment of several large chicken farms on the Trail.

This photograph was taken by Japanese-American George Masa (1881-1933), one of America's most important outdoor photographers. Masa Knob in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is named for him.

Blood Mountain Shelter, May 22, 2017.

The Blood Mountain Shelter was built in 1937 by the Civilian Conservation Corps for the Georgia State Parks system. In 1956, the shelter was transferred to the U.S. Forest Service, and is maintained by the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club, whose members carried out a major renovation of the structure in 2010 [current image]

Appalachian Trail Sign, Plum Orchard Gap, Georgia, just south of the North Carolina/Georgia border.

A map showing the length of the AT, starting from the southern terminus of Springer Mountain, Georgia and ending at Mount Katahdin, Maine.