I'm 30,000 words into a book "Appalachian Trailblazers: Fifty Legends of America's Iconic Footpath."

I want to solicit input from White Blaze members to 1. Make sure my list is an accurate reflection 2. Make sure I don't miss someone who should be on the list, and 3. avoid relying too much on newspaper and magazine articles in fleshing out the short biographs. The content I have so far hits all the bases except perhaps "third base" which would be a vignette from someone who knew them. They aren't all thru-hikers, the list includes well known trail angels, shuttle drivers, obviously some of the planners and maintainers, too. Several of them are dead, so I don't expect slice-of-life stories on them, I already have them well covered.

Here's the list:

Benton McKaye
J. Frank Schairer
Myron Avery
Walt Underwood
Mary Kilpatrick
Earl Shaffer
Gene Espy
Emma Gatewood
Bob Peoples
Ed Garvey
Warren Doyle
Ron Strickland
Mary Goldthwaite
George Woodard - Billy Goat
Bill Bryson
Miss Janet
Pat Hastings - Miss Daisy
Bill Irwin
David Horton
Ron Brown
Baltimore Jack - Baltimore Jack
Walter Wehner - Tipi
Jeff Alt
Sunny and Bear
John Mackey - Strider
David Miller - AWOL
Anna Huthmaker - Trail Dame
Scott Smiles
Lee Barry - Easy One
Shug Emery - Shug
Andrew Skurka
Kristin Blacklock
Michael Vermeulen
Paul Stutzman
Jennifer Pharr Davis
Zach Davis
Reed Gjonnes - Sunshiine
Ryan Linn - Guthook
Neva Warren - Chipmunk
Christian Thomas - Buddy Backpacker
Scott Jureck
Heather Anderson
Stacey Kozel
Jessica Mills - Dixie
Karl Meltzer
Will Robinson
Dale Sanders - Gray Beard
The Holford Family
M. J. Eberhart - Nimblewill Nomad
Jeff Sylvester - Sly

To keep from trashing the threads, you can go here to participate. Thanks!

Jim