Earl Shaffer 75th Anniversary Boots
Sometimes I’m old school; heck you can’t get much more old school than walking for locomotion, but I’ll take trail runners every day.
Didn't they sponsor someone to attempt a NoBo wearing them this year or last?
For authenticity they should shave the heels off, as Earl did.
Teej
"[ATers] represent three percent of our use and about twenty percent of our effort," retired Baxter Park Director Jensen Bissell.
$725 seems kind of high.
I thought so too. I wonder how much Earl spent on his gear compare to today's hiker.
He probably didn’t spend much. From https://thetrek.co/appalachian-trail...ooter%20boots.Originally Posted by Mother Natures Son
“Another difference concerns everyone’s favorite subject: gear. Although an Army guy, Shaffer started his journey in true joint fashion with an Army Air Corps survival tent, a Marine Corps poncho, and a Navy turtleneck. Other gear included a rain hat, blanket, compass, sheath knife, small hand ax, sewing kit, snake-bite kit, a cook kit, and a weeks’ worth of food. For clothing, Shaffer had a pair of pants, T-shirts, wool-cotton socks, and bird shooter boots. The only item that did not make it to Maine was the seven-pound tent that Shaffer mailed home after a week.”
Looks like the old Sears hunting boots I used to use in the 1960s---(pic from ebay).
s-l1600.jpg
"Becoming the first person to complete the trail". Not quite.....first to do it in one continuous.
For a couple of bucks, get a weird haircut and waste your life away Bryan Adams....
Hammock hangs are where you go into the woods to meet men you've only known on the internet so you can sit around a campfire to swap sewing tips and recipes. - sargevining on HF
Years ago I was at the Smithsonian in DC and there just happened to be an AT exhibit. In the exhibit were (what were presented as) the original boots worn by Earl Shaffer on his AT first hike.
I was trying to find where they might be displayed but I keep finding the 2009 Smithsonian story. I believe his boots, pith helmet/hat and his note book was displayed. I believe with some digging, you can find that the Smithsonian digitized his notebook and you can read it. I read some of it, but it is pen on small notebook paper and from 1948 so I found it difficult. It is also his notes, like to jog his memory about the hike. He used the notes to write "Walking with Spring"
https://americanhistory.si.edu/docum...n_trail_1.html
For a couple of bucks, get a weird haircut and waste your life away Bryan Adams....
Hammock hangs are where you go into the woods to meet men you've only known on the internet so you can sit around a campfire to swap sewing tips and recipes. - sargevining on HF
The boots aren’t currently on display.
https://americanhistory.si.edu/colle...t/nmah_1329007
Not too much more than prices for custom logger boots these days.
"Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun
Sleepin by the river just like he usually done
Call for his whisky
He can call for his tea
Call all he wanta but he can't call me..."
Robert Hunter & Ron McKernan
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