“There are two A.T.’s,” one speaker told the 1993 ATC meeting. “One, an App-a-latch-i-an Trail, runs from Georgia to Maine. Another, the App-a-lay-shun Trail, runs from Maine to Georgia.” In truth, there are dozens of Appalachian Trails, each what a hiker wants to make of it. The physical trail—the 265 mountain climbs, 255 shelters, and thousands of two-by-six-inch white blazes that mark the narrow footway—is in many ways the least important of the trails. The trail is also an abstract concept, a path to a hiker’s dreams and aspirations. After all, what separates the A.T. from other trails is
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