Ibany
Mount Katahdin BAXTER PWK
He was the second man in history to cover the full length of the trail ... in one continuous effort. To those acquainted with the trail, it is a feat of endurance that stamps the young Georgian as a man of fortitude and courage. We take off our hat to Eugene M. Espy of Cordele, Ga. He set his sights on a distant goal and reached it. Daily Sun Lewiston, Maine, September 1951
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fter his Appalachian Trail adventure, Espy settled down with Eugenia and raised two daughters, who now have a daughter each. But when he retired from Robins Air Force Base as an aerospace engineer in 1995, Espy hit the road again. "Eugenia drove me up to North Carolina. I hiked back to Springer Mountain, now the southern terminus of the trail. I was gone a week." Espy, who is writing a book about his lifetime of adventures, still gives talks about his 1951 journey and "Hiking the Appalachian Trail" chronicles where he slept along the way as a guide for the thousands who have followed his path. He was on hand for a recent Appalachian Trail Long Distance Hikers Association conference. The hundreds of people inside the auditorium were asked to stand if they hiked the entire trail in 2004. The speaker counted back 2003,2002,2001 and the number of people standing grew by dozens. No one stood up as the speaker counted back from 1970 — until he got to 1951. Espy, now the oldest living early thru-hiker since the death of Shaffer, stood to thunderous applause.
On this day Espy stands in the Amicalola Falls State Park visitors center. Some of his hiking equipment — the Army rucksack he bought at a surplus store after the war for $5, his Boy Scout canteen, a pair of his trusty L.L. Bean shoes — is encased behind glass. A video plays continually, a young Espy in a photo taken on the trail in Pennsylvania, an older Espy documenting his journey for a film crew. Hikers who come in to the visitors center wonder why this gentleman holding an old stick is being photographed and his every word written down. They are told it's Gene Espy, the second person to thru-hike the entire trail. One by one they come over to shake his hand. It's a quiet day at Amicalola, which receives about a million visitors each year. Espy hikes to a viewing platform beside the waterfall for a photograph. His white hair and stooped shoulders seem to be another one of his practical jokes. Back in '51, nothing was here but trees, rocks and water. The tribute inside the visitors center seems fitting to the trailblazer gazing up at the waterfall he first set eyes on all those years ago. GT
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2005
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