There are many reasons to want to hike the Appalachian Trail. Few have the history of the trail literally in their blood in the way that Kim Shaffer does. The family have all been hikers and Kim harboured the desire for a thru-hike years ago. The fact that her Great Uncle was the first EVER thru-hiker of the AT, added to that desire.

She started her Flip-Flop (or OBO) at Penn Mar Park to avoid the dreadful flooding around Harpers Ferry and is now in Massachusetts. Along the way, she has learned plenty about her famous relative and much about herself as well.

Kim tells me that she promises to update her blog more regularly, but you can find that here. https://kimhikesthru.com/, though she does post more often on Instagram at Kimhikesthru

A friend of the show, JASH, shared one of his stories from the trail and we had Chapter Seven of The Year We Seized The Day, by Elizabeth Best and Colin Bowles.

We hope that you take the opportunity to support our sponsor, Trailtopia, when you consider your next backpacking trip. Go to https://www.trailtopia.com/ to check out their wide variety of meals.