"In 1948 World War II veteran Earl Shaffer decided to "walk the war out of his system" and became the first person to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail in one, continuous journey of 174 days. This childrens' book tells the story of Earl's remarkable journey across fourteen states, two thousand miles that would require five million steps. "So, on a blustery April morning in 1948, Earl stood on a Georgia mountain peak, beside a weather-beaten sign, with a pack on his back and only the birds in the trees for company." One hundred and twenty-four days later he stood atop Maine's Mt. Katahdin in Maine in triumph. Shaffer was inducted into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame in 2011, nine years after his death"--