A Hawkins County man is back home after hiking the entire Appalachian Trail.
Charles Grubb finished the amazing feat on his 56th birthday and started his journey in 2012.
The trail is about 2,200 miles and spans up and down the East Coast.
Did you catch the Google Doodle for Monday? It features a trail that hikers in the Knoxville area may be familiar with.
The Monday Google Doodle featured the 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail that runs from Maine to Georgia. On Oct. 2, 1968, The National Trails System Act established the Appalachian Trail as one of the country’s first National Scenic Trails. Those not familiar with the path of the A.T. might be surprised to learn that Tennessee is one of the 14 states the trail runs through.
There are approximately 75 miles of the A.T. in Tennessee, but the trail runs along the Tennessee and North Carolina border for around 220 additional miles, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
According to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, “there are approximately 96 miles of the A.T. in North Carolina, but the Trail runs along the Tennessee/North Carolina border for approximately 220 additional miles.”
Google designer Nate Swinehart took inspiration for the Doodle from hiking the trail. While in NC, he was especially impressed with the area around Clingman's Dome.
The trail was not fully connected from Springer Mountain Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine until 1937. The path travels through Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine — hitting 10 out of the original 13 colonies.
Passing through the Appalachian Mountains, the Smoky Mountains, White Mountain National Forest, and more, the trail traverses about 450,000 feet of elevation changes. Clingmans Dome is the highest point of the entire trail at 6,644 feet, and is located on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The trail either passes over or provides close access to the tallest peaks in seven states.
According to Google, the first doodle happened in 1998 when Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin played with the logo to indicate their attendance at the Burning Man festival in Nevada.
The second doodle did not come until two years later. After that, the doodle became a more frequent thing and there have been close to 5,000 doodles since then.
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