Second Saturday Lecture- Earl Shaffer and the Appalachian Trail

David Donaldson will present about Earl Shaffer the first though hiker on the Appalachian Trail.  As part of his presentation he will share a segment of a film about Shaffer and some of Earl’s poetry.
David Donaldson was born and raised in Virginia.  Shortly after graduation from college he moved to the West Coast.  After a dozen years and nearly as many jobs, including working for the University of California, in 1998 David decided to take a hike on the granddaddy of all hiking trails, the Appalachian Trail.  Choosing as his trail name ‘Spirit of ‘48’ in honor of the 50th anniversary of Earl Shaffer’s first hike along the A.T., he was awestruck when first meeting the legendary hiker who had embarked upon his third and final thru-hike earlier that same year.  As fate would have it, David and Earl hiked the state of Maine together, culminating in their climbing to the summit of Mt. Katahdin, the trail’s northern terminus.  Shortly thereafter, Earl agreed to let David write his biography.  In 2004 David and his family moved to the Shiloh area of York, buying a property that sits directly beside the home Earl and his family grew up in.  David has a Doctorate degree in Education and works as a special education teacher for the School District of the City of York.  He is married and is the father of twins.