Sep 21, 2026 · 22 min · 9 segments
Ed Riggs interviews Jim Foster. Jim is the Chair of the Museum's Hall of Fame selection committee. Jim talks about how and why the Hall of Fame was started and the 2026 Hall of Fame Class. They also…
Jim FosterGuest
Ed RiggsHost
Well, the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame was founded the year after the A.T. Museum opened in 2010, and we founded the Hall of Fame and had the first class in 2011.
It is designed to work similar to the baseball, football, basketball halls of fame, and the pretty much anybody who has made an exceptional and positive contribution to the Appalachian Trail or the Appalachian Trail community.
And we deliberately have kept this really wide in terms of people who are eligible to be honored.
It can be by people who've been leaders, who've inspired other people, who have been involved in service to the AT, an achievement on the AT, or an innovation on the AT.
And people that we have sought to honor include the pioneers, you know, the Benton Mackays, the Myron Averys, the people who conceived of and developed the trail.
People who organized or directed major trail organizations like ATC and the AT Maintaining Clubs.
Two people that spring to mind there are Dave Startzel and Sandy Mara, who's going to be in the 2026 Hall of Fame class.
Longtime trail maintainers, leaders who promoted and protected the AT, somebody like Dave Field.
who was in one of the early classes, and he's on our Hall of Fame selection committee now, who probably has the record for the longest continuous maintenance of a section of the AT.
Hikers who've made significant accomplishments, such as, say, Earl Schaefer or a recent inductee, Nibblewell Nomad, and also other persons who have enriched the culture or community of the AT by their association with it.
An example of that is people who have run hostels, like, for example, Bob Peoples, a kind of a legendary hostel owner, among other things, on the AT.
So, again, to repeat, the idea is to keep the categories of people who are eligible for induction as wide as possible.
Well, the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame was founded the year after the A.T. Museum opened in 2010, and we founded the Hall of Fame and had the first class in 2011.
It is designed to work similar to the baseball, football, basketball halls of fame, and the pretty much anybody who has made an exceptional and positive contribution to the Appalachian Trail or the Appalachian Trail community.
And we deliberately have kept this really wide in terms of people who are eligible to be honored.
It can be by people who've been leaders, who've inspired other people, who have been involved in service to the AT, an achievement on the AT, or an innovation on the AT.
And people that we have sought to honor include the pioneers, you know, the Benton Mackays, the Myron Averys, the people who conceived of and developed the trail.
People who organized or directed major trail organizations like ATC and the AT Maintaining Clubs.
Two people that spring to mind there are Dave Startzel and Sandy Mara, who's going to be in the 2026 Hall of Fame class.
Longtime trail maintainers, leaders who promoted and protected the AT, somebody like Dave Field.
who was in one of the early classes, and he's on our Hall of Fame selection committee now, who probably has the record for the longest continuous maintenance of a section of the AT.
Hikers who've made significant accomplishments, such as, say, Earl Schaefer or a recent inductee, Nibblewell Nomad, and also other persons who have enriched the culture or community of the AT by their association with it.
An example of that is people who have run hostels, like, for example, Bob Peoples, a kind of a legendary hostel owner, among other things, on the AT.
So, again, to repeat, the idea is to keep the categories of people who are eligible for induction as wide as possible.
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