Bart Smith

For his next book, Smith hiked the Appalachian Trail and partnered with Earl Shaffer, the Appalachian Trail's first thru-hiker, who wrote the text. The Appalachian Trail: Calling me Back to the Hills was published in 2002. Smith then hiked the Florida Trail, the Ice Age Trail, and finally, the rest of the national scenic trails. The total distance was more than 17,500 miles, according to Steve Elkinton, then the National Trails System program leader for the National Park Service. Having completed the national scenic trails, Smith then decided to hike, or, where hiking was not possible, travel by water or air, over the national historic trails network.

Starting in 1992, Smith spent five years hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and honing his skills as an outdoor photographer. In 1997, he successfully submitted a book proposal featuring his PCT photographs to Westcliffe Books, then a Colorado-based publisher of fine nature and outdoor photography books. (Westcliffe is now an imprint of Trails Books, which is itself an imprint of Denver-based Bower House.) The book, Along the Pacific Crest Trail, with text by Karen Berger and Daniel R. Smith, was published in 1998.

Bart Smith (born 1959) is an outdoor photographer who concentrates on documenting America's National Trails System. Over the course of more than 25 years, he became the first person to hike and photograph all of the 11 national scenic trails and to traverse (mostly by hiking, but when necessary, by sailing, paddling, and bush plane) all of the 19 national historic trails. The 30 national trails go through all 50 states, with a total mileage of more than 50,000 miles.