Myron Avery

Born in Lubec, Maine, Avery was a protégé of Judge Arthur Perkins and a collaborator and sometimes rival of Benton MacKaye.

[1] According to Philip D'Anieri, Avery got the Appalachian Trail built "with a focus and commitment that were almost inexplicably intense.

Avery was driven to arrange things as he was certain they should be, not out of ego or hubris, it seems, but from an almost desperate need to do things the right way, which happened to be his way, and why on earth couldn't others see that when it was obvious?....The building of the Appalachian Trail, for Myron Avery, seemed to achieve no broader purpose than the fact of its own completion: two ends connected; a trail blazed, cleared, and improved, shelters built; measurements made; and all of the associated date published in an appropriate format.

[2] After his death, a mountaintop on the Appalachian Trail in Maine was renamed "Avery Peak" in his honor.

Remote for detachment, narrow for chosen company, winding for leisure, lonely for contemplation, it beckons not merely north and south but upward to the body, mind and soul of man."