By: Dave Warner
GARDNERS, PA.- Halfway along a hiking trail that stretches along the east coast of the United States from Georgia to Maine, a museum celebrates the joys and wonders of the great outdoors. The Appalachian Trail Museum, in the tiny village of Gardners in the Pennsylvania hills, marks the middle of one of the nation’s premier natural attractions — the 2,147-mile trail of the same name which attracts thousands of hikers each year. “The actual half way point is two miles south of here.” said Larry Luxenberg, the president of the museum located in a 200-year-old stone grist mill. The museum contains photographs of 13,000 trail pioneers and hikers, as well as a reconstruction of a shelter built by Earl Shaffer, the first person who walked the entire trail in 1948. A festival from June 17-19 will mark the one year anniversary of the museum, which is funded by donations and grants, and include the induction of the fi