Since 2020, Joshua “Josh '' Estep, MD, has worked as an internal medicine specialist at the Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport, Oregon. Prior to that, he served as a resident physician at AU-UGA Medical Partnership in Athens, Georgia, following the completion of his MD.. In his free time, Dr. Josh Estep enjoys hiking, and has explored the Appalachian Trail.
Exceeding 2000 miles, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail is a marked hiking trail that runs through 14 US states across the South and Northeast, including Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Starting at Springer Mountain in Georgia and ending at Mount Katahdin in Maine, it is considered the world’s longest hiking trail and has over two million hikers on a section of the trail each year. While most of the trail runs through wildlands, some parts of it cross towns and farms.
Thousands of hikers attempt to travel the full distance of the Appalachian Trail each year, but only one in four completes the trip, which is estimated to take five to seven months to finish. The trail was established in 1937 but it took over a decade to create. Currently, it is maintained by the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the United States Forest Service, and more than 30 hiking clubs who collaborate with the government authorities for repair and upkeep.
