The Ohio Geological Society

Rock Core Workshop

Rocks, Roots and Rattlesnakes: the story of my 2020 Appalachian Trail thru-hike told from a geologist’s perspective

Craig Eckert

THURSDAY, May 22th, 2025

Lunch & Talk begin at 12:00 pm

H. R. Collins Lab and Core Repository
Address: 3307 S. Old State Road
City: Delaware
State: Ohio
Country: United States

Lunch Provided for Registered Attendees

RSVP required

Craig Eckert

Abstract: In 2020 I spent five and one-half months thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. I began my northbound trek on June 6 at the southern terminus—Springer Mountain, Georgia arriving at Swatara Gap, Pennsylvania in early September, roughly at the half-way point. From there I “flip-flopped” to Maine where I hiked southbound for another two months, finishing my thru-hike at Swatara Gap on November 17. Following this solo trek, I wrote a book about my adventures and encounters along the way, written as a series of daily logs originally transcribed from my daily journals, then embellished with additional details resulting from further recollection and research. As a geologist, I added a fair amount of content pertaining to the rocks I encountered, their geologic history and relevance to the present trail. Some of the content I was already familiar with or already knew, some I relearned from review of maps and literature sources, and still some content I was learning about for the first time. I have woven those explanations and observations into stories about my daily experiences. Most of my background as a petroleum geologist has been in studying sedimentary basins, and most of the rocks encountered along the trail were, well, not sedimentary. Metamorphic and igneous rocks such as those found in the Blue Ridge and New England are far more prevalent and provided an enjoyable re-learning experience for me. During my career, one of my pet research areas was searching for evidence for reactivation of faults in the basement complex below the Appalachian sedimentary basin, which affected depositional patterns and later structural development throughout the Paleozoic era. This was one of my favorite topics in geology and involved the use of many types of geophysical datasets as well as massive amounts of well-log data in order to image, model, and interpret deep crustal faults in the metamorphic and igneous basement complex. Those deeply buried basement rocks I had spent so much time studying and mapping were the same rocks under my feet throughout most of the Blue Ridge physiographic province from Georgia to Pennsylvania. As I walked each day on nearly every imaginable kind of rock over the almost 2,200 miles, the surrounding geology was always on my mind. It is woven into the fabric of the text of my book and in the dialogue of my talks. I hope you will join me as I tell this fascinating story of my Appalachian Trail thru hike from a unique geologic perspective.

Bio: Craig Eckert is a retired Geoscience Advisor since 2017, following a 38-year career in the petroleum industry. He worked for the last 18 years of his career for EQT Production Company in Pittsburgh, PA. He has more than 30 years of seismic interpretation and prospect generation experience in the industry, having worked on both domestic and international oil and gas plays. Graduating with a BS in Geology from WVU in 1979, Craig began his career with Consolidated Gas in WV, and then went on to work for CNG Development Company, Ashland Exploration, and EQT, as well as several smaller independents. In his career he has drilled over 1000 wells, made significant discoveries, and was responsible for the first horizontal well drilled in Virginia. In 2020, Craig thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail over a period of 5 1/2 months. Following this, he wrote a book about his adventures in the form of a daily trail log, and from the perspective of a geologist. He is an active member of AAPG, AIPG, SEG, GSA, is a Certified Petroleum Geologist (AAPG/DPA), and Certified Professional Geologist (AIPG) and has served as President of Eastern Section AAPG, Geophysical Society of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Geological Society. He served on the AAPG Advisory Council and is the recipient of numerous ES-AAPG awards, including the Ralph L. Miller Best Paper Award (2003), Distinguished Service Award (2016), and Presidential Award (2018).