On April 12, 1980, Scott Davis was one of about 50 hikers embarking from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, who crossed the Oakland Bay Bridge on foot and then headed toward the Washington Monument in Washington DC. Exactly 411 days later, the hikers entered the Atlantic Ocean at Rehobeth Beach in Lewes, Delaware on May 27, 1981.
Covering 4,261 miles, their route covered: California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains (crossing near Lake Tahoe), Nevada, Utah’s Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks, and Colorado’s Continental Divide was surpassed near Silverton, Colorado. Continuing across the plains through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas’s Ozark Mountains, they then crossed the milestone of Missouri’s Mississippi River, the southern tip of Illinois, and most of Kentucky. Entering Virginia, their route continued 500 miles on the Appalachian Trail to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and then onto the C & O Canal straight into Washington DC. Walking down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol for a speech by President Reagan, and then to the Washington Monument, marked the end of the intended journey.
However, having started with boots in the Pacific Ocean, the trek could not feel fully complete until reaching the Atlantic Ocean, so the walkers continued through Maryland and finally to Delaware. There they were led by John Stout, the oldest walker at 69, who carried the American flag down the beach to the point where dry sand met wet sand.