About Warren

38,000-miler; a record 18 traverses of the entire AT-AT Circle Expedition leader/organizer (5/4/1974-9/15/2017)
Some say the Appalachian Trail and Warren Doyle have become synonymous due to the passion/commitment that Warren has had for the trail for the last 50 years based on the following facts:
  1. He has traversed, by foot, the entire Appalachian Trail a record eighteen (18) times –more than any other person. (nine thru-hikes; nine section hikes).
  2. Over a 45-year era, he organized/led ten groups of people up the entire trail with phenomenal completion results - 7 out of the 8 'circle' expedition groups had 100% completion rates.
  3. He is the founder (1983), along with being the first coordinator and honorary life member, of ALDHA – the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association.
  4. Dr. Doyle created and is the director of the Appalachian Trail Institute. This four-night/five-day thru-hiking planning/preparation session has, for  35 years, helped over a thousand people fulfill their thru-hiking dreams.
  5. He has been an engaging, innovative, and artistic college educator for four decades and is a charter member of the Wilderness Education Association.
  6. Dr. Doyle has been featured in such publications as Backpacker, Sports Illustrated,  Outside, and Appalachia along with being mentioned in numerous articles/ books and appearances in several trail videos.
  7. He has been called a ‘living legend’, the ‘Yoda’ and ‘Abbie Hoffman’ of the Appalachian Trail, compared to both Jimi Hendrix and Ethan Allen, and also has been called a plethora of bad names from a small, but vocal, group of cyberbullies (who he is outlasting).
  8. He was selected as the 2009 Outdoors Person of the Year by Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine.
  9. He was described as the 'freest person they know' by a person whom he has great respect for.
  10. Dr. Doyle was inducted into the AT Hall of Fame in 2020.
Dr. Doyle is known for being a dynamic, opinionated but knowledgeable, unapologetic but caring, social change educator who is devoted to helping people fulfill their long-distance hiking goals and to experience the joy of moving to the music that they collectively hear. He loves assisting open-minded travelers on their way to becoming since there is only the road ahead. Caution: He is not an ‘enabler’ of people who are unwilling to recognize, or to think about, how important one’s threshold of pain, level of comfort, and temperament is to completing, or not completing, the Appalachian Trail. Don’t expect any empathy from him if you do, say, or feel things that aren’t congruent with what the trial requires from you to complete it. His track record of helping hundreds of people to complete the AT over the last 48 years speaks for itself. Dr. Doyle will not change his teaching style to ‘coddle’ your comfort level, simply because the trail will not change to ‘coddle’ you. As a lifelong educator, he is an enabler of success rather than failure.
CONTACT WARREN
Interested in hiking the Appalachian Trail? Check out Warren's ATI Sessions
2025 ATI Sessions
March 24-28
May 19-23
Oct. 13-17
Oct. 20-24

2025 SmartHike Orientations
March 28-30
Oct. 17-19

2025 SmartHikes
Springer Mt. to Damascus   April 1-30
Front Royal, VA to Damascus 
May 27 - June 26
Gorham, NH to Katahdin
Aug. 24 - Sept. 17

Williamstown, MA to NY 17A
Aug. 1-14
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