I met this guy on my 2013 Colorado Trail thru hike when he was doing a section he skipped. He also has a good journal of his Northville-Placid Trail thru hike (https://trailjournals.com/journal/entry/477698)
This essay about quitting includes a beautiful map, a mileage summary, and some photos from the 100 mile hike in the Minnesota wilderness I did last year.
"There’s a great deal of privilege that goes into thru-hiking. [...] You have to buy your gear. You have to travel. You have to take six months out of your life. You have to find a way to feel safe. That’s one of the reasons the trail looks like it does."
Plennie Lawrence Wingo (January 24, 1895 – October 2, 1993) walked backwards from Santa Monica, California to Istanbul, Turkey (about 13,000 km/8,000 miles) from April 15, 1931 to October 24, 1932 at the age of 36.