South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford talks to members of the media, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009, in downtown Charleston, S.C. A legislative panel voted down a measure to impeach the two-term Republican, opting instead to recommend a formal rebuke for bringing the state "ridicule, dishonor, disgrace and shame."
Benton MacKaye never intended for his trail to be an alibi or a punchline, but former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford edited its entry in the cultural lexicon in 2009. After telling his staff he was going to hike the trail that June, Sanford went incommunicado for six days–neither his wife nor his chief of staff could contact him. It turns out the only exercise Sanford was getting was boarding planes to and from Argentina, where he was visiting his mistress, Argentine journalist Maria Belen Chapur. Revelations of the affair led to Sanford’s divorce and prompted him to resign his position as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. In a June 24, 2009 press conference, he tearfully apologized to his wife, family and all South Carolinanas — although he never apologized to the Appalachian Trail. Tsk tsk.