Date: 2013-03-18
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Miles today: 0.0

What is the AT?This is the question most often asked when I tell people of my latest hare brained plan. Warning! My mother used to say that if you asked me what time it was I would tell you how to build a watch. I¢m going to try to distill nearly one hundred years of AT history into a few paragraphs. In doing so I will paraphrase some information from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy book, The Appalachian Trail; Celebrating America¢s Hiking Trail. I feel this publication will become the definitive source for historical AT information. So, with approval from our Logistics Chief, here goes.There are three trails in the United States which traverse more that 2,000 miles in a generally North to South direction. The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) follows the mountain range East of the Pacific shore through California, Oregon and the state of Washington. The Continental Divide Trail (CDT) runs within close proximity to the Continental divide from the Montana/Canada border to the border between New Mexico and Mexico. The Appalachian Trail (AT) follows ridgelines over most of the Appalachian Mountain chain, which runs relatively close to the Eastern seaboard from Main to Georgia. This path includes such ranges as the Blue Ridge in the South and the White Mountains of my native state, New Hampshire.There seems to be a consensus among those hardy folks who have completed all three trails (Triple Crown Hikers) that the AT is the hardest trail of the group. This is due to the fact that Trail builders in the East do not seem to know the definition or concept of the word ¢switchback¢. It is said the tread way all too often goes straight up the steepest path on the side of a mountain, over the top, then down the steepest path on the other side of the mountain. Oh well...In 1921Benton MacKaye, a regional planner, proposed safe guarding the wilderness along the crest of the Appalachian Range in order to protect it from the expansion of the metropolitan and more rural areas along the seacoast in order that the rapidly increasing population would have a place of refuge to which they might temporarily escape the stresses of more crowded civilization. In 1925 the Appalachian Trail Conference, predecessor of today¢s Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), was formed to pool and coordinated resources of various interested groups, most notably the many autonomous clubs and their volunteers who did most of the field work involved in building and maintaining the original trail. Enter a native Mainer who worked as a lawyer for the US Navy.If MacKaye was the Brain of the AT project, Myron Avery, the Mainer, as chief organizer and motivator of construction efforts, was the Brawn. As a result of Avery¢s in the field leadership efforts to guide the generally volunteer construction efforts he became the first person to walk the entire length of the trail. The first 2,000 Miler, the official ATC designation bestowed on those who walk the entire length, either as one continuous hike or in multiple sections.Post World War ll development pressure endangered the continuity of the trail and its surrounding wilderness. It became apparent that Federal protection was necessary to protect the integrity of the trails¢ 2,000 plus miles through fourteen states. In 1968 the National Trail System Act designated the Appalachian Trail as the first ¢national scenic trail¢. The National Park Service, through the Department of Interior was charged with administrative responsibility for the Appalachian National Trail. This designation would come to include a broad swath of MacKaye¢s ¢wilderness¢ to insulate the trail from the encroachment of civilization. Subsequent agreements between the Interior Department and the ATC and the all important volunteer based Maintaining Clubs have resulted in protection and maintenance for all but a few miles of the AT, which this year measures 2,185.9 miles according the A.T. Guide, a popular guide to the features and amenities of the trail and surrounding areas.36 degrees and sunny. Beautiful day for a walk in the Wasatch Range of the Rockies.ole slo