A.T. Closure Notice for Hikers

imported
#1 
									The following language was posted on ATC's Trail Updates page:

Due to the federal government shutdown, the Appalachian Trail on National Park Service lands is closed to public use.

National Park Service buildings, visitor centers, and other facilities, including the ATC Mid-Atlantic regional office in Boiling Springs, PA (housed in a building owned by NPS) are closed. Most private concessions operated on federal lands are also closed.

U.S. Forest lands and state lands crossed by the Trail remain open, however, USFS buildings and facilities are closed.

Emergency response will be extremely limited during the shutdown and may be unavailable in certain areas. Hikers should be aware of the restrictions on Trail use.

ATC regional offices may be contacted for information regarding closures in their regions.

New England Regional Office: 413-528-8002
Mid Atlantic Regional Office: 717-580-4247 (for temporary use while building is closed)
Central and Southwest Virginia Regional Office: 540-953-3571
Tennessee/North Carolina/Georgia Regional Office: 828-254-3708

More information and additional details as they become available will be posted at www.appalachiantrail.org/updates.

I do not yet have formal guidance to share for thru-hikers who are still on the Trail, but here is information that may be helpful:

The A.T. is on NPS lands for much of Maine, a patchwork quilt of land throughout the mid-Atlantic states from New York through Shenandoah National Park in north central Virginia and along the Blue Ridge Parkway north of Roanoke, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There are some small patches of NPS lands in southern New England too.

Our 2,000-miler recognition policy can be found on our website at www.appalachiantrail.org/ATcompletion.

I won’t be able to respond to questions here for the rest of the week as I’m on vacation hiking a section of A.T. (fortunately on National Forest lands that remain open). However, anyone with questions can call the regional office numbers above.

Laurie Potteiger
Appalachian Trail Conservancy

									_Laurie Potteiger_
#2 
									So USFS lands are open, but NPS lands are closed?

And the trail is on NPS lands outside the National Parks?
What parts, exactly, of the trail are on NPS lands outside of the national parks?
This is no help at all.

									_Hermit_
#3 
									National Park Service (NPS) lands are pretty much all lands not on US Forest Service lands or state parks and forests. So, in addition to the 6 NPS units the Trail passes through, south to north:

Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Blue Ridge Parkway (not closed because parkway is a necessary means of travel for some)
Shenandoah National Park
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
C&O NHP
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (PA and NJ)

the A.T. is on a corridor of land (on average, 1000 feet wide) acquired by the NPS to provide a protected greenway for the Trail.

That includes, most significantly,

Most of northern Virginia (north of SNP)
Portions of Pennsylvania north of Pine Grove Furnace
Portions of New York
Most of Maine

Most official A.T. maps mark NPS lands. Many other maps that show the A.T., such as state road maps and some atlases, and the A.T. Strip map, show federal and state parks and forests. Just about everything between those areas is land acquired by NPS.

ATC asks hikers to honor the closure and hike only in areas that are not affected by the closure.That being said, thru-hikers who are in Maine, are close to finishing, and have no reasonable means of skipping the lands that are closed, are not likely to encounter a ranger enforcing the closure. There are just 2 NPS rangers who oversee NPS A.T. lands outside the 6 units above.

If it seems complicated, that’s because it is.

									_Laurie Potteiger_
#4 
									We have posted some FAQs (and answers) on the Trail

Updates page of our website here:

www.Appalachiantrail.org/updates.

Laurie Potteiger
ATC

									_Laurie Potteiger_