AT-Two - Appalachian Trail

imported
#1

I live near to the Tuscarora Trail in south central PA. Recently while doing some trail work with the PATC Yankee Clippers I was told by someone that the PATC and other trail groups are working on the plans for an “AT-Two”. In PA, it would include parts of the Tuscarora, the Link Trail, part of the MST, and the West Rim Trail. I was also told that a connecting trail is under construction to connect the West Rim with the Fingers Lakes Trail in New York. This series of trails would take the hiker from central Virginia into New York state. My question is, is there a forum/news group somewhere showing more of the plans for this new “AT-Two”

Just Courious

#2

I don’t know about the AT-2, but the Midstate is being extended so it will go all the way from the Greenridge Trail in Maryland(which connects to the C&O canal which connects with the AT and ADT) to the Fingerlakes Trail in New York. The main trail was 175 miles before they added the northern and southern extensions. The southern sections have been around for a few years. The work on the northern part has been in process for about two or three years. The old MST connected to the West Rim, the new extension is a bit farther east and will not include the West Rim, as far as I know. There will be a KTA crew out working on the extension this summer. I think they will have the trail finished across all of PA in a few years.

Spirit Walker

#3

The proposition of a western AT sounds great. Earl Schaffer mentioned it in “Walking with Spring.” Rather than have one continuous trail with distinct termini, he wanted to build a circuit. Would this trail intersect with the AT? If I were to build the trail, I would have the two trails split in Damascus, with the Western route going directly north while the current AT goes east towards Mount Rogers and the highlands. My western route cut through the Allegheny Highlands of West Virginia (including the Dolly Sods), Western Pennsylvania, the Finger Lakes of New York, the Catskills, the Adirondacks (Mt. Marcy), cut east to Northern Vermont where it would go through the Champlain Valley, over the northern Greens (Mount Mansfield), the wild Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, the Northern Whites, finally intersecting with the current AT on the summit of Mt. Washington. It would be a whole other adventure.

Bankrobber