ATC needs our help

imported
#1

The Appalachian Trail Conference, which normally coordinates local club’s volunteer work on A.T. management and protection, has temporarily assumed maintenance for some of the most isolated areas of the A.T. because a shortage of volunteers is allowing brush to obscure remote sections of the trail.
As a result, the ATC is seeking new volunteers from the general public to fill out its newest crew, the Brush Buster Trail Crew. This ATC crew is an opportunity for volunteer hikers and outdoor enthusiasts to get out into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and clear the way for fellow hikers to safely enjoy the Appalachian Trail.
Starting June 20, a trail crew leader will guide volunteers through some of the most remote sections of the Appalachian Trail, cutting back brush and trees that have grown onto the trail. There will be five five-day sessions for four volunteers each. The crew will travel light and spend the nights along the A.T. in the Smokies. “This is a great chance to camp with new friends, give back to the trails, and look out on the world from higher ground,” said ATC Regional Director Morgan Sommerville.
The conference will provide all the necessary tools and equipment—and training in their use—as well as three meals a day, snacks, off-day housing for multiweek volunteers, and transportation to and from the case camp.
Volunteers can choose from the following Brush Buster Trail Crew dates: Week 1: June 20 – June 24 Week 2: June 27 – July 1st Week 3: July 4 – July 8 Week 4: July 11 – July 15 Week 5: July 18 – July 22nd
An application for admission to the crew is available on the conference’s Web site at http://www.appalachiantrial.org/volunteer/crews.html
The Southern Regional Appalachian Trail Conference in Asheville has further information and can be contacted by telephone at (828) 254-3708 or via electronic mail at atc-gntro@appalachiantrail.org .

Bilko

#2

Whats with the request for help on the trails in the smokies that would allow Horses on the AT? Is that a joke?

OLD & IN THE WAY

#3

I agree that it doesn’t make much since for horses and people to share the same 24 inch trail. Of the 69 miles of the AT in the GSMNP only a few miles are shared. But that can be a rough few miles.

The ability to ride horses in the GSMNP was one of the stipulations made back in 1926 when a bill was authorized to use the land as a park. Riding horses and charging no fee to get into the park were some of the stipulations. The Appalachian Trail was completed in 1937 and it was known at the time that horses would be in the park.

Perhaps a new section of the AT could be added to avoid problems with the horses. But until then the ATC has asked for volunteers to help them this summer clearing AT trails not used by horse travel.

Bilko

#4

I concur that a long-term solution–in view of the aforementioned agreement–would be to create a footpath-only alternative to the AT to bypass those sections of the AT where horses are currently permitted. Good luck.

I’d like to add one sidenote, tho. A few years ago I had dinner with a week-long group of the Rocky Top Crew, camped behind one of the shelters. The crew regulars in attendance were in agreement that horse folks were very helpful to them, and made it much easier to get their gear, tools, tents, tarps, food, etc. into remote sections of GSMNP by using horse power instead of human power. Seems like the horse people pay back a little after all.

Skyline