Does anyone know of a credible website on the Pinhoti Trail in Alabama that gives a definitive length of the trail? Has anyone hiked this trail and know approximately how long it takes to thru-hike it? Or if it’s feasible to hike it in colder weather? My searching on the Internet has given me sketchy results. Thanks!
Lauren
The Alabama Trails Association maintains the trail. Their website is http://www.alabamatrailsasso.org/.
The trail is about 110 (= or -) miles long, and can be thru-hiked in winter. My buddy Youngblood has hiked it twice. I am considering a thru-hike for this winter.
Questions? Write me at jhunter@AmericanHiking.org
I can hook you up with whatever info you are seeking, as I work with the club fairly regularly.
Jeffrey Hunter
That looks like just the trail I was looking for in April. May do it. Looks fun. Jeff?, are there any safe places to park, for a week, for a thru hike and a shuttle back to my car?
Bushwhack
Which section are you looking for? I am now looking in my notebook of longdistance hikes and the Alabama pinhoti shows 103.9 miles and the Georgia sectin 155 miles. If you add in the Benton Mackaye trail it is 222.9 miles. Hope this helps out.
Spacewalker
Dunno?, I just look at the pictures when I choose trips. We only have about ten days to do one. Most of these one way trails make it hard to get back to the car.
Bushwhack
BW, I’ll try and respond yto your question tomorrow. I’m down for the count with a stomach virus, and will not be in the office til tomorrow.
Jeffrey Hunter
Is this like an Appalachian foothills trail that hooks up with the AT? Couldn’t find a map with an overview of the trail.
Moondog
Mood dog, The Pinhoti starts in Alabama and runs into Georgia although the Georgia section still isn’t completed. It runs into the Benton Mackaye which runs into the At just north of springer. The Benton Mackaye is mentioned in the At guide book of Georgia and is on the maps. The Pinhoti maps can be obtained from the Forest service Talladega National Forests maps or from the Alabama trail association. The link is at an above post. Great grouip of people. :pimp
Spacewalker
There is the Foothills Trail in SC that connects to the AT at Cheoah Bald via the Chatooga River Trail and the Bartram Trail.
Jeffrey Hunter
The Pinhoti is maintained on a regular basis in some sections, and not in others. The Alabama Trail Association does a wonderful job mainly in the northern areas and is responsible for extending the trail to the GA line. Great job! The Alabama Hiking Trail Society has taken responsibility for the southernmost 9 miles and started trail maintenance a couple of weekends ago. You can view pictures of that at our new website www.alabamatrail.com. You will find a lot of areas in pretty good shape, but the surplus of rain earlier this year gave mother nature a lot of ammunition in trying to take it back. We hope that in the near future with the work of many groups the trail will in great shape.
Mike Kennedy
AHTS Trail Coordinator
North Alabama
Michael Kennedy
I LOVE all these connector trails. Sure makes a hike more interesting. Hay Bushwack, I am like you. I find a trail and if I like a picture I just go. Forget the planning (Even though it does help).:nerd
Spacewalker
I pick mine by the pics. The AT was because of all the others that crawled before me, blood sweat and tears, so I can have my pie and do the Howdy Dance. Pie good, donuts goood. I’ll never eat thirteen donuts in one sitting again. I hike, therefore I am. Unless there are skeeters, screw that.
BW
The GA part of the Pinhoti Trail connecting it to the Benton Mackaye Trail has just been finished. I am hiking it this Thursday and Friday and will post my comments when I get back home next week. This new section completes all the Pinhoti Trail in the Chattahoochee National Forest of Georgia.
gardenville
I went to Georgia / Alabama last week and was there for 6 days. I need to re-phrase my comment that the GA part of the Pinhoti was finished, it isn’t. I have divide the GA Pinhoti Trail into 6 parts going from the Alabama State Line to the connection with the Benton MacKaye Trail. This isn’t the way the GA Pinhoti Club divides it but it is easier for me to understand.
(Section 1) The AL / GA State Line for me is Section 1 and is a road walk North.
(Section 2) This takes you into the woods through the Armuchee Mountain Range and runs more or less North and South and is 77.1 miles. The trail comes out just a little East of Dalton, GA. very near Exit 303 of I-75.
(Section 3) You are now back on a road walk on Hwy 52/ 76 to Chatsworth, GA and then South on Hwy 76/411/61 to Ramhurst, GA. If you have the DeLorme Atlas for Georgia you will be able to follow this next part. From Hwy 76 you go East into and straight through Ramhurst.
(Section 4) The road takes you to Forest Road 3 and a sign that says “Peeples Lake Rd”. Several miles up this road you will see the Pinhoti Trail Blaze. If you go back South on the trail you will go to Dennis Mill Rd, but you can’t get to the road yet because of private property. The Forest Service is trying to get the right to build a small parking (Trailhead Area) at that point and then the Pinhoti Trail would go into the woods there. This is section (about 6-1/2 miles) and is mostly dirt road going North and comes out on Hwy 52 at the Gilmer / Murry County Line.
(Section 5) This will be a short road walk East to near the Cohutta Overlook where the trail will go back into the woods. This section is marked in the woods, but work hasn’t started on it yet. It is like “bushwacking.” The trail here is just a line on a map and some survey tape and paint spots on a few trees. It can be hiked but is not easy. For now you will walk from the North end of Section 4 to Section 6.
(Section 6) Starts on Forest Road 90 about a 1/2 mile East of Holly Creek Gap. Part of this section is also on the new Mountaintown Creek Trail. The 2 trails run into the South Fork Trail. The Pinhoti Trail turns South on the South Fork Trail about a 1/4 mile crosses a creek and connects to the Benton Mackaye Trail. There are signs to tell you which way to go. Some of the Benton Mackaye Trail was grown up some (weeds), but is blazed well enough to follow it. I have been on the Benton Mackaye Trail before so it was not a problem.
If you are now very confused you should have been with me. Email me if you are going to hike this trail and have questions. Bill
gardenville