The Appalachian Trail is a phenomenon
that has developed over several decades. The trail spans 14 states: Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and
Georgia. With the trail reaching 2,180 miles (roughly 5,000,000 steps) starting
from Springer Mountain in Georgia and ending at Mount Katahdin in Maine, it is
something that hardly anything else can compare to. The Appalachian Trail
itself runs through 167 miles of national parks and 538 miles of national
forests.
More
than half of all of American people live less than a day’s drive from the trail
giving easy access to many visitors. The highest point on the trail is
Clingman’s Dome located along the Smokey Mountains in western North Carolina.
The Appalachian Trail also has a wide variety of wildlife and plants. The
diverse species of trees in the Smokey Mountains alone is more than all of
northern Europe
The
Appalachian Trail emerged as an idea proposed by Benton MacKaye, a forester in
the United States forest service, in 1921. Benton stated, “…retreat from a
civilization which was becoming too mechanized, a trail should be laid in the
heart of the mountains and over their crests all the way from Katahdin, Maine
to Mount Oglethorpe in Georgia.” His concern was that many industries treated
the Appalachian Mountains’ forests like that of a coal mine continuously taking
resources from the area until they would simply run out and destroy the area.
This is why he urged for such a movement in order to get away from all of the
mechanization and back to nature in order to have a better understanding on the
true important things in life.
Many trail clubs
throughout the states supported the idea of having a trail spanning the east
coast. The idea was to have each region run on its on by the various clubs that
maintained trails throughout each particular state. Benton MacKaye especially
enjoyed the idea of having the trail run by volunteers, which made the people
more responsible toward developing the trail instead of relying on government
to develop the trail.
Since there were
already so many trails going through each state, a lot of it was simply a
matter of being able to connect them all. Benton argued that not only was it
important to conserve the large amount of forests that span the area, but it
would also help prevent forest fires by having multiple trails and easy access
throughout the Appalachian Mountains. Many agreed to that notion and were more
urged to put forth an effort to have such a trail made. Of course there were
some complications trying to connect all of the different trails at the time.
About half of the trail had to go through private land, which at the time many
owners were compliant, but would later cause complications with owners and how
they wanted to use the land.
By 1931, a lawyer
named Myron Avery became the chairman of the Appalachian Trail Conference and
held the position for over 20 years. The Appalachian Trail Conference formed as
a private organization that would serve as an umbrella organization for the 31
Appalachian Trail Clubs formed to preserve all of the trails. All of these
organizations were completely volunteer based and works without endowment with
the soul purpose to volunteer for the betterment of the Appalachian Trail. With
the combined effort of the various volunteer groups as well as state and
national parks, the Appalachian Trail would be on its way to completion.
By the year 1937,
the trail would be considered complete and would allow people to hike the
entire trail. Unfortunately, the trail would soon have to close in the year
1938 because of a hurricane that struck the New England Area. This would create
a long and large setback for the Appalachian Trail because it would be covered
in debris and amount to multiple other complications. The Appalachian Trail
Conference would not get much support in terms of redeveloping the trail and
since the Blue Ridge Parkway would begin its development in Virginia as well as
the hurricane, and World War 2, the Appalachian Trail would be forced to
postpone any effort of completion.
A whole 13 years
later, in the year of 1951, the trail would officially reopen with eastern
mountain trails being completed stretching all the way from Mount Katahdin in
Maine to Mount Oglethorpe in Georgia. At that time, the trail would be 2,021
miles long and have its first thru-hiker, Earl Shaffer, who was the first
person to have reported completing the entire trail. This would not be the end
of the fight for the Appalachian Trail Conference though. By the mid 1970s,
half of the trail was still on private land and the owners threatened to split
the trail into different parts and have the Appalachian Trail divided.
The Appalachian
Trail Conference would continue to advocate and fight for the Appalachian Trail
and in 1978 they would finally fulfill their mission when President Johnson
would sign a bill granting nearly $100,000,000 to protect these lands under
federal authority allowing the Appalachian Trail to remain where it was and not
have any interference from roads, house developments, or any other private
interest that would alter the area. By 1984, The Appalachian Trail Conference
would hold full responsibility over the entire trail by the Department of the
Interior. The entire organization still remained volunteer-based overseeing
250,000 acres and as many workers as a national park would.
In present day the
Appalachian Trail Conference has evolved into the Appalachian Trail Conservancy,
which is a nonprofit organization overseeing the 31 clubs that maintain the
entire trail. Many of the people who work for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy
have been advocates for the environment as well as national parks throughout
the United States. The mission of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy is to
preserve and manage the trail and being devoted to the idea of the trail being
around for future generations to enjoy for centuries. The Appalachian Trail
Conservancy doesn’t stop on the trail, it also has developed program to help
kids K-12 learn more about the Appalachian Trail. The program is called “The
Trail to Every Classroom” which engages youth in volunteer activities,
encourages a love for learning, creates a conservation ethic, and forms a
respect for the Appalachian Trail.
The Appalachian
Trail Conservancy also continues to advocate for the protection of the Trail.
Since 1972, over $180,000,000 of the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund
has gone toward the protection of the Appalachian Trail. Through advocacy
efforts, the ATC has secured much of, but are still fighting to acquire nearly
10 miles of the trail. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy also advocates the
prevention of road development near the road in order to keep the area
protected and thriving.
The Appalachian
Trail is probably one of the greatest philanthropic efforts in the history of
the United States and perhaps even the world. The entire trail would not
function without volunteers that willingly go do necessary upkeep of the trail
in order for hikers to continue using it. Not only does it completely rely on
volunteers, it is also one of the largest, longest conservation projects in the
entire world. Not only is the Appalachian Trail one of the greatest trails in
the entire world, but it is also the greatest experience someone could ever
have by going out into the wild to truly understand the important things in
life and gaining perspective that couldn’t be achieved any other way.
Bibliography
MacKaye, Benton, Great
Appalachian Trail From New Hampshire to the Carolinas. February 18, 1923
Torrey, Raymond; Great
Trail For Hikers Grows In Appalachians. May 5,1929; The New York Times
Armstrong, Bryan, National
Geographic: Appalachian Trail. 2009
Author Unknown, Appalachiantrail.org
