Ecotraveler....

A PEACHY SPRINGTIME START FOR

APPALACHIAN TRAIL TREKKERS

The spring season brings showers and flowers, but it also brings plenty of Appalachian Trail hikers to Georgia. More than 90% of hikers who hike the entire length of the A.T. start in Georgia in early-spring.

Many romantic-at-heart hikers begin their long hikes on March 20th, the official start of spring. Others avoid most of the cold and damp days (and nights) by starting in April.

About 3,000 people have completed the entire length of the trail, with more than 2,000 hikers doing so in the past 15 years. Typically, more than 1,000 hikers hit the trail each spring with plans to hike the whole A.T. Less than one-half will make it out of Georgia and less than 200 will make it all the way to the other end in Maine (sometime in the summer or fall).

The southern end of the Appalachian Trail cuts a diagonal path through Northeast Georgia, with the official start (or end) at Springer Mountain near Amicalola Falls State Park. The entire Georgia section lies within the Chattahoochee National Forest.

The elevation, ruggedness, and wildness of the area are unexpected by many A.T. hikers. It's a tough way to start a long, but rewarding, hike.

In their excellent book, The Appalachian Trail Backpacker's Planning Guide, Victoria and Frank Logue write of "the sense of adventure that has appealed to hikers for more than 50 years: entering the woods in Georgia and coming out on top of Mt. Katahdin in Maine more than 2,100 miles later." It's a sense of adventure required for "thru-hikers" starting out in the spring.

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail is one of the world's greatest hiking trails. The famed A.T. is a 2,144-mile hiking "path" along the ridge of the Appalachian Mountains, stretching from Georgia to Maine. It runs through 14 states to the finish at Katahdin, Maine.

The first section of the A.T. was constructed in New Jersey in 1922. The Appalachian Mountain Club got involved, as did individuals like Benton MacKaye, Arthur Perkins, and Myron H. Avery. With the help of the Civilian Conservation Club, many hiking clubs, and thousands of other volunteers, all sections of the A.T. were finally relocated, opened, and marked for hikers and outdoors lovers in 1951.

In 1968, the National Trails Systems Act made the A.T. a linear national park and authorized funds to surround the entire route with public lands. The A.T. is now maintained by a variety of active local clubs and government agencies. The Appalachian Trail Conference, based in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, is in constant need of ecotourist volunteers all along the A.T.

The Appalachian Trail serves as a great retreat from eastern urban life--more than two-thirds of the nation's population lives within 550 miles of it. But each spring, Georgia's A.T. start serves as the beginning of a hiking experience lasting four to six months (and about five million steps).

Contact the Appalachian Trail Conference at P.O. Box 807, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425, 304/535-6331. Contact the Georgia Department of Tourism at P.O. Box 1776, Atlanta, GA 30301, 404/656-3590 or 800/VISIT GA.

To order The Appalachian Trail Backpacker's Planning Guide, contact Menasha Ridge Press at 3169 Cahaba Heights Road, Birmingham, AL 35243, 800/247-9437. The Logues have two more Appalachian Trail books coming out with Menasha Ridge Press in May.