Trails within the AT qestion

[Slugg]

That will never happen

Why do you say never? It certainly is discussed a lot. Seems feasible if they re-routed the ~50 miles of road walking on the GA section of the Pinhoti.

[full conditions]

once at cooper lodge on killington, a thru hiker happened along and started asking if he was close to rutland. he was looking for his friends. they were going in to rutland for the night. this is near sunset, and mind you, he is near the top of the highest peak on the AT in VT. he keeps asking, how far is rutland? can i make it before it gets dark? you see, his friends were going there today, so obviously its around here somewhere and cant be that far away.
i didnt bother to try and explain it to him but there are of course multiple ways into rutland from that area and his friends probably got off the trail miles back from where we now were.

its THIS sort of hiker who cant find their way across the whites without getting lost.

there are a lot of them. no one owes them better signage.

LOL - that's pretty funny. I think that the Whites kinda' hurts the feelings of a lot of thru hikers for a variety of reasons, not just the fact that they have to check their map once in a while - for the first time since leaving Springer, they're hiking on a trail whose first name dosent start with "Appalachian"; blazes are few and far between (although they tend to be wherever you truly need them); campsites are $10.00; huts require work for stay (assuming they even have the room; it's logistically tricky; people seem uninterested when you tell them you walked all the way from Georgia; and worst of all, there's no one doing "magic" at every road crossing for you. A friend of mine put it this way: "not everybody gets a trophy for hiking the Whites".

[tdoczi]

people seem uninterested when you tell them you walked all the way from Georgia

this is the key thing thru hikers should reflect on. in my experience, these people who respond with this sort of ambivalence or even ignorance of the AT are often clearly VERY experienced hikers. probably much more so than your typical AT thru hiker is these days.

mind blowing right? someone can be a lifetime avid and experienced hiker and not even know the AT exists.

the AT is a big deal in some places but that hardly makes it universally so.

[scope]

Chunky Gal Trail in Georgia, and the BMT.......

There's a Chunky Gal trail in Ga, too?!?

[ki0eh]

In PA the A.T. around the Susquehanna River originally overlayed part of the pre-existing Darlington Trail following the Blue (or locally "North") Mountain ridge. None of that overlay is presently part of the A.T., though Darlington Shelter north of Carlisle is near where the current A.T. meets the current Darlington Trail.

I don't think Marty Dominy is on here, though he has been researching for a number of years prior routes and re-routes of the A.T., and could likely rattle off a number of pre-existing paths the A.T. followed.

[JC13]

Why do you say never? It certainly is discussed a lot. Seems feasible if they re-routed the ~50 miles of road walking on the GA section of the Pinhoti.

I personally enjoy the road walks, not saying that I would want to do the FT/Pinhoti connector via road walk but a bit of road here and there isn't bad. I still have ~32 miles of road to do on the GA Pinhoti section and am looking forward to it. Have a road walk section in AL this weekend as well.

[soumodeler]

There's a Chunky Gal trail in Ga, too?!?

Not that I know of. It is in NC, right over the border.

[Dogwood]

Vermont's Long Trail, sometimes referred to as the Vermont Tr, existed before the AT and is which the AT was modeled. The AT co-joins part of the LT. It's more accurate to state that some trails, actually many trails, named or not, existed pre AT recognition so it is the AT that takes from them not those trails or other trail's segments take from the AT. The Art Loeb Tr, all or in part, was the once the route of AT before the AT was rerouted. Don't know if the Art Loeb Tr existed either by that name or if it was un-named before it became part of the AT. Much of the AT originally was take from pre-existing trail. You may find it interesting to research the historical establishment of the AT. It has evolved through various incarnations so much so the vast majority of it's original routing didn't transpire as envisioned or changed via rerouting. It's why the total mileage changes about every few yrs. For example, the AT's southern terminus was originally Mt Olglethorpe in GA and the Approach Tr was part of it between Mt Oglethorpe and Springer Mt. As another example, Skyline Drive, the road, was originally supposed to be the AT. It truly is amazing the AT, located in the highly populated eastern U.S., so close to so many big cities, with so many threats is still a continuous a 2000+ mile footpath. It's a testament to the lasting commitments of so many. The AT should never be taken for granted!

[windlion]

It all starts with the Approach Trail at Amicalola....when will they extend the Southern terminus to Flagg Mountain, Alabama?

Great Eastern Trail is planned to go by Flagg Mountain, isn't it?

http://www.greateasterntrail.net/map...tions/alabama/

Virginia is Not Flat

[Last Call]

i dont recall the AT ever not being noted on signs. the notation is small and secondary, but it is there.

why should the name "Appalachian trail" be more prominently displayed on a sign for the crawford path?

its not a conspiracy against the AT. its the simple truth that the AT is not something most "customers" of the white mountains care about.

as for blips on maps and something much bigger.... sorry, the WMNF is a bigger deal than the AT. that so many don't see this is the problem.

why is that so hard for people to just accept? always fascinate same.

wait....the WMNF is a bigger deal than the A.T.??? Hardly. The A.t. most certainly is the King of trails, famous around the globe.

[Dogwood]

There's a quite narrow focus of hiking opps, in depth regional content, and generalized tangential hiking related topics WB User's focus. Tdozi is correct in stating the AT is not the king of everyone's or every region's or every NF's, or Wilderness Area's or every National or State Park's focus. This applies to those areas the AT is routed. The AT tends to be most highly focused upon here on WhiteBlaze.

[tdoczi]

wait....the WMNF is a bigger deal than the A.T.??? Hardly. The A.t. most certainly is the King of trails, famous around the globe.

all i can do is shake my head.

[johnacraft]

The Art Loeb Tr, all or in part, was the once the route of AT before the AT was rerouted. Don't know if the Art Loeb Tr existed either by that name or if it was un-named before it became part of the AT.

While I agree with your point that the AT followed existing trails in some places like the western Smoky Mountains, I don't believe today's Art Loeb Trail was ever part of the AT. Longitudinally, the entire Art Loeb trail is east of Davenport Gap (AT in red, Art Loeb in orange):

Image2.png

The AT section that was abandoned in favor of the route over Fontana Dam was Cable Gap to Tapoco, then Deal's Gap, then Parson Bald. From there the original route of the AT is now the upper 3/4 mile or so of the Wolf Ridge Trail from Parson Bald to Sheep Pen Gap, then part of the Gregory Bald Trail to its junction with the AT at Buck Gap / Doe Knob.

The Art Loeb Trail was dedicated in 1969.

[Deacon]

i dont recall the AT ever not being noted on signs. the notation is small and secondary, but it is there.

why should the name "Appalachian trail" be more prominently displayed on a sign for the crawford path?

its not a conspiracy against the AT. its the simple truth that the AT is not something most "customers" of the white mountains care about.

as for blips on maps and something much bigger.... sorry, the WMNF is a bigger deal than the AT. that so many don't see this is the problem.

why is that so hard for people to just accept? always fascinate same.

I agree. I walked through the whites in 2017 and every sign I saw included (AT) in parentheses after the trail name, like the top line on this sign:



I suppose I could have missed a sign or two but always felt reassured by the (AT).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[ki0eh]

Great Eastern Trail is planned to go by Flagg Mountain, isn't it?
http://www.greateasterntrail.net/map...tions/alabama/

Yes, currently southern end of Great Eastern Trail is Flagg Mountain.

Honestly, it does seem that there is a division among Pinhoti enthusiasts in Alabama at embracing GET. Few to no logos have been put up in AL. Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association is much more supportive and participating.