The Duncan Ridge Trail is a 30'ish mile blue-blazed trail that connects the Benton Mac and Appalachian Trails. There is a bit of mis-information on the web about this trail. With the exception of one book, Homan's "Hiking Trails of North Georgia", there is no good description of the trail.
I've hiked it a few times now and have accumulated enough notes and photos to compile a little trail guide. Just a couple pages, a narrative with links to photos and maps. The guide clearly shows where to find campsites and water, including at least one source that isn't marked on any maps or mentioned by other trail resources.
Would anyone mind if I published it on this site, in this forum?
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Kinda on topic, kinda off....
When I was at the Southeastern Foot Trails Conference (organized by our own Mowgli) I took several short classes. One of them was taught by John Ray who has compiled the excellent series of guides on the Bartram Trail. I thought I knew how to make a trail guide until I talked with John!
John was my classmate in another class on trail maintenance, we had worked together building several waterbars, Coweeta dips, and steps the previous day.
Get this: He and a buddy take a surveyor's wheel to the trail, and every 200 feet they take a GPS waypoint. In a notebook they write comments about the waypoints ("start of switchback, road intersection, mountain peak, stream crossing", etc.). Back home the waypoints and comments are loaded into a database. Then the waypoints are plotted on a topo map, compiling a line based on these closely spaced points. Clicking on any one point brings up the waypoint and comments. And he's done this for literally HUNDREDS of miles of trails in Georgia and Carolina!
His trail guides, published with permission of the topo software company, are so detailed they are used as a resource management tool by the Forest Service! If there's a blowdown or a washout, it can be located precisely with the guides and the best route for a repair/maintenance crew to access the location can be determined.
And they're updated every year! Relocations are included in his database and more side trails are added as time permits. I was just blown away! Wow. Now I want to get my own wheel and GPS unit!
It wasn't the first or only time I was blown away during the SEFTC. All of the programs presented went way beyond my expectations. It was a huge conference, over 150 attending, with numerous concurrent training sessions going on all day. Like the blind men trying to describe an elephant, I can only tell about the isolated areas I touched:
Trail maintenance was taught by seasoned professionals - volunteers, some who flew to SC from Colorado -and- by professional trail builders who run companies that install heavy duty trails at riding resorts and national parks! Hands-on stuff, not just lectures. We worked on a trail in the state park.
Trail design classes were taught by a PhD in Outdoor Recreation from Univ. Georgia, the mentor of Tha Wookie. Speaking of the Wook, he presented the slide-show of his Pacific Coast hike. I didn't know Wookie was also an accomplished musician, he accented the show with songs, guitar and harmonica.
Other speakers included a Congressman from SC. Published authors held roundtables on outdoor writing. A slideshow by a professional outdoor photographer. Want to know how to start a trailhead information area? The GATC told how they set up one inside the Amicalola Falls Visitor's Center. Managing a non-profit organization was taught by someone who's been working with non-profits for 20 years. I'll stop, you get the idea, but I'm leaving out 80 - 90% of what went on that weekend.
And Mowgli, bless his heart, works hard for his money. I don't think I ever saw him sit down.