[at-l] topic police... I'll say it ---- having been.....

[Snodrog5@aol.com (Snodrog5@aol.com)]

Ron and terrapin write;

>      The AT is simply /not/ wilderness, and never will be. None of the long
> trails are. They are, after all, National Scenic Trails, not National
> Wilderness Trails. There's nowhere in this country where one /could/
> build a 2100 mile wilderness trail, unless perhaps it could be made to
> go round and round in circles. The AT, oddly enough, /is/ for hiking,
> not wilderness. Now, that's not to say there isn't wilderness areas that
> the Trail goes through, but as a whole? No, the AT cannot be wilderness.

"I think this gets near the heart of the matter, Ron.
When this (painful) subject came up in the waning days of ATML, 
I did some "word count" studies in the literature of the ATC and in 
MacKaye's essays.
What I found was that the word "wilderness" appears hardly at all, 
but the word "recreation" appears again and again."

I pretty much agree. Many folks unfamiliar with the AT's natural history 
expect a journey through uncharted, trackless, and untamed woodlands. But the 
AT is a developed trail through lands that were for the most part once 
farmed, logged, and lived upon. Today's AT travels through many beautiful 
forests, and across wondrous mountains. The AT provides an illusion of 
wilderness that is delightful to escape to. MacKaye's original proposal had 
little to do with the 'preservation of wilderness' at all. Fact is, he 
proposed more developement than preservation.
TJ


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