[at-l] Trail Volunteer Matt Kirk aka "Sweeper" GA->ME'01; on Cumberland Trail

[sloetoe at yahoo.com (Sloetoe)]

Pilfered below is a note mentioning UNC's Matt Kirk, aka
Sweeper, an '01 Appalachian Trail 2000 miler/throughhiker, also
an accomplished young ultra runner, including many top finishes,
as well as adventure runs like a Smokys AT traverse to his
credit. It's not often we can look to someone younger than us to
give good examples, but it seems a mite more likely in the
hiking and trail running crowd.

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Message: 11
   Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 11:10:24 -0700 (PDT)
   From: Jim Moyer <jdmoyer@yahoo.com>
Subject: Article on Cumberland Trail (TN)

>From today's AP wire:

**********

Volunteers put in sweat, work to build 300-mile Cumberland Trail

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- Working on a new section of the
Cumberland Trail, is more than a labor of love for Knoxville
retiree Dennis Christian.

Christian is among volunteers constructing a new portion of
Tennessee's 53rd state park, the 300-mile-long Cumberland Trail,
and he finds the work provides a "real economical way to take a
vacation."

Christian, working with others at Possum Gorge, also said
volunteering for the what is nicknamed the Big Dig has given him
a way to meet people from all over the country.

A 30-mile section - running through the Rock, Possum, and Soddy
Creek gorges - was dedicated Saturday and eventually will be
part of the larger trail.

Currently 140 miles of the trail work is complete.

"Anybody who loves nature or loves their state of Tennessee
should come out here," said Matt Kirk, a Cumberland Trail
Conference staff member and Big Dig crew leader.

The Cumberland Trail begins in Cumberland Gap National Park in
Kentucky and follows ridges and gorges along the eastern
escarpment of the Cumberland Plateau. The trail comes to an end
in the Signal Point National Historic Park and Prentice Cooper
Wildlife Management Area outside Chattanooga.

The local trail-building effort is part of the second phase of
the Big Dig, a six-week volunteer program that began this year
on May 16 and ends June 26.

The Big Dig "gives people a chance to come out and be a part of
history," Kirk said. The trail "will inspire future generations
to come."

The Cumberland Trail Conference, a nonprofit group organized in
1997 to build and manage the trail, began construction on the
section in northern Hamilton County in the fall of 2002. About
18 miles of the local trail piece have been completed.

Conference members hope to have the entire trail completed by
2008.

The group, with about 600 volunteers, has raised between $2
million and $3 million to supplement about $18 million from
state and federal sources.

Seth Webster, a Sparta, Tenn., resident and an assistant Big Dig
coordinator, said the Cumberland Trail "is like my back yard.
It's not just building a trail. It's tapping into the cultural
heritage."

The Justin P. Wilson Cumberland Trail State Park is Tennessee's
53rd state park and the state's first linear park.

Once completed it will be about 303 miles long. About 140 miles
of trail are open for use and the whole trail is expected to be
built by 2008.


	
		
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