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[at-l] MacKaye Trail (long)
- Subject: [at-l] MacKaye Trail (long)
- From: hopefl@juno.com
- Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 23:15:36 -0600
I figured out how to copy the article from the web to my email so I could
send it along. Hopeful
MacKaye Trail revisited
20-year project to end in 2000
By REBECCA CARLISLE Banner Staff Writer
Published Tuesday, June 08, 1999 9:51 AM EDT
If all goes as planned, outdoor enthusiasts in the area
will have a
new trail to hike in the year 2000. The Benton MacKaye
Trail
Association has been working on construction of the
trail for
nearly 20 years and it is nearing completion, according
to Carol
Lawson, publications chair of the BMTA.
The association was started in 1979 when founder David
Sherman had the idea for a "primitive trail" that would
parallel
the lower part of the famous Appalachian Trail.
The trail is named after the founder of the AT, Benton
MacKaye. When it is finished, it will stretch about 180
miles
from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Deal Gap in the
Great
Smoky Mountains at the Tennessee/North Carolina border.
"MacKaye intended the AT to be a solstice for veterans
of War
World I," Lawson said. However, over the years its fame
has
increased the number of people who travel it each year.
It was Sherman's dream to build a trail that would
parallel the
AT, but would remain a primitive trail, as MacKaye had
intended the AT to be. Now, the AT is so well traveled
it
ceases to be a primitive trail, according to some.
"(The Benton MacKaye Trail) gives you the same
opportunity
to see the same beauty in the Blue Ridge Mountain area
(but
without all the people)," she said.
The MacKaye trail does not parallel the AT its entire
length
from Georgia to Maine. However, the 180 miles begins
near the
southern terminus of the AT in the Cohutta Wilderness
in
Georgia. It then travels through the Nantahala National
Forest in
North Carolina and the Cherokee National Forest and
Great
Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee.
Over half the mileage of the trail has been completed
-- 90 miles
in Georgia and 11 1/2 miles in Tennessee. A total of 78
1/5
miles must still be completed in the two states.
However, not all of the nearly 80-mile stretch has to
be built.
The association is trying to get approval from the
forest service
to take over maintenance of some trails that are
already in
existence. If granted permission, the association will
only have
to build about 30 miles to connect the existing trails.
When a trail already exists in an area the MacKaye
trail would
travel through, the group has tried to incorporate
those trails. In
some places it is better to use existing trails than to
build beside
them, Lawson said. This prevents too many trails from
crisscrossing through a given area of the forest.
The group is still in the proposal stage for some of
the remaining
mileage. It is waiting for completion of archeological
and
botanical studies and approval from the United States
Forest
Service.
Once an area is approved for trail construction,
volunteers mark
the trail, building where the lay of the land makes it
the easiest,
according to Lawson.
Then they use a variety of tools -- from chainsaws to
mallets --
to clear and dig a path, lay rock, put in
erosion-stopping water
bars and build steps if needed.
When clearing an existing trail volunteers must clear
an area 4
feet wide and 8 feet high. When building a new trail,
volunteers
must only clear an area 3 feet wide, but still allow 8
feet in
height.
Volunteers do all the work on the trails, both
maintaining
existing trails and building the new ones. The
association has
about 225 members, about three-quarter of which are
located
in Georgia. Because it is now moving into Tennessee,
the group
is looking for members from the Volunteer State.
The group's first work trip was organized in June 1980.
It now
works on trails during four trips each month -- two
trips in
Georgia and two in Tennessee.
Work trips can last from one to five hours, depending
on what
needs to be done and the terrain, Lawson said. Each
trip usually
covers between three and four miles of trail.
Occasionally, the
group has overnight work trips.
Maintenance also includes clearing trails every time it
storms.
"The weather determines how much work has to be done
from
one month to the next," Lawson said.
All activities of the group are paid for by membership
dues and
volunteer donations, except footbridges, which are
funded by
the Forest Service.
Maps of the completed portions of the trail are
available at local
sporting goods stores and at the Forest Service ranger
station.
Additionally, the group has a Web page.
Once construction of the trail is finished, the club
will convert
from a building club to a hiking club. It will also
maintain the trail
in perpetuity, Lawson said.
Anyone interested in the BMTA and its activities should
contact
the group at: BMTA, P.O. Box 53271, Atlanta, GA
30355-1271.
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