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PTA Site Map
Pinhoti Trail Alliance
Connecting Alabama to the Appalachian Trail
The PTA Webmaster
About Me (yawn)
Hi, my name is Solo.
2008 ~ Author and publisher of The Pinhoti Trail Pocket Guide.
2000 ~ 2008 ~ Author and publisher of the Pinhoti Trail Guides for Alabama.
2005 ~ Received the "Jim Austin Maintainer of the Year" award.
2006 ~ Interviewed by Backpacker Magazine and the Anniston Star.
2004 ~ 2007 ~ Founder and president of the Horn Mountain Trail Club.
2001 ~ 2007 ~ Member of the Appalachian Trail Club of Alabama.
2000 ~ 2001 / 2005 ~ 2007 ~ Member and current president of the Alabama Trails Asso.
2004 ~ 2005 ~ Member of the Alabama Hiking Trail Society.
1992 ~ 1994 ~ Member of the Anniston Outdoor Association.
1975 ~ 2002 ~ Completed 5 long hikes: 350, 130, 130, 450, and 1000 miles.
1995 ~ 2002 ~ Member of the Gadsden Track Club.
1986 ~ 2002 ~ Member of the Anniston Runners Club.
1979 ~ 1986 ~ Member of the Columbus Track Club.
1979 ~ 2002 ~ Competed in appx. 700 foot races ranging from 1 mile to 50 miles, 6 century
bike races, 2 swim meets, 3 biathalons and 18 triathalons.
1 to 10 scale:
0 ~ looks
0 ~ personality
0 ~ money
0 ~ material possessions
10 ~ livin' large : )
My trail name was given to me by John Collins, a retired school principal from Florida,
during my first long distance hike on the Appalachian Trail back in 1975. I have done
two more long hikes on the AT and many week and weekend hikes since then. I grew
up in northeast Atlanta and the north Georgia mountains were right in my backyard, so
I always claim that as home.
I consider myself lucky to have been living in Alabama since 1986 and I think of this as
my second home. Anniston is just a stones throw from the Pinhoti and I was a little
surprised that the vast majority of people I knew had never heard of it. Jeez, that's darn
near blasphemy. How could a city of 35,000 be 10 miles from the Pinhoti and not know it
existed?
Soon after I moved here, I started trail running with the Anniston Runners Club and I
struggled through the 80's and 90's trying to find road crossings and fighting my way
through overgrown and poorly marked trail sections. I was bitching and moaning the
whole time because I was a spoiled AT brat. Finally, a few years ago I adopted a
philosophy that changed my outlook on everything; If you have a problem, either fix it
or shut up.
I have logged over 3000 volunteer hours of trail maintenance on the Pinhoti and I also
wrote all of the Pinhoti Trail Guides for Alabama, which took 2 years and 53 hikes to
measure the Alabama Section twice and a lot of road trips to get the measurements for all
of the road crossing directions and then I spent 4 years building this web site. It's been
great spending this much time on the trail. It's also been a lot of hard work!
So far on the Pinhoti, I have completed 2 northbound thru hikes, 2 northbound section
hikes, 2 southbound section hikes, I am 93.4 miles into my 3rd northbound section hike,
been on hundreds of maintenance trips, and I did group trail running on the Pinhoti
every Sunday for 7 years with the Anniston Runners Club.
Crew Members
Have you ever considered joining a trail club? It's a great way to make new friends and
have a great time doing it! There are a lot of new and exciting things happening on the
Pinhoti right now and this would be a good time to volunteer. You can go to the Pinhoti
Trail Alliance Site Map and visit the Trail Club web sites. They all have different trail
section sponsorships and activities, so pick one and send them an email. They will be
glad to hear from you!!
Not ready to make that kind of commitment yet? That's OK. You can still make a huge
contribution. Whenever you spend some time on the trail, you can come back and contact
the trail club who maintains the section(s) you visited and tell them about the condition
of the trail. This is a great way to help the Maintainer and Hiker communities!
Report the general location and the type of problem:
Brush / annual growth crowding the trail
Blowdowns / deadfalls / leaners
Eroded trail / switchbacks
Washed out spring / creek crossings
Insufficient trail markings / signs
Unmarked turns / road crossings
Damaged shelters / picnic tables / bridges / signs
Missing shelter log books
Trashy shelters / campsites / trailheads
There are a limited number of Trail Club Volunteers on the Pinhoti. We only have a
solid core group of about 15 volunteers who turn out month after month, year after year
to maintain 325 miles of trail and because of that we can only make it into each section
about once a year, unless someone reports a problem area. These hiker reports really
mean a lot to us! All of the Trail Clubs and other hikers will appreciate your taking the
time to help us keep this great trail in great shape.
Not ready to make that kind of commitment yet? That's OK too. We're all hikers here
and we want a safe, clean trail to hike on and we want you to have the same thing. Some
of the Pinhoti has been here since the 1960's and there is no way to figure how many
Volunteers have worked on it over the years. Every one of them gave the trail to me as a
gift, free of charge with no strings attached. The same holds true for todays Volunteers.
The Pinhoti belongs to you. Enjoy it.
PTA Site Map
Pinhoti Trail Alliance
Connecting Alabama to the Appalachian Trail
The PTA Webmaster
About Me (yawn)
Hi, my name is Solo.
2008 ~ Author and publisher of The Pinhoti Trail Pocket Guide.
2000 ~ 2008 ~ Author and publisher of the Pinhoti Trail Guides for Alabama.
2005 ~ Received the "Jim Austin Maintainer of the Year" award.
2006 ~ Interviewed by Backpacker Magazine and the Anniston Star.
2004 ~ 2007 ~ Founder and president of the Horn Mountain Trail Club.
2001 ~ 2007 ~ Member of the Appalachian Trail Club of Alabama.
2000 ~ 2001 / 2005 ~ 2007 ~ Member and current president of the Alabama Trails Asso.
2004 ~ 2005 ~ Member of the Alabama Hiking Trail Society.
1992 ~ 1994 ~ Member of the Anniston Outdoor Association.
1975 ~ 2002 ~ Completed 5 long hikes: 350, 130, 130, 450, and 1000 miles.
1995 ~ 2002 ~ Member of the Gadsden Track Club.
1986 ~ 2002 ~ Member of the Anniston Runners Club.
1979 ~ 1986 ~ Member of the Columbus Track Club.
1979 ~ 2002 ~ Competed in appx. 700 foot races ranging from 1 mile to 50 miles, 6 century
bike races, 2 swim meets, 3 biathalons and 18 triathalons.
1 to 10 scale:
0 ~ looks
0 ~ personality
0 ~ money
0 ~ material possessions
10 ~ livin' large : )
My trail name was given to me by John Collins, a retired school principal from Florida,
during my first long distance hike on the Appalachian Trail back in 1975. I have done
two more long hikes on the AT and many week and weekend hikes since then. I grew
up in northeast Atlanta and the north Georgia mountains were right in my backyard, so
I always claim that as home.
I consider myself lucky to have been living in Alabama since 1986 and I think of this as
my second home. Anniston is just a stones throw from the Pinhoti and I was a little
surprised that the vast majority of people I knew had never heard of it. Jeez, that's darn
near blasphemy. How could a city of 35,000 be 10 miles from the Pinhoti and not know it
existed?
Soon after I moved here, I started trail running with the Anniston Runners Club and I
struggled through the 80's and 90's trying to find road crossings and fighting my way
through overgrown and poorly marked trail sections. I was bitching and moaning the
whole time because I was a spoiled AT brat. Finally, a few years ago I adopted a
philosophy that changed my outlook on everything; If you have a problem, either fix it
or shut up.
I have logged over 3000 volunteer hours of trail maintenance on the Pinhoti and I also
wrote all of the Pinhoti Trail Guides for Alabama, which took 2 years and 53 hikes to
measure the Alabama Section twice and a lot of road trips to get the measurements for all
of the road crossing directions and then I spent 4 years building this web site. It's been
great spending this much time on the trail. It's also been a lot of hard work!
So far on the Pinhoti, I have completed 2 northbound thru hikes, 2 northbound section
hikes, 2 southbound section hikes, I am 93.4 miles into my 3rd northbound section hike,
been on hundreds of maintenance trips, and I did group trail running on the Pinhoti
every Sunday for 7 years with the Anniston Runners Club.
Crew Members
Have you ever considered joining a trail club? It's a great way to make new friends and
have a great time doing it! There are a lot of new and exciting things happening on the
Pinhoti right now and this would be a good time to volunteer. You can go to the Pinhoti
Trail Alliance Site Map and visit the Trail Club web sites. They all have different trail
section sponsorships and activities, so pick one and send them an email. They will be
glad to hear from you!!
Not ready to make that kind of commitment yet? That's OK. You can still make a huge
contribution. Whenever you spend some time on the trail, you can come back and contact
the trail club who maintains the section(s) you visited and tell them about the condition
of the trail. This is a great way to help the Maintainer and Hiker communities!
Report the general location and the type of problem:
Brush / annual growth crowding the trail
Blowdowns / deadfalls / leaners
Eroded trail / switchbacks
Washed out spring / creek crossings
Insufficient trail markings / signs
Unmarked turns / road crossings
Damaged shelters / picnic tables / bridges / signs
Missing shelter log books
Trashy shelters / campsites / trailheads
There are a limited number of Trail Club Volunteers on the Pinhoti. We only have a
solid core group of about 15 volunteers who turn out month after month, year after year
to maintain 325 miles of trail and because of that we can only make it into each section
about once a year, unless someone reports a problem area. These hiker reports really
mean a lot to us! All of the Trail Clubs and other hikers will appreciate your taking the
time to help us keep this great trail in great shape.
Not ready to make that kind of commitment yet? That's OK too. We're all hikers here
and we want a safe, clean trail to hike on and we want you to have the same thing. Some
of the Pinhoti has been here since the 1960's and there is no way to figure how many
Volunteers have worked on it over the years. Every one of them gave the trail to me as a
gift, free of charge with no strings attached. The same holds true for todays Volunteers.
The Pinhoti belongs to you. Enjoy it.
PTA Site Map
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