PTA Site Map / www.pinhotitrailalliance.org
Pinhoti Trail Alliance
Connecting Alabama to the Appalachian Trail
The Pinhoti Trail Project
The following article was published in the
September - October 2007 edition of AT Journeys,
The Magazine of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
Written by Wendy K. Probst - Managing Editor of ATJ.
In 1985 the Alabama Trails Association rekindled a 60 year-old plan which
would link the Pinhoti Trail in the Talladega National Forest in Alabama to
the Appalachian Trail in northern Georgia. "The goal was to complete the
original vision of the A. T., which called for the extension trail into Alabama,"
said Mike Leonard, who founded the Alabama Trails Association in 1985 and
went on to help found the Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association in the 1990's.
Leonard, a North Carolina Lawyer, serves on The Conservation Fund's board
of directors and has also been extremely influential in the acquisition of
several key properties buffering the A. T. corridor including Rocky Fork in
Tennessee and Wesser Bald in North Carolina.
The original 1925 plan of the A. T. proposed a spur trail from Mt. Washington
in New Hampshire to Katahdin in Maine, as well as a trail from the mountains
of Georgia into northern Alabama. By 1940 the spur trail in Maine was
complete, but the spur trail in Alabama remained in the concept stage until
now.
The initial challenge was in finding the most logical route that would link the
Pinhoti Trail to the Benton MacKaye Trail and then to the A. T. at Springer
Mountain.
The construction of the Benton MacKaye Trail (BMT) spurred the Pinhoti
Trail Project when Leonard found out that construction of the BMT had also
begun. The situation was serendipitous as the BMT would take care of 75
miles of the trail connection.
"We have probably acquired a total of about 7,000 acres of land in Alabama and
400 acres in Georgia in the process," said Leonard. He points out that the land
in Alabama was acquired in large part due to USDA Forest Service, a state
program called the Forever Wild Program and in Georgia by The Conservation
Fund. "I have actually walked more miles on Capital Hill working on this
project than I have on the trail itself."
At just over 300 miles, 137 miles of the Pinhoti Trail are in Alabama and 163
miles are in Georgia. The entire project has taken 22 years to complete and
very few setbacks have occurred. "It has gone along much more smoothly than
anyone had ever expected...these things take time; you can't do them rapidly,"
said Leonard.
The project has sparked the enthusiasm and involvement of nearby
communities. "I have seen all of these other people get involved in this trail,
how it has become important to them and how they get their families out on
the trail. That is what has been amazing," said Leonard, "to have seen this
whole community develop around that trail has been as rewarding to me as
seeing the trail completed."
Currently, 57 miles of the trail are road walk; most of those miles are in
Georgia, near the Coosa and the Conasauga River valleys. "We would like to
get the trail off the roads where we can," said Leonard when speaking about
future plans. There are also plans to extend the trail south 25 miles and the
Forest Service is beginning to build the trail south of Bull Gap. Leonard
mentioned that they hope to connect the trail to Flagg Mountain which lies at
the southern most point of the Appalachians (about 40 miles north of
Montgomery Alabama) and rises 1,000 feet above sea level.
The trail is currently being completed and road walks are being marked this
summer. "The goal is to have a continuously marked trail by October 1," said
Leonard. An official celebration of the completion will be held in March of
2008 in Cheaha State Park where Cheaha Mountain boasts the highest point in
Alabama at 2,407 feet. The Pinhoti Trail runs directly through the park.
For more information visit:
Alabama Hiking Trail Society:
www.hikealabama.org,
Alabama Trails Association:
www.alabamatrailsasso.org,
Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association:
www.georgiapinhoti.org
PTA Site Map
Pinhoti Trail Alliance
Connecting Alabama to the Appalachian Trail
The Pinhoti Trail Project
The following article was published in the
September - October 2007 edition of AT Journeys,
The Magazine of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
Written by Wendy K. Probst - Managing Editor of ATJ.
In 1985 the Alabama Trails Association rekindled a 60 year-old plan which
would link the Pinhoti Trail in the Talladega National Forest in Alabama to
the Appalachian Trail in northern Georgia. "The goal was to complete the
original vision of the A. T., which called for the extension trail into Alabama,"
said Mike Leonard, who founded the Alabama Trails Association in 1985 and
went on to help found the Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association in the 1990's.
Leonard, a North Carolina Lawyer, serves on The Conservation Fund's board
of directors and has also been extremely influential in the acquisition of
several key properties buffering the A. T. corridor including Rocky Fork in
Tennessee and Wesser Bald in North Carolina.
The original 1925 plan of the A. T. proposed a spur trail from Mt. Washington
in New Hampshire to Katahdin in Maine, as well as a trail from the mountains
of Georgia into northern Alabama. By 1940 the spur trail in Maine was
complete, but the spur trail in Alabama remained in the concept stage until
now.
The initial challenge was in finding the most logical route that would link the
Pinhoti Trail to the Benton MacKaye Trail and then to the A. T. at Springer
Mountain.
The construction of the Benton MacKaye Trail (BMT) spurred the Pinhoti
Trail Project when Leonard found out that construction of the BMT had also
begun. The situation was serendipitous as the BMT would take care of 75
miles of the trail connection.
"We have probably acquired a total of about 7,000 acres of land in Alabama and
400 acres in Georgia in the process," said Leonard. He points out that the land
in Alabama was acquired in large part due to USDA Forest Service, a state
program called the Forever Wild Program and in Georgia by The Conservation
Fund. "I have actually walked more miles on Capital Hill working on this
project than I have on the trail itself."
At just over 300 miles, 137 miles of the Pinhoti Trail are in Alabama and 163
miles are in Georgia. The entire project has taken 22 years to complete and
very few setbacks have occurred. "It has gone along much more smoothly than
anyone had ever expected...these things take time; you can't do them rapidly,"
said Leonard.
The project has sparked the enthusiasm and involvement of nearby
communities. "I have seen all of these other people get involved in this trail,
how it has become important to them and how they get their families out on
the trail. That is what has been amazing," said Leonard, "to have seen this
whole community develop around that trail has been as rewarding to me as
seeing the trail completed."
Currently, 57 miles of the trail are road walk; most of those miles are in
Georgia, near the Coosa and the Conasauga River valleys. "We would like to
get the trail off the roads where we can," said Leonard when speaking about
future plans. There are also plans to extend the trail south 25 miles and the
Forest Service is beginning to build the trail south of Bull Gap. Leonard
mentioned that they hope to connect the trail to Flagg Mountain which lies at
the southern most point of the Appalachians (about 40 miles north of
Montgomery Alabama) and rises 1,000 feet above sea level.
The trail is currently being completed and road walks are being marked this
summer. "The goal is to have a continuously marked trail by October 1," said
Leonard. An official celebration of the completion will be held in March of
2008 in Cheaha State Park where Cheaha Mountain boasts the highest point in
Alabama at 2,407 feet. The Pinhoti Trail runs directly through the park.
For more information visit:
Alabama Hiking Trail Society:
www.hikealabama.org,
Alabama Trails Association:
www.alabamatrailsasso.org,
Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association:
www.georgiapinhoti.org
PTA Site Map
| Millennium Legacy Trail |
45.0 ~ Cheaha State Park Click for Full Size |
18.0 ~ Porter's Gap Trailhead Click for Full Size |
