Part 2 - The Appalachian Trail Conservancy Today

So from part one of my post on the ATC you got the entire abridged history of the trail, lets talk about what the ATC does for us today.  First of all, the headquarters of the ATC are located in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, a mere 0.25 miles off the trail.  This office is a major destination for people on a thru hike.  They have a back room dedicated to thru hikers and a volunteer will take a Polaroid for their hiker yearbook.  You can write down all your information on the photo for friends to keep in touch with you after your hike.  They have a hiker box, where hikers can help themselves to take or leave an item they no longer want.  They have electrical outlets to charge your devices.  They also have a mini museum and souvenir shop.  The volunteers are friendly and informative, answering any question you have about the trail. 

The ATC also employs amazing trail stewards called Ridge Runners.  They cover the length of the Appalachian Trail, working in designated areas.  For example, a Ridge Runner in the Smokies would be responsible for covering the entire 73-mile length of the AT in the park and works from March until November, spending approximately 120 nights in the backcountry per season.  The work of a Ridge Runner involves talking to hikers they meet both on trail and in shelters, clearing small blowdowns off the trail, picking up trash, and cleaning the privy, or outhouse, at a campsite or shelter.  For the most part, they are peacekeepers and protectors of the trail in their designated area. 

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy acts as a protector of the trail.  For example, in September 2015, Congress failed to reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund.  This legislation from 1964 designates funding from the profits of offshore drilling to be designated to back into our national parks, forests, and wildlife preserves.  The ATC is very active in Washington, D.C. and conservation staff spends time with lawmakers on Capital Hill discussing issues of conservation and their importance to the AT Corridor.  The ATC is also active in different areas along the trail to not only preserve the corridor, but to also conserve the areas near the corridor, most recently fighting development along the Roan Highland region in Tennessee.  A developer wanted to build a large condo complex right in the sightline of the trail from these beautiful and pristine balds.  Now, the conservation issue focuses on natural gas pipelines in Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.  

Finally, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy is a great place to learn of the most important thing we can all do to help protect the trail - Leave No Trace.  The seven principles of Leave No Trace are expanded upon in detail on their website and they have a great video series explaining all the ethics.  These seven things we can all do on each trip we take out on the trail can help preserve the trail for generations to come.  

If you have enjoyed spending any amount of time on the Appalachian Trail, I highly recommend you become a member of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.  You can make a donation of any amount on their website and become a card-carrying member of this wonderful trail "club."  Your donation to them will help preserve the efforts of this hard working organization to make sure the Appalachian Trail can be protected for years to come.  

Day 11 - Benton MacKaye Trail

We started earlier today, about 8:30, and began our first climb of the day to Cantrell Top.  The sun came  out for the morning and we had some easy ups and downs until we reached Hipps Gap, a dry (shocker, I know!) campsite.  From here we had to start climbing but our day looked easy on the map and profile because once we were up, we were on top of the ridge.  We couldn't have been more wrong.

This is a North Carolina State line marker from the early 1800s

After some crazy steep climbing and an attempt to get water that didn't pan out, we reached Moss Gap, noted for the hairpin turn in the trail and a tree marked with a giant X indicating there is water a mere half mile off the trail.  We decided to head up and get water at one of the few campsites if we needed it.  This is where our day turned to utter shit.  For the next four miles we bushwhacked through immense blowdown.  The trees were thankfully blazed and there was a faint path of where people had gone through a week ago, but otherwise we were completely on our own.  For four miles, which took us three hours in the pouring rain, we climbed through branches, grass up to our necks, and thorns shredded our legs.  Any evidence of campsites and unmarked side trails was completely obscured.  It looked as if a tornado had hit the mountain.

There is a trail in here... Follow the blazes and make your own path! 

When we finally hit Rocky Top, we had about half a clear mile before coming to another hairpin turn at Sledrunner Gap - the halfway point of the BMT.  Now, we were coming downhill in the same shit we climbed on the other side.  This side was even worse because it followed and crossed a stream multiple times.  Rhododendron were down everywhere and even harder to climb through. Again, all campsites and mile markers were completely wiped out due to the utter disregard for trail maintenance.  At 4 pm we had to make a decision.  We were at a trail junction where the BMT went up and trail 180 looked to be going down.  The map indicated in about 6.5 miles we could be at the same location 5 BMT miles would take us to.  We had been hiking for 7 straight hours without eating or stopping and we decided the road might be longer, but at least it was clear.

Which way to go now...? 

This decision changed our entire day.  Trail 180 was an old roadbed that appeared to have a lot of recent foot and horse traffic.  We got down the 1.5 miles in less than 40 minutes. We came out at a campsite and ate a quick dinner before walking FS 126, a gravel road that went up and between two mountains before coming downhill to Tellico River Road.  It was about 6:50 when we finally made it to the road and we knew that the Green Cove Motel was 1.4 miles from the trail.  We walked about a quarter mile before coming to the Sourwood Campsite and some people told us the motel wasn't far.  They even drove us down.  When we got to the store, the woman working there, Tubby, was only there just to stock the place.  She said we were incredibly lucky to catch her as she had just got back from a trip to Knoxville and was shutting up for the night. We grabbed snacks and sodas and checked in for two nights as we were utterly exhausted.