Alabama hikers realized a 17-year-long dream Oct. 19, dedicating a "critical piece" in what will be a 5,000-mile national network of trails.
The Pinhoti Trail, running some 120 miles from the southern edge of the Talladega National Forest to Georgia, was formally dedicated with a ceremony at thestate line by members of the Alabama Trails Association and representatives from Alabama Forever Wild the Conservation fund, the America Hiking Society, and the Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association.
The ATA completed the trail this year when volunteers brought the trail to the state line near Piedmont, capping an effort that began in 1985.
With Saturday's ceremony, the Pinhoti Trail takes its place in a much larger trail system.
"We envision a 5,000-mmile connected foot trail system throught the Southeast." said Mary Margaret Sloan, president of the American Hiking Society, a national group that promotes and protects hiking trails. "The Alabama Pinhoti Trail is a critical, critical piece of that."
Of those 5,000 planned miles of trail, Sloan said, 3,000 miles are already constructed.
Carroll Wilson of Jasper, president of the Alabama Trails Association, considers the Pinhoti to be much more than just a path through the woods.
"I consider the Pinhoti Trail to be a recreational and spiritual resource," he said. "I cannot imagine a better thing that we could be leaving future generations than this trail. I've got two grandsons and nothing pleases me more than just thethought that maybe someday they'll come out here and bring friends. And they'll say 'My grandmother and my grandfather helped build this trail.'"
"it's not just a place where they can come and simply see beautiful scenery, but actually be spiritually renewed," Wilson said.
Wilson credited former Alabamian Mike Leonard with the inception of the trail, and thanked the Conservation Fund and Alabama Forever Wild for purchasing land for portions of the trail from private landowners.
Leonard, a lawyer now residing in Winston-Salem, N.C., says he got the idea for the Pinhoti at age 17, when he dreamed of a trail that took in all of the Appalachian Mountain chain. He got the project rolling after starting practice in Alabama back in 1985. That's when the organization was founded that became the Alabama Trails Association.
"So this has sort of been a life-long dream for me," Leonard said. "That's pretty amazing."
The trail, Leonard said, has grown far past a simple pathway.
"A community has built up around this thing, with friendships that have evolved through this," Leonard said. He said the volunteers of the Alabama Trails Association played a vital role in making the trail a reality, cutting the tread by hand through miles of northeast Alabama terrain.
Pete Conroy of the Alabama Forever Wild board brought a proclamation from Gov. Don Siegelman congradulating tht ATA on its achievement.
Work continues on the trail in Georgia with the ultimate goal of linking up with the Appalachian Trail at Springer Mountain, Ga. South Alabama hikers are working to link the southern end of the Pinhoti Trail with the Florida Trail, which would allow hikers to walk uninterrupted from the Florida Keys, through Alabama and Georgia to the Appalachian Trail, then as far north as Canada.
For additional information, read about the celebration and dedication in the Gadsden Times.
This page contains thumbnail
pictures from the dedication.
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Group Photo at Salem Church (d.nicol)
(d.nicol)
Marker to be Erected at the Alabama - Georgia State Line (d.nicol)
Pete Conroy of the Alabama Forever Wild Brought Prolamation from Gov. Don Siegelman (d.nicol)
The Proclamation (d.nicol)
Lunch Break before Ceremony(d.nicol)
Erecting Marker at State Line (d.nicol)
Erecting Marker at State Line (d.nicol)
Erecting Matker at State Line (d.nicol)
Mike Leonard, the "Fathere of the Pinhoti," looks on as MarMargaret Sloan, president of the American Hiking Society, speaks to the ATA. (b.williams)
Group Picture with Marker at State Line (d.nicol)