View Full Version : AT - Alabama to Maine
jimsprinkel
07-06-2006, 20:03
I understand that the 100 mi. Pinhoti Trail will soon be connected to the AT. Does that mean that a thru-hike will someday be from Alabama to Maine (or the flip)? What will happen to Springer? Just a-wonderin'
I understand that the 100 mi. Pinhoti Trail will soon be connected to the AT. Does that mean that a thru-hike will someday be from Alabama to Maine (or the flip)? What will happen to Springer? Just a-wonderin'
The southern terminus of the AT will not change. It will remain Springer - as it should. The Pinhoti (via the Benton MacKaye) simply opens up possibilities for the hiker. Which IMO is a good thing.
The Solemates
07-07-2006, 09:47
and in case you were not aware....you can actually hike further south than the pinhoti, all the way to the florida keys. you can also hike further north than katahdin, all the way to the northern tip of newfoundland (now).
The southern terminus of the AT will not change. It will remain Springer - as it should. The Pinhoti (via the Benton MacKaye) simply opens up possibilities for the hiker. Which IMO is a good thing.
:D WHY,THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS START IN ALABAMA NOT GEORGIA
:cool: NEO
:D WHY,THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS START IN ALABAMA NOT GEORGIA
:cool: NEO
Because the federally designated southern terminus of the AT is Springer. Other trails take you to Alabama (Benton Mackaye, Pinhoti).
SGT Rock
07-07-2006, 15:33
The southern terminus of the AT will not change. It will remain Springer - as it should. The Pinhoti (via the Benton MacKaye) simply opens up possibilities for the hiker. Which IMO is a good thing.
As a native Alabamian I once wanted the end extended to Alabama at one time, but the more I work on the trail systems I would rather keep the separate as Mowgli points out. Having more trails and more options is a great thing, but one does not need to be co-opted into the other to still be a great trail. The Pinhoti of Alabama has it's own flavor which is wilder than the AT and I would rather that be preserved than have it meet all the marking and shelter norms of the AT.
I also think the same thing for the trails like the BMT along the AT corridor. Not all trails should be like the AT or an official part of the AT for a hiker to enjoy them. Otherwise what would be the point of trying different trails? The AT style of hiking trail should not become the franchise model of hiking trails.
Good points Sarge. Plus the maintaining organizations are proud of their individual trails - and in most cases want to keep them separate and distinct.
As a native Alabamian .....
Hi, Sgt. Where you from? I grew up in Talladega.... my wife agreed to marry me when I proposed contigent upon us not living there!
Hope you're well....
Steve
SGT Rock
07-07-2006, 22:10
Born In Decatur Alabama, I also lived in Alabaster a while and my Father now lives down in Fair Hope. I thru-hiked the Pinhoti in 2000 - I think it was about 105 miles back then.
TIDE-HSV
07-07-2006, 22:18
Greetings from another Decatur native now living in Huntsville (via Tuscaloosa and NYC). I think you know Krewzer, who is my best friend...
Born In Decatur Alabama, I also lived in Alabaster a while and my Father now lives down in Fair Hope. I thru-hiked the Pinhoti in 2000 - I think it was about 105 miles back then.
Close to 138 today. Here's the best website about the trail - http://www.hmtc.org
Tim Rich
07-08-2006, 00:10
Close to 138 today. Here's the best website about the trail - http://www.hmtc.org
An excellent site. Best to go straight to the site map at
http://www.hmtc.org/sitemap.html
Another native Alabamian here, Rock. Born in Huntsville, raised in Shelby County (Westover and Chelsea), college at Montevallo while I worked my way through school at Shelby Medical Center in Alabaster. Lived in Wetumpka and Liberty Park (now Vestavia) before landing in Georgia in '96. Hope to get back before I retire, but retirement in Bama is pretty firm, either on acreage in Clay, Cleburne or Randolph Counties, or on Smith Lake, Lake Wedowee or Lake Martin.
Take Care,
Tim
SGT Rock
07-08-2006, 01:00
My brother-in-law just built a house last year on Smith Lake and my wife's parents are trying to get a place out there too.
I did some of my earliest trips down in the Sipsey Wilderness area. I try to get down there whenever I visit my mother in Decatur. When I lived in Shelby county we would just go wherever we wished in the woods around the area - who needs a trail when you live in a rural Alabama county? Of course recent trips to the same area have demonstrated those areas we once fish, hunted, and camped in are now strip malls and apartment complexes. That is one reason I think protected trail areas in the East are so important because as it is said in Lynard Skynard's "All I Can Do Is Write In A Song": "I can feel the concrete slowly creeping..."
Tim Rich
07-08-2006, 01:29
That Skynyrd tune, along with John Anderson's "Look Away" and "Seminole Wind" really captures the sprawl of the South.
Dixie's had a facelift, I guess she's lookin' better,
But I kind of like the old one, I never will forget her.
I had 500 acres of timberland to roam on next to us in Westover, hunting and riding firelanes like they were my own. A natural gas pipeline that passed near us would take me as far as I could go on my dirt bike and be back by dark.
Smith Lake's the best buy for lake property in Alabama, perhaps the south. Lots go for less than half what they bring on Martin. It's beautiful and clean. With much of its watershed from Sipsey and Bankhead, it's rated the third cleanest lake in the United States.
Take Care,
Tim
SGT Rock
07-08-2006, 01:40
Dixie's had a facelift, I guess she's lookin' better,
But I kind of like the old one, I never will forget her.
Amen brother.
I remember when there was a two mile walk through the woods (the shortcut) to get to the closest store to where I lived in Shelby Country. Back then it seemed like a burden to walk, but now that I look back on it, those were some of the best times I had growing up.
Born In Decatur Alabama, I also lived in Alabaster a while and my Father now lives down in Fair Hope. I thru-hiked the Pinhoti in 2000 - I think it was about 105 miles back then.
Neat - we lived in Alabaster after we got married - were there for about 8 yrs before moving to Lawrenceville, GA....
One of my favorite hikes is up the Old Odum Scout Trail (from the High Falls trail head) to overnight at the trail intersection on the ridge where there's a spring on top of the mountain, then to the top on the Pinhoti the next day.... we've taken the scout troop over 4 or 5 times in the last 10 yrs.... A buddy and I pulled out of his driveway back in April, planning on going up to Shining Rock, and decided at the last minute to go over and do this hike again.
it's a small world!