SavageLlama
12-17-2004, 20:58
Interesting alternative to the AT.. has anyone here hiked any of the BMT?
MacKaye Trail will run through the Smokies
By Charles Searcy
The Tennessean
December 16, 2004
Move over Appalachian Trail, there's a new path to follow in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Well, a new path, almost. An agreement authorizing the three-state Benton MacKaye Trail (BMT) to enter the park was recently signed by Park Superintendent Dale A. Ditmanson and Benton MacKaye Trail Association President Tom Keene.
Like the Appalachian Trail, the BMT will run the length of the park from southwest to northeast. It will enter the park in the southwest end off North Carolina Highway 28 at Twentymile Ranger Station, proceed for 102 miles, and exit the Smokies at Davenport Gap in the northeast, just south of Interstate 40. This will make the BMT the longest trail in the park, more than 30 miles longer than the Appalachian Trail.
The trail is named after Benton MacKaye, who conceived the concept of the Appalachian Trail running across many states in eastern America's dominant mountain range back in 1921. MacKaye, born in 1879 and who died 1975, was a noted forester, planner and conservationist.
The signing ceremony in Cherry Log, Ga., completes the last major right-of-way agreement for this trail that began in Georgia in 1980. This will make the BMT only the second interstate trail to enter the park, the famed Appalachian Trail being the other.
Friend retires: Clarence Coffey, whom I knew early in his career with the Tennessee Wildlife Re-sources Agency, has retired and gone to tackle his wife's (Bonita) honey-do list. For 35 years Coffey kept his head down and his eyes on the road. He went from a wildlife officer in Carroll County in 1969 to manager of Region 3, where he spent time as the assistant law enforcement supervisor in the Chattanooga area. He became the regional information and education coordinator in 1978 before becoming assistant manager and then manager in 1998.
"Looking back, I became aware of how very professional and capable my fellow agency personnel were," he said upon retiring. "This was something I realized even more after being gone."
The redhead has gone, but his mark on Region 3 will last a long, long time.
# # #
MacKaye Trail will run through the Smokies
By Charles Searcy
The Tennessean
December 16, 2004
Move over Appalachian Trail, there's a new path to follow in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Well, a new path, almost. An agreement authorizing the three-state Benton MacKaye Trail (BMT) to enter the park was recently signed by Park Superintendent Dale A. Ditmanson and Benton MacKaye Trail Association President Tom Keene.
Like the Appalachian Trail, the BMT will run the length of the park from southwest to northeast. It will enter the park in the southwest end off North Carolina Highway 28 at Twentymile Ranger Station, proceed for 102 miles, and exit the Smokies at Davenport Gap in the northeast, just south of Interstate 40. This will make the BMT the longest trail in the park, more than 30 miles longer than the Appalachian Trail.
The trail is named after Benton MacKaye, who conceived the concept of the Appalachian Trail running across many states in eastern America's dominant mountain range back in 1921. MacKaye, born in 1879 and who died 1975, was a noted forester, planner and conservationist.
The signing ceremony in Cherry Log, Ga., completes the last major right-of-way agreement for this trail that began in Georgia in 1980. This will make the BMT only the second interstate trail to enter the park, the famed Appalachian Trail being the other.
Friend retires: Clarence Coffey, whom I knew early in his career with the Tennessee Wildlife Re-sources Agency, has retired and gone to tackle his wife's (Bonita) honey-do list. For 35 years Coffey kept his head down and his eyes on the road. He went from a wildlife officer in Carroll County in 1969 to manager of Region 3, where he spent time as the assistant law enforcement supervisor in the Chattanooga area. He became the regional information and education coordinator in 1978 before becoming assistant manager and then manager in 1998.
"Looking back, I became aware of how very professional and capable my fellow agency personnel were," he said upon retiring. "This was something I realized even more after being gone."
The redhead has gone, but his mark on Region 3 will last a long, long time.
# # #