News (AT)

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. — The Appalachian Trail Conservancy announced Tuesday that a record-breaking 6,827 volunteers reported approximately 272,477 hours to maintaining and protecting the Appalachian Trail for hikers to use during the 2015 fiscal year.
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A new section of the Appalachian Trail in Bear Mountain will open this weekend, thanks to nine months of work by volunteers.

The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference’s Long Distance Trails Crew, an all-volunteer group, contributed more than 3,000 hours this year to relocate a 0.2 mile section of the historic trail in Bear Mountain State Park.
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AUGUSTA — The Maine Warden Service has confirmed that remains found in the woods on Oct. 14 are those of lost Appalachian Trail hiker Geraldine Largay.

The chief medical examiner determined she died an accidental death because of lack of food and water and environmental exposure, according to a news release issued Friday afternoon.

Largay's remains were found in Redington Township by a contractor doing a forest survey on property owned by the U.S. Navy. The 66-year-old from Tennessee had been missing since late July 2013 and extensive searches had turned up no sign of her.

Cpl. John MacDonald said the Maine State Police Computer Crime Lab examined the cellphone found with Largay's remains and found she had "reached Orbeton Stream and the discontinued railroad bed crossing in the late morning of July 22, 2013. Shortly after reaching that intersection, she continued north on the Appalachian Trail and at some point left the trail and became lost. The exact location where she departed the trail is unknown."
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