I just scored the AT some freebie publicity

[buzzamania]

In February of this year I informed a local scout troop that I was planning a June section of Amicalola to Unicoi gap as I begin my lifelong pursuit to section the entire trail. I was hoping to bring the older venture scouts along and they decided that they would do this as their summer high adventure event. We went June 7-12 and had a great time. Once we got back we got with the local paper and they published this article with a plug for the ATC.

http://www.crestviewbulletin.com/new...errer=facebook

The journalist did a fair job in the homework department.

I can't wait to go again next year!

[TD55]

Good job!!!!

[Jeff]

Did the boys find the trail tougher than they expected?

Great that you were able to introduce the AT to a group of young men.

[shoe]

Who in their right mind would hike in June is jeans????
I would be downright miserable.

Glad you guys had a great time.

[Don H]

Nice piece, sounds like they had a great time and got a lot out of it. Lots of opportunity for advancement on a trip like this. 50 Miler Award, Backpacking and Hiking merit badges. My guys do a weekend trip each year in Maryland.

[Bidwell]

That's great - good read! Looks like y'all had a good time.

[buzzamania]

Who in their right mind would hike in June is jeans????
I would be downright miserable.

Glad you guys had a great time.

I instructed them better. . . you know how young men are. They ditched the jeans after 1 day.

[buzzamania]

Did the boys find the trail tougher than they expected?

Great that you were able to introduce the AT to a group of young men.

Actually they were incredibly resilient. We did 14 miles the last day and found ourselves running on the smooth sections up Blue Mountain right before Unicoi gap.

[DC2.2GSR]

Nice piece, sounds like they had a great time and got a lot out of it. Lots of opportunity for advancement on a trip like this. 50 Miler Award, Backpacking and Hiking merit badges. My guys do a weekend trip each year in Maryland.

those are the three i got when i was 15 and did my 50. i loved it. being in boy scouts and having a scoutmaster who was very into hiking and pushed for lots of hikes with the troop is the reason i still hike today. in turn, i've gotten a lot of my friends into hiking the AT. it all starts somewhere and for me, getting that 50 Miler Award was one of the best experiences i've had.

[SARdaddy]

Good job taking the time to work with the scouts. Mentors are hard to find these days for young men!

[Rockhound]

Teach those scouts right. Don't really think the AT needs any more publicity however. Free or not. Too many people out there already.

[buzzamania]

Teach those scouts right. Don't really think the AT needs any more publicity however. Free or not. Too many people out there already.

I know I am a newb and that Feb - April is probably very different than June week 1, but for the 5.5 days that we were on the approach and trail itself we probably didn't see 30 people. That's no crowd. The trail needs publicity because government funds are drying up at state and federal levels. Parks are many times the first things cut. Publicity get's people on the trail and creates a better chance that they will donate time and $ to the cause.

[buzzamania]

those are the three i got when i was 15 and did my 50. i loved it. being in boy scouts and having a scoutmaster who was very into hiking and pushed for lots of hikes with the troop is the reason i still hike today. in turn, i've gotten a lot of my friends into hiking the AT. it all starts somewhere and for me, getting that 50 Miler Award was one of the best experiences i've had.

I have to agree. It all started with a great scout leader. He took us spelunking, rappelling, canoeing and we did a 50 miler. I was hooked. Scouting is a great program. It get's people off the couch and DOING and learning. So many sedintary people made out of mush these days.