Original Trail

[WIAPilot]

You used to hear stories of Rangers coming upon AT hikers all the time -- some funier than others -- during thier training.

Not sure if that happens. I worked with a former Ranger once who was lost until he found the white blazes.

Before Special Ops, my Dad started his career as a Drill Instructor for the Rangers in Dahlonega, GA in the late 1950's. He led his men out for excursions near the trail for weeks at a time. The AT was really not that well known at that time - even with Earl Shaffer's 1948 trek. Likewise, hiking as a national pastime had really not caught on yet. But the moonshiners were all up in the mountains near the trail. My Dad used to tell me that there were moonshine stills everywhere around the AT trail in Dahlonega.

[Feral Bill]

It would be hard to relocate the Bear Mountain Bridge. And who could resist leaving the trail in the Lemon Squeezer?

[zephyr1034]

It's safe to say that the AT in Maryland is almost completely the original trail It stays on top of South Mountain.
This is a narrow ridge line and there really isn't anywhere else to put a trail.

However,it ascends the mountain from the south on a series of switchbacks that have been
vastly improved during thre last few years.

[RockDoc]

I hiked 1000 miles from HF to Maine in summer of 1974. There were _a lot_ of road walks that have thankfully mostly been re-routed through forest. The worst one (30 miles) was in southern PA.
Sometime in the 90's i believe the AT was taken over as part of the National Park Service system, and so there was a huge infusion of money to buy strips of land for the trail. And as other's have said the Maine ATC took on a huge project that we called "leave no nubbin left unclimbed", routing the trail over every single little viewless bump they could find. When I did more hiking in Maine in 2007 and 2009 I met some Maintainers who were damn proud of having the toughest part of the AT, engineered that way on purpose.

[RockDoc]

"It's safe to say that the AT in Maryland is almost completely the original trail It stays on top of South Mountain."


Yes, I can confirm that, having done all of it in the mid to late 1960's in the boy scouts troop 218 ("4 state hike"), and a few times since (and the JFK 50 twice). There is a re-routing at Lambs Knoll where you used to walk down the road and now it's on a trail. The biggest change is crossing the railroad bridge to HF (we used to do it illegally on the tracks). The official route took you across the Sandy Hook highway bridge to trudge along the highway into HF, which was miserable for a tired Boy Scout, in sneakers, with a heavy frame pack in 1968 (I actually did the 4SH twice in the 60s). I remember the burning hot sun, cars speeding by, and no relief for miles. But that got you into VA to qualify for the 4 state hike! Now you go into VA after HF.

[somers515]

. . .There is a re-routing at Lambs Knoll where you used to walk down the road and now it's on a trail. The biggest change is crossing the railroad bridge to HF (we used to do it illegally on the tracks). The official route took you across the Sandy Hook highway bridge to trudge along the highway into HF . . .

Cool stories RockDoc - interesting to read how the trail has changed over time!

[One Half]

There's a podcast called The Green Tunnel and it gets into aa bunch of the history of the trail, how it was developed, changes over time...

[gpburdelljr]

The following link states “In its 75-year existence, it is estimated that 99 percent of the original trails have been relocated or rebuilt to better protect the land and navigate more scenic landscapes.”

https://www.americanforests.org/arti...%20landscapes.