Post by Sharon Faulkner on Jun 20, 2006 7:33:05 GMT -5
This has little to do with caving, other than the trail passes thru areas of the country with known caves. 
Great Eastern Trail to offer 1,700-mile Florida-to-N.Y. trek
By Greg Bluestein
Associated Press
June 19, 2006
SODDY-DAISY, Tenn. -- In the depths of the Little Possum Gorge, a footpath emerges through a forest of hemlock and magnolia to a breathtaking waterfall. The treacherous falls were known to only the most daring of kayakers willing to plunge down the 25-foot drop.
But now a team of volunteers is cobbling together a rocky pathway leading to a shallow pool beneath the rapids -- part of a 40-mile trail just north of the Tennessee-Georgia state line. The pathway is part of the ambitious Great Eastern Trail, a path of about 1,700 miles envisioned by hiking enthusiasts to someday string together a vast network of existing trails and link the Florida-Alabama line to New York's Finger Lakes.
Planners hope it will serve as a foundation of a 10,000-mile network of paths spanning from south Florida to Maine, from Virginia to North Dakota. With increased development and sprawl along the East Coast, they believe the timing is right. "If we don't do it now, it's not going to happen," said Jeffrey Hunter, the American Hiking Society's Southeast trails director.
Hunter is working with local trail groups and volunteers across the nation to build roughly 600 miles of new trail to connect a system of trails already in place. The new trail will largely be constructed on public lands, but occasionally trail groups will have to negotiate the purchase or donation of land.
When finished, the Great Eastern Trail would stretch just west of the Appalachian Trail, the gold standard of the hiking world dreamed up in a 1921 essay by forester Benton Mac-Kaye.
Overuse of that trail has caused litter pileups, trampled plants and crowded campsites, said Alison Bullock, a director with the National Park Service's rivers and trails program who is helping plan the new trail.
"We're trying to provide an alternative," Bullock said. "We want to disperse the recreation. And there are so many gorgeous and undiscovered locales."
The Great Eastern Trail would start at Alabama's southern border, rolling through gentle forest before climbing up clifftop vistas as the path edges north. A ring of old logging roads would stretch the trail through Georgia to Tennessee, where the trail would pass Chattanooga and border river gorges and rocky outcroppings on its way to the mid-Atlantic states.
Through caves and crags, ridges and overlooks, the trail would then scamper through Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia. It crosses the narrow width of Maryland next, piggybacking on a historic towpath that's probably the trail's easiest segment.
In Pennsylvania, it wanders through thick, dark forests using old logging roads, etching a path through Paddy Mountain on the trail's only tunnel before ending a few miles north just across the New York border.
Other ambitious trail projects promise to span equally vast areas. The Continental Divide Trail will someday stretch from New Mexico to Montana, offering a primitive, backcountry experience to adventurers. New York and North Dakota could eventually be linked by the North Country Trail. And planners hope the Pacific Crest Trail will connect southern California with Washington.
Those trails, however, all enjoy a federal designation -- and the government benefits that go along with it. The Great Eastern Trail relies solely on its network of volunteers to craft its pieces together.
www.commercialappeal.com/mca/midsouth_news/article/0,1426,MCA_1497_4784858,00.html
Great Eastern Trail to offer 1,700-mile Florida-to-N.Y. trek
By Greg Bluestein
Associated Press
June 19, 2006
SODDY-DAISY, Tenn. -- In the depths of the Little Possum Gorge, a footpath emerges through a forest of hemlock and magnolia to a breathtaking waterfall. The treacherous falls were known to only the most daring of kayakers willing to plunge down the 25-foot drop.
But now a team of volunteers is cobbling together a rocky pathway leading to a shallow pool beneath the rapids -- part of a 40-mile trail just north of the Tennessee-Georgia state line. The pathway is part of the ambitious Great Eastern Trail, a path of about 1,700 miles envisioned by hiking enthusiasts to someday string together a vast network of existing trails and link the Florida-Alabama line to New York's Finger Lakes.
Planners hope it will serve as a foundation of a 10,000-mile network of paths spanning from south Florida to Maine, from Virginia to North Dakota. With increased development and sprawl along the East Coast, they believe the timing is right. "If we don't do it now, it's not going to happen," said Jeffrey Hunter, the American Hiking Society's Southeast trails director.
Hunter is working with local trail groups and volunteers across the nation to build roughly 600 miles of new trail to connect a system of trails already in place. The new trail will largely be constructed on public lands, but occasionally trail groups will have to negotiate the purchase or donation of land.
When finished, the Great Eastern Trail would stretch just west of the Appalachian Trail, the gold standard of the hiking world dreamed up in a 1921 essay by forester Benton Mac-Kaye.
Overuse of that trail has caused litter pileups, trampled plants and crowded campsites, said Alison Bullock, a director with the National Park Service's rivers and trails program who is helping plan the new trail.
"We're trying to provide an alternative," Bullock said. "We want to disperse the recreation. And there are so many gorgeous and undiscovered locales."
The Great Eastern Trail would start at Alabama's southern border, rolling through gentle forest before climbing up clifftop vistas as the path edges north. A ring of old logging roads would stretch the trail through Georgia to Tennessee, where the trail would pass Chattanooga and border river gorges and rocky outcroppings on its way to the mid-Atlantic states.
Through caves and crags, ridges and overlooks, the trail would then scamper through Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia. It crosses the narrow width of Maryland next, piggybacking on a historic towpath that's probably the trail's easiest segment.
In Pennsylvania, it wanders through thick, dark forests using old logging roads, etching a path through Paddy Mountain on the trail's only tunnel before ending a few miles north just across the New York border.
Other ambitious trail projects promise to span equally vast areas. The Continental Divide Trail will someday stretch from New Mexico to Montana, offering a primitive, backcountry experience to adventurers. New York and North Dakota could eventually be linked by the North Country Trail. And planners hope the Pacific Crest Trail will connect southern California with Washington.
Those trails, however, all enjoy a federal designation -- and the government benefits that go along with it. The Great Eastern Trail relies solely on its network of volunteers to craft its pieces together.
www.commercialappeal.com/mca/midsouth_news/article/0,1426,MCA_1497_4784858,00.html