by Greg Bluestein

PIEDMONT, Alabama –You can tell a lot about a hiking trail by its markings, and the abundance of blue splotches marking trees throughout the Alabama Pinhoti say plenty about the trail’s ambitions. Blue symbols typically mark side trails. But the Alabama Pinhoti, running about 130 miles from central Alabama to the Georgia state line, is longer than most main trails.

Until, that is, it’s compared with the legendary route where it winds up: The mighty Appalachian Trail. The 2,175-mile path winds through mountains, valleys and everything in between to link Georgia with Maine.

When the Appalachian Trail was first laid out in 1925, drafts included an extension to Birmingham that was never blazed. But volunteers in Alabama and Georgia have worked for more than two decades to pound out their own path that could eventually extend the Appalachian Trail to the foothills of Alabama.

The Pinhoti’s boosters are under no false illusions that the winding path could immediately be adopted by the venerable Appalachian Trail. But they hope the trails - which chart a combined 266 miles through the two states - could lay the groundwork for some sort of expansion.

“There’s a lot of dreams,” said Larry Madden, the president of the Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association. “Will the Pinhoti ever be accepted in the Appalachian Trail? Not in my lifetime. But anything is possible.”

The head of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which oversees the legendary trail, sounded doubtful.

Conservancy president Dave Startzell said the Pinhoti could “theoretically” become an expansion of the Appalachian, but it would first require an amendment to federal law and approval from two Cabinet secretaries.

“The Pinhoti Trail has plenty to offer in its own right, whether or not it is considered part of the Appalachian Trail,” he said.

Alabama boosters, though, are undeterred.

“That makes us even more determined to finally succeed,” said Tom Cosby of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce. “Don’t discount us.”

The chamber is trying to build buzz among hikers that the Appalachian Trail’s eventual expansion to Alabama is inevitable.

The plan could involve giving cash incentives to hikers who start the Appalachian Trail in Alabama - what Cosby said is the “true” entirety of the trail. Then after five or 10 years, Cosby said Alabama lawmakers could start lobbying for the change in earnest.

“Why shouldn’t Alabama have its shot at doing this?” asked Cosby, who said it could improve the state’s appeal to young college graduates.

“Alabama has never marketed itself as an outdoors state, and to get the Appalachian Trail to come here would help,” said Cosby. “To be outdoors-oriented is a real, real plus in this increasingly competitive world.”

The Alabama Pinhoti was the brainchild of Mike Leonard, who said he grew up reading about hiking adventures and came up with the idea as a teenager in the 1970s.

More at ledger-enquirer.com

Bookmark to: