Pinhoti Connected to the Appalachian Trail

Last month, on March 16th, 2008, the Pinhoti Trail was officially connected to the Appalachian Trail, fulfilling Benton MacKaye's original dream. You can now hop on the trail in Alabama and take it all the way up to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. The backpacking community, for the most part, is celebrating this achievement, which many groups have been working hard to accomplish. It must be noted, however, that the official southern terminus of the AT is still Springer Mountain. If you go there, you'll find that the trail continues down into Alabama along the Pinhoti.
The reason it is not official, is there is some resistance. First, it would take an actual federal act to make the connection. Secondly, many people are opposed because of the additional length. There is a feeling with some that the AT has long been established and any additions would change the purity of the original trail. Some people who have already thru-hiked it from Springer are not too keen on the change, for various reasons. The problem I see with this is the original intention was to extend the trail all the way into Alabama. In addition, the AT is intended to be hiked along the Appalaichian chain, and this includes the foothills of the mountains which are at Little River Canyon and Mount Cheaha. These are gorgeous areas in their own right.


Even if the Pinhoti never becomes an 'official' extension of the AT, it's still worth hiking all the way. I intend to hike it myself, as time allows. The portions I've already been on are a lot of fun. In fact, this weekend, we're hiking down into the canyon with the Little River Canyon Field School (which I'm getting involved with, along with LeAnne).