Benton MacKaye and Myron Avery
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
Find our more about the unique relationship between the ATC, the Trail Clubs and the National Park Service to protect and preserve the AT. Did you know the idea for an Appalachian Trail was created and promoted by a planner - Benton MacKaye, starting with an article he wrote in 1921.
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ATC Strategic Plan
Dan leads the ATC Board's Strategic Directions Committee, which worked with ATC staff to create the organization's second Strategic Plan. Click on the title to understand the current plan.
Buy Dave's Book
David Brill wrote a book about our through-hike on the Appalachian Trail in 1979, entitled "As Far As The Eye Can See". It is still in print, and available at your local bookstore or on Amazon.
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AT Map
See an interactive terrain map of the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine.
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AT News
Photo by Kit Fox, Runners World Magazine
Speed runner gets in trouble.
What do you think about Scott Jurek's record-breaking run of the entire 2100 mile length of the Appalachian Trail in 46 days? Then he got cited for bringing alcohol onto Katahdin's summit among other infractions. Remarkable athletic achievement? Missing the point? To be celebrated or worried about...
Here are some stories... Runners World National Geographic Outside Online Newsweek Jurek's Response to Baxter Park citations |
Photo courtesy Linnea Howe
Visitor use increases on America's most popular Trail.
COVID-19 has spurred a spike in outdoor activity and numbers continue to increase in hiking visitation on the Appalachian Trail. Numbers of hikers moving through Georgia at the start of the hiking season in the spring create a conservation challenge, as well as weekend and day hiking at popular spots like Virginia's Triple Crown area. The ATC is working with the National Park Service on a visitor use management policy, and has created an online tool - ATCamp - that will help mitigate the increasing problem of "loving the resource to death", that is being experienced in many National Park units.
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Photo courtesy ATC
Land Protection around the Trail is key to 2nd Century.
The AT turned 100 in 2021, and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) will celebrate its birthday in 2025. The ATC's strategic plan calls for increasing emphasis on protection of the land around the narrow corridor of protected footpath...the "realm" around the Trail that is so important to the experience, as Benton MacKaye called it. The AT Landscape Partnership is a collaboration of partners focused on leveraging resources to protect critical landscapes around the AT. Find out more here: AT Landscape Partnership
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