The Appalachian Trail is a continuous marked footpath that goes from Katahdin, Maine to Springer Mountain, Georgia, over some of the finest mountain terrain of the eastern United States-- a distance of about 2160 miles. It is the impossibe-dream cration, begining in the 1920s, of a network of private citizen-volunteers and local, state, and federal agencies. This network was organized in 1925 as the Appalachian Trail Conference, a private nonprofit organization. The members of the ATC chose a route, flagged it, built trail when necessary, built shelters for hikers, wrote guide books describing each section, drew maps for hikers, and put up signs to guide hikers through the land. Today there are over 3 million hikers each year! ATC members continue to maintain and manage the best known hiking trail in America, even though they are now within sight of a 60-year-old effort to perminantly protect the dream by having it ALL under public ownership. The 1968 National Trails System Act protected the Appalachian Trail from the pressures of development and made it the first national scenic trail. This law, and later amendments, also made the trail more than a simple footpath. They made it the backbone of a 14 state greenway, a protected natural corridor across the Appalachian Mountains' ridges and valleys that preserves the habitats of many rare, threateded, and endangered eastern species. The work of 4,000 volunteers in 32 independent local clubs is supported by members of the ATC-- more than 24,000 people who hike and camp, casually walk through the woods, or just enoy being part of an good idea: a protected trail spanning the most developed regions of the country, cared for by private citizens in cooperation with nearly 200 public-agency partners.' Protecting the Appalachian Trail for future generations takes the most complicated land-acquisition programs in US Park history. Because of volunteer persistence, the protection plan is within 2% of completion after 15 years of active work!! A huge objective, complex means achieve it. This cooperative management scheme has become the model for conservation and recreation groups all across the country and even parts of the federal government.

But what for?

"Magic. The magic of the mountains. From crackling dew in the mornings to the softness of the evenings around a shelter on the rooftops of the East. From glens deep within a forest, where native tribes once camped, to the soaring pinnacles of glacier-sculpted granite peaks the Indians would not clib for fear of angering their gods. From conservations in slitude with some chattering chipmunk on a lichen-covered boulder above the footpath to camarade-rie around the cookstove at a campsite where all are welcome. In the peace of nature." "The footpath and its buffer are the body of the Appalachian Trail. The volunteers are its soul. ATC, the only advocate of the Trail's completion and protection that focuses solely on the Trail and its needs, unites them."

Anyone can help maintain the magic, and ensure that the Trail continues to weave a spell for 5 millino steps, across a skyline limited only by a person's capacity to sense and absorb the wonders of "a gift of nature Americans gave themselves."