In the Southern Appalachian Mountains, the Appalachian Trail wavers back and forth between North Carolina and Tennessee for about 380 miles. It climbs to Clingman’s Dome in the Smokies, the highest point on the trail, and dips down into gaps and cove only to ascend again. When hikers talk about the Trail, they are referring to the Appalachian Trail, part of the National Park System, now all on public land. The trail, blazed with white rectangles, may be the most documented trail in the world.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy, a private non-profit organization charged with caring for the 2,175 mile-greenway from Georgia to Maine, is also the umbrella for the thirty volunteer clubs who built and now maintain the trail.

When you hike the A.T., you might meet trail maintainers wielding loppers, clippers, a chain saw or a weed-whacker. To keep trails in hiking conditions, volunteer trail maintainers regularly clip, clean and mow down weeds. Otherwise, in a couple of years, you would not be able to find the trail.