Appalachian Trail Celebration & Backpacking Clinic

Amicalola Falls State Park in Dawsonville, GA will host its Annual Appalachian Trail Celebration & Backpacking Clinic on Saturday and Sunday, March 6-7, 2010. Both experienced and novice hikers and campers attend this annual event to celebrate the great outdoors, learn about the Appalachian Trail, listen to AT hikers share their experiences, and discover what it takes to make the 5-million step journey across 14 states.

Invited AT hikers include: Gene Espy, the second man to thru-hike the AT in 1951; David Miller, author of AWOL on the Appalachian Trail; Leslie Mass, a 2001-2002 thru-hiker, Laurie Potteiger of the ATC, a 1987 thru-hiker, and Bill Walker, who completed his thru-hike in 2005.

In addition there will be presentations by several invited trail organizations including the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), Georgia Appalachian Trail Conference, Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association, Atlanta Hiking Club, Leave No Trace, and others.

Several equipment specialists will be on hand to display, demonstrate and answer questions about specific outdoor equipment such as shelters, cooking gear & food, backpacks, sleeping bags & pads, and clothing.

Evening activities will include informal chats, questions & answers, and book signings by speakers. Other activities will include a night hike, and a Birds of Prey program.

Activities will begin at 9 AM each day and end at about 8 PM on Saturday and 6 PM on Sunday. A detailed scheduled of events can be found on the Friends of Amicalola Falls SP website. More information can be found on the the Amicalola Falls State Park website, or by calling the park Programming Office at 706-265-1969.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.

ATC offers discount on Appalachian Trail license plates in TN

A grant from the Eastman Chemical Company Foundation is allowing the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) to underwrite discounts on the fees for the next 500 people to apply for an Appalachian Trail license plate in Tennessee.

Once 1,000 applications are received and the state begins producing tags, ATC’s share of the renewal fees will serve as a permanent funding source for the organization's work to protect and maintain the 280 miles of the Appalachian Trail in the state of Tennessee.

As a result of the grant, the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) license plates are now available for $15 instead of the usual $35 annual fee. Renewals will be at the standard $35 annual fee.

The ATC is offering its own incentive as well, thanking people who sign up for the license plate with a one-time annual membership to the national non profit. Existing ATC members may give someone else the membership as a gift.

The specialty A.T. license-plate program will benefit the state’s natural resources and national treasure in several ways. It will broaden awareness for this resource by widely promoting the Trail on vehicles from Memphis to Bristol. In addition, each plate will generate $15.56 annually for ATC, supporting management of such programs as land conservation, volunteer-based trail and facilities maintenance, natural-resources management, and programs that introduce children and teachers to the A. T. in Tennessee.

For more information and an application to take advantage of this offer, call the ATC at 828-254-3708 or go on line to www.appalachiantrail.org/tnlicenseplate.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, hiking gear store, and more.

Help the Appalachian Trail Conservancy win $1,000,000

You may recall from a posting a few weeks ago that the JP Morgan Chase Foundation was sponsoring a Facebook-based charity campaign in which voters directed where Chase grants would be awarded. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) was among 100 organizations to win a $25,000 grant during the first round of the Chase Community Giving campaign.

Those same 100 organizations are now automatically eligible for a chance to win a final $1-million grant in the next round of voting, which begins today.

In this next round, the ATC and the other winning organizations have submitted documents stating what difference $1 million would make in their work. One organization will win that amount, and five others will receive $100,000 each. A Chase advisory board will select other charities to share in another $1-million pool.

The program the ATC is seeking funds is for is called Mother's Nature Keepers.

HOW TO VOTE:

1) You must be a Facebook user (it's free!)

2) You have to be a fan of Chase Community Giving- click here and then click on the "Become a Fan" button at the top of the page.

3) To vote for the ATC click here - then click on VOTE once on the Appalachian Trail Conservancy "Big Idea" page. You will likely be prompted to allow Chase to access your information so they can keep track of the votes. Please "Allow" or your vote will not be tabulated.

Each voter gets 5 votes they can spread around, however, the ATC hopes that supporters will only vote for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

Voting ends on January 22!

You can also find additional information on the ATC website.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, hiking gear store, and more.

ATC Wins $25,000 in Chase Community Giveaway

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) announced on Friday that they were among 100 organizations to win a $25,000 grant from the Chase Community Giving campaign.

You may recall from a posting a few weeks ago that the JP Morgan Chase Foundation was sponsoring a Facebook-based charity campaign in which voters directed where Chase grants would be awarded.

The 100 organizations winning a $25,000 grant in the first round of voting are now automatically eligible for a chance to win a final $1-million grant in the next round of voting.

In this next round, the ATC and the other winning organizations will submit documents stating what difference $1 million would make in their work, with Facebook users voting on those proposals starting on January 15. One organization will win that amount in February, and five others will receive $100,000 each. A Chase advisory board will select other charities to share in another $1-million pool.

As soon as information is provided on how and where to vote in this second round, I'll post it on this blog.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, hiking gear store, and more.