Hikes are planned on the A.T. and other regional trails. Workshop topics cover hiking, trail maintenance, natural wonders, cultural history, and volunteer leadership development. Activities include rafting, zip-lining, touring Asheville’s booming art scene, and visiting the Carl Sandburg Home and the Biltmore Estate.
“This event is only held in the southeast once every eight years, so the Appalachian Trail Conservancy is excited to bring this informative and entertaining event to North Carolina to showcase the Appalachian Trail and the surrounding beauty,” Morgan Sommerville, regional director of the ATC.
Organizers expect 1,000 participants of all ages for the celebration of the A.T. The Biennial also serves as the general business meeting of the ATC’s membership; this meeting will take place on Saturday evening, July 20th.
Contra dancing, music from Southern Exposure and Buncombe Turnpike, presentations about hiking long trails, and a Cherokee storyteller make up the rest of the evening entertainment scheduled Sunday through Thursday. Evening activities are open to the public with a $7 nightly ticket.
The ATC was founded in 1925 by volunteers and federal officials working to build a continuous footpath along the Appalachian Mountains. The A.T. is a unit of the National Park System, stretching from Georgia to Maine, at approximately 2,180 miles in length. It is the longest hiking-only footpath in the world. Volunteers typically donate more than 220,000 hours of their time doing trail-related work each year, and about 2 to 3 million visitors walk a portion of the A.T. each year.
For more information about the Biennial Conference or to register, visit appalachiantrail.org/2013biennial
Jeff
Hiking in the Smokies
1 comment
Hi, you have a great blog. As an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker I had to recently come off the trail due to family problems and a messed up LCL. With the time off I created a large free community site just hiking. Since you are a great writer I wanted to see if you would consider making a blog post about the site. I think if you would take a look at it at HikingHikes.com you will see that it has the potential to be a wonderful hiking community. I have no true way of advertising it without spamming and I'm not one to do such. So I'm sincerely asking that you consider writing an article about it on your blog.. If you do would you please email me and let me know you did so? Thank you and I truly hope you consider this.
HikingHikes.com
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