Although Floyd County and Alabama officials are dreaming about officially making the Pinhoti Trail part of the Appalachian Trail, the president of the Pinhoti Trail Association doubts that will ever happen.
Tourism officials are trying to make themselves heard with hikers and lawmakers about the idea after dedicating the recently completed 140-plus miles of Pinhoti Trail in Alabama.
The Pinhoti Trail enters Floyd from Alabama near Cave Spring, then extends north near Huffaker Road and Ga. 100 before crossing into Chattooga County.
Hikers familiar with the 2,174-mile Appalachian Trail have started at Mount Katahdin, Maine, and ended at Springer Mountain in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia since the National Trails System Act of 1968 was enacted by Congress.
However, if the Pinhoti Trail were to be added to the Appalachian Trail, it would extend the length of the total trail by 300 miles.
“It’s not going to be included in it,” said Rome’s Larry Madden, president of the Pinhoti Trail Association.
According to the Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association’s Web site, efforts have been ongoing since the mid-1980s to establish the Pinhoti Trail as the official ending point for the Appalachian Trail.
Madden said such a proposal would draw opposition from various trail organizations and any change to the trail could come only after amending the federal law that established the Appalachian Trail system.
“It would be a wonderful thing for Rome to be connected to (the Appalachian trail) system,” said Joe Cook, executive director of the Coosa River Basin Initiative.
Related content:
Pinhoti trail map
Detailed Pinhoti trail maps
NPR story: Alabama Touts Path to Appalachian Trail in Georgia
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