Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
more adventurous? In the not too distant future, the
state will have some world-class long paths for you to
try out.
One trail is already up and running, the famous Pin-
hoti Trail. Started as a small trail project just south of
Cheaha State Park in 1973 by the US Forest Service
and a group of young volunteers called the Youth Con-
servation Corps, the Pinhoti is now a footpath that
stretches over 130 miles from near the town of
Sylacagua to the Georgia state line and is maintained
by several nonprofit trail groups. Across the state line,
a group known as the Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association
picked up where Alabama left off and built their own
Pinhoti Trail that connects to the Benton MacKaye
Trail, and eventually to the Appalachian Trail.
The Pinhoti is a linchpin for two new long trails in the
state, the Eastern Continental Trail (ECT) and the
Great Eastern Trail (GET). Both trails will use the Pin-
hoti as part of their route. The GET is being touted as
an alternative to the Appalachian Trail. As of this writ-
ing, the trail will begin on the Alabama/Florida state line
in Conecuh National Forest and take users north to the
Pinhoti Trail and then veer more northerly, eventually
ending in upstate New York.
The ECT begins in Key West and uses the Florida
Trail to arrive in Alabama at Conecuh National Forest.
It then takes virtually the same route to Georgia, where
it veers to the northeast taking the Appalachian Trail to
Maine and then the International Appalachian Trail to
Quebec, Canada—a trip of 5,500 miles. Many hikers
are already walking the ECT. Currently about 200 miles
of both the GET and ECT from the Alabama/Florida
state line to Weogufka, Alabama, is a road walk, but
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