It’s almost my favorite time of year: fall hiking season! These are the days when the air is crisp, the leaves yellow, and the wildfire smoke dwindles.

And I’m trying something new this year…I’ll be heading to the east coast for my fall hiking plans, and will jump on not one, not two, but three different trails!

As usual, I’ll be blogging daily, and the best way to stay up to date is to subscribe to my blog posts (look for the “Follow Me” section on the side bar of this blog) to get them emailed to you each time one is posted.

Pinhoti Trail

First up will be a thru-hike of the 335 (ish?) mile Pinhoti Trail in Alabama and Georgia. I say ish because I’ve seen different mileages different places, so we’ll see what I find on the ground! I’m heading first to Pinhoti Fest in Sylacauga, and shortly after the weekend will start my north-bound hike. There isn’t an all-encompassing website for this trail, and in fact many of the aspects are split up between the Alabama section and the Georgia section, but the fine folks over at the Pinhoti Experience Foundation are doing a good job at educating prospective hikers, and the trail is even on the FarOut app.

Benton MacKaye Trail

When I reach the northern terminus of the Pinhoti Trail, it intersects with the Benton MacKaye Trail. Benton MacKaye was a professional forester, community planner, and conservationist who first proposed and Appalachian Trail in 1921, and the Benton MacKaye Trail follows his proposed spur trails that would extend the Appalachian Trail (AT) further to the south. I’ll be hopping on the southern tier and hike it about 70 miles to Amicalola Falls State Park past the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Following my hike I’ll be headed to the Benton MacKaye Annual Meeting & Hike Fest.

Appalachian Trail

I’m only really touching the AT at Springer Mountain and hiking the approach trail down to Amicalola Falls State Park, but I’ll still get to touch the trail that started it all for me!

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Trail Fundraiser

It will be no news to you that I love trails, and I want to do some fundraising during my hike this fall.

The Oregon Trails Coalition is the glue to the trails community in the state, and I have the great honor of serving as the chair of the Steering Committee this year and next.

Our group has been working hard with our partners from around the state on issues of access, advocacy, funding, and stewardship, and in looking to 2025 we have a lot of work on our plate!

Some of these items include:

• Find a permanent solution in the Oregon State Legislature to Fix the Recreational Immunity Law which protects landowners if a recreational user seeks damages after an injury. (Read all about our efforts in 2024 to pass a temporary fix…now we are ready to find a lasting solution!)
  
• Elevate Oregon’s Signature Trails – The Oregon Trails Coalition has identified 15 trails around the state that have the existing infrastructure and support or most potential and momentum at this time to provide access to iconic places and scalable, world-class trail experiences with further investment. Check out the report and story map here.
  
• Increase funding levels for the Oregon Community Paths program in the next statewide transportation funding measure.

Since I’ll be hiking about 400 miles, I would suggest donating anywhere from 5 cents to a dollar per mile. (that’s from $20-$400)