"Walkers, cyclists, and other trail advocates have joined forces around an audacious project, a 2,600 mile traffic-free path linking East Coast cities from Maine to Florida. Launched only 10 years ago, this vision for an urban alternative to the highly popular Appalachian Trail is quickly becoming a reality."This is one of the coolest projects I've heard about in a while. While the Appalachian Trail is an incredible, beautiful hiking trail, it is also isolated and very rugged in many places. Considering its close proximity to 1/2 to 2/3 of the nation's population, the AT is used infrequently. But perhaps that's a good thing. Well, cue the East Coast Greenway Alliance, a small group of folks who want to provide a large-scale American experience to the majority who don't like sleeping in tents and eating gorp all day. The idea is to connect the large amount of unused greenways in our urban areas, like waterfront esplanades, park paths, abandoned railroads, canal towpaths, and parkway corridors to create a unique traveling experience that is 80% off-road, yet accessible to cyclists and people in wheelchairs alike. A very, very cool idea.
Having hiked the AT, I can testify to the extraordinary benefit such a path would provide. During my six-month trek from Georgia to Maine, I had the best times when I was actually out of the woods, visiting small mountain villages for goceries or picking up mail. It was the people I met; the crazy Navl Seal named "Beef," the fellow who used to do gardening work for Andy Griffith, the little old lady who baked me a pie. I think we travel everywhere so quickly these days that we lose the sense of adventure that walking brings, slowing the pace of our lives down to an essentially human level. When you travel slowly, you see more. You meet people. You have time to think about things. In short, it is living life deeply and deliberately. The health benefits hardly need mentioning.
So lend a hand. They primarily need donations now, but in the future I imagine some actual trail building will be necessary, and certainly lots of trail maintenance. I think it would be fun to be in charge of a mile-long section of the path in my town, keeping it clean and well-marked, etc. What a great way to meet folks. Let's pitch in, shall we?
