August 15 and 16, 2025 — Two 1/2 days at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Volunteer Leadership Meeting.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) mission is to manage, protect and advocate The Appalachian Trail National Scenic Trail. They are the third leg of the three legged stool that has this mission. The other two legs are the Forest Service / National Park Service and the many volunteers from the hiking clubs along the trail.
As a newer member of the Nantahala Hiking Club in Franklin NC I was asked to attend this 2 1/2 day meeting with the ATC. It was a wonderful experience to meet other volunteers from clubs from the full lenght of the trail from Georgia to Maine. I made new contacts and bonded with others that have similar passions to help keep the AT alive for generations to come.
Most the sessions I attended dealt with finding way to find new volunteers to join the club and help maintain the trail. Like many service organizations is this always a challenge and hopefully over the coming years I hope to help out club grow.
The meeting and rooms were at the Claggett Center just south of Frederick VA. I was a beautiful facility with a great view out the back of the meetings. They feed us well in cateria style and even offer me some gluten free options including a gluten free brownie which was awesome. Much more food than I normally eat so going to need some big rides on the rest of the road trip to work it off..
The learn more about the ATC click here ….https://appalachiantrail.org/
Adventures of an AT Section hiker "Mapless" 