Appalachian Trail Conservancy to Host Holiday
Hike on December 1, 2007

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (November 6) — The Asheville-based office of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) is hosting a holiday hike on the Appalachian Trail on December 1, 2007.  The seven-mile hike near the North Carolina and Tennessee border will be an opportunity to walk alongside and view the 10,000 acre Rocky Fork tract (located near Erwin, Tenn.).  During the out–and-back hike from Devil’s Fork Gap to Flint Gap, a portion will cross the Rocky Fork property. 

A partnership of private, state, local and federal organizations and agencies is working to conserve Rocky Fork.  This complex conservation effort still requires huge support to be successful.    The state of Tennessee, the Conservation Fund, ATC and the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy are working closely with the USDA Forest Service to protect this southern Appalachian gem.

Participants interested in joining the hike must register in advance by calling (828) 254-3708.  Hike participants will meet at 160 Zillicoa Street in Asheville at the North Carolina forest supervisor’s office at 8:30 a.m. and at Devil’s Fork Gap at 9:30 a.m. This is a rain-or-shine hike. It will be cancelled only in the event of torrential rains or snowy roads.    

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is a volunteer-based, private, nonprofit organization dedicated for more than 80 years to the conservation of the 2,175-mile Appalachian Trail so that it will forever remain a simple footpath within a protected greenway along the Appalachian Mountains from Georgia to Maine.