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GETTING APPALACHIAN TRAIL BACK ON TRACK - 3 December, 2004
By Greg Cannon
Times Herald-Record
gcannon@th-record.com
Bear Mountain - The paddle boats are in dry dock for the winter, and the
wood ducks have Hessian Lake to themselves.
On a recent afternoon, cool and gray, just a few people are walking the
paved path that circles the lake and serves here as the Appalachian Trail,
or AT, the storied 2,174-mile path from Georgia to Maine that was born in
this state park.
Even in the repose of late fall, though, the carnival-like atmosphere
that prevails here in the high season can be glimpsed - and heard.
At a picnic table within earshot of the Bear Mountain Inn - where the
Village People's "YMCA" is the soundtrack to a holiday party - David Tulloch
and his class of Rutgers University juniors gather to find ways to save the
AT from falling victim to its own popularity.
The trail is worn out. Many hikers get lost or walk it unaware of its
unique history. So park and local trail group officials are looking for a
permanent, environmentally sound route that's accessible and educational.
They've turned to Tulloch and his 29 landscape architecture students for
help with a project. The parks commission will have the final say on what
happens, but the work will be done by volunteer trail groups using state and
private grants.
The park is rich in history and natural resources. "We'd like to see that
protected and recognized," says Susan E. Smith, parks commission research
and development coordinator.
It's the idea phase, and everything's on the table. Even a proposal to
bring the trail through the Bear Mountain Inn, itself set for a $13 million
fix-up. It would be the only indoor stretch of trail, an exception that's
being entertained because the trail was first dreamed up at the inn back in
the '20s.
These days, the split personality of this big swath of rugged nature
within an hour's drive of millions of people is most prominently displayed
on the trail. Here, hard-core hikers mix with flip-flop-wearing day-trippers
to the tune of a half-million people a year, making it the AT's busiest
stretch.
Uphill from the picnic tables, where the pavement crumbles and eventually
gives way to earth, Tulloch points out the consequences of such heavy use:
eroded slopes, deep channels forged by water runoff, and exposed tree roots
that seem to swipe at your feet as you tiptoe through.
"The degradation is just a sign of how much people want to use the
trail," Tulloch says.
The AT might have been born here, but hikers today aren't following in
the footsteps of those who blazed it in 1923. "Up until now, it's been
relocated every 20, 25 years because it gets so eroded," said Ed Goodell,
executive director of the trail conference.
Nick Ginther is one of the students trying to solve that problem. Every
trip here presents a new challenge in rerouting the trail.
Deep in a stand of poplars and oaks, the trail crosses a narrow,
fast-moving stream. "This was bone dry last time we were here," Ginther
says.
On a nearby rock, Olivier Giroh pauses to sketch a small kiosk that could
one day help hikers make sense of the history and ecology they'll see on the
trail.
Tulloch says that's part of the ultimate goal to give hikers a better
appreciation of the land and honor the modern environmental ethos of "leave
no trace."
Gesturing toward a patch of ragged pavement, he says, "This just isn't
living up to that."
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