The Applalachian Trail Ministry's "Game Plan"

The idea for this ministry was born one evening while sitting around a fire in the backyard of Shawn and Kristina's house in Waynesboro VA. I had been through a pretty rough past few years, and was searching for something. I wasn't sure just what I was searching for. I just knew that when I found it there would be no question on what it was and what I should be doing with it. Over the past few years I had been praying to God, and asking him to lay the path in front me that you want me to walk and I shall walk it dear Lord, and so he did. This path lead me to Shawn and Kristina, Amen! We all share a love for our Lord and his most beautiful creation's in nature. So we thought... we had all shared the want to do some type of missionary work at one time or another. This is when "The Appalachian Trail Ministry" was born. The following is what we will refer to as our "game plan". Over the next (15) months we will be hiking different sections of the Appalachian Trail as training for a May 1st, 2013 departure. Over this time we will be testing out and working on... different equipment(shoes,tents,sleeping bags,stoves,etc.), food supplies, weather conditioning, survival training, primitive shills training, edible plant training and much, much more! We are excited to be partnering with NAMB (North American Mission Board)for this project. Once we become recognized as a 501(c)(3) with the IRS, which will allow us to receive tax deductible donations for our ministry. This will allow us to try and reach out to as many of the estimated (4) million hikers that hike the AT every year. This is only the beginning of our journey down a long path, that we feel our lord has laid for us. We are excited to be doing the Lords work!! Please continue to visit our site as we will be updating it and our "game plan" on a weekly, if not a daily basis. May God Bless you and everything that you do! AMEN!! Following him, helping others!

An Invitation to Christians...

We at The Appalachian Trail Ministry would like to extend an invitation out to Christians who are skilled in or interested in primitive skills to meet with us on or off the AT to discuss. learn and/or teach about primitive skills. For anyone interested please join our site, send us an e mail or just leave a post in the comment box below with your info. and we will get in touch! Thank You, and we hope that everyone has a Bless Day!!!

Shawn and I (Corey) did a short day hike today, about 5.2 miles to the Harpers Creek Shelter. It was a beautiful day, a little cold but nice overall. Some pictures are posted below as you can see we tested out a new hammock, and it worked great! We also practiced making a friction fire which went pretty well. You will also see Shawn with a water filtering system which is worth its weight in gold. 
Soon we will be listing the name and maker of products that we use and/or test out. We will also let you know how well they do or don't work, so stay tuned!!

History of the AT

History

The trail was conceived by Benton MacKaye, a forester who wrote his original plan shortly after the death of his wife in 1921. MacKaye's idea detailed a grand trail that would connect a series of farms and wilderness work/study camps for city-dwellers. In 1922, at the suggestion of Major William A. Welch, director of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, his idea was publicized by Raymond H. Torrey with a story in the New York Evening Post under a full-page banner headline reading "A Great Trail from Maine to Georgia!" The idea was quickly adopted by the new Palisades Interstate Park Trail Conference as their main project.^{[citation needed]}

Bear Mountain Bridge

On October 7, 1923, the first section of the trail, from Bear Mountain west through Harriman State Park to Arden, New York, was opened. MacKaye then called for a two-day Appalachian Trail conference to be held in March 1925 in Washington, D.C. This resulted in the formation of the Appalachian Trail Conference (now called the Appalachian Trail Conservancy).^[8]
A retired judge named Arthur Perkins and his younger associate Myron Avery took up the cause. In 1929, Perkins, who was also a member of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association and its Blue Blazed Trails committee, found Ned Anderson, a farmer in Sherman, Connecticut, who took on the task of mapping and blazing the Connecticut leg of the trail (1929–1933). It ran from Dog Tail Corners in Webatuck, New York, which borders Kent, Connecticut, at Ashley Falls, 50 miles (80 km) through the northwest corner of the state, up to Bear Mountain at the Massachusetts border.^[9] (A portion of the Connecticut trail has since been rerouted [1979-83] to be more scenic, adhering less to highways and more to wilderness, and includes a Ned K. Anderson Memorial Bridge.)^[10]
Anderson’s efforts helped spark renewed interest in the trail, and Avery (leading the charge since Perkins’ death in 1932) was able to bring other states onboard. Upon taking over the ATC, Avery adopted the more practical goal of building a simple hiking trail. He and MacKaye clashed over the ATC's response to a major commercial development along the trail's path; MacKaye left the organization, while Avery was willing to simply reroute the trail. Avery reigned as Chairman of the ATC from 1932 to 1952 (he died that same year).^{[citation needed]}
Avery became the first to walk the trail end-to-end, though not as a thru-hike, in 1936. In August 1937, the trail was completed to Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine, and the ATC shifted its focus toward protecting the trail lands and mapping the trail for hikers. From 1938 to the end of World War II, the trail suffered a series of natural and man-made setbacks. At the end of the war, the damage to the trail was repaired.^{[citation needed]}
In 1948, Earl Shaffer of York, Pennsylvania, brought a great deal of attention to the project by completing the first documented thru-hike.^[11] Later Shaffer also completed the first north-to-south thru-hike, making him the first to do so in each direction.^[12] In 1998 Mr. Shaffer, nearly 80 years old, again hiked the entirety of the trail, making him the oldest person ever to complete a thru-hike.^[13][14]
In 1994, a story appeared in the Appalachian Trailway News describing a 121-day Maine to Georgia thru-hike in 1936 by six Boy Scouts from the Bronx.^[15] Although the story has been accepted by some members of ALDHA,^[16] a great deal of doubt has also been expressed and^[17] this earlier thru-hike has never been verified. Shaffer's 1948 journey is still generally recognized as the first A.T. thru-hike.
In the 1960s, the ATC made progress toward protecting the trail from development, thanks to efforts of politicians and officials. The National Trails System Act of 1968 designated the Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail as the first national scenic trails and paved the way for a series of National Scenic Trails within the National Park and National Forest systems.^[18] Trail volunteers worked with the National Park Service to map a permanent route for the trail, and by 1971 a permanent route had been marked (though minor changes continue to this day). By the close of the 20th century, the Park Service had completed the purchase of all but a few miles of the trail's span.

About the AT...

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine.[2] It is approximately 2,184 miles (3,515 km)a[›] long. Along the way, the trail passes through the states of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The path is maintained by 30 trail clubs and multiple partnerships,[3] and managed by the National Park Service and the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conservancy.[4][5] The majority of the trail is in wilderness, although some portions traverse towns and roads, and cross rivers.

The Appalachian Trail is famous for its many hikers, some of whom, called thru-hikers, attempt to hike it in its entirety in a single season. Many books, memoirs, web sites and fan organizations are dedicated to this pursuit.

An unofficial extension known as the International Appalachian Trail, continues north into Canada and to the end of the range, where it enters the Atlantic Ocean.

The Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail form what is known as the Triple Crown of long distance hiking in the United States.[6][7]