Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 29, 1995 TAG: 9506020011
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: A-8 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN/OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``I catch a lot of flak about that,'' said Reese F. Lukei Jr. the trail's national coordinator who lives in Virginia Beach.
``There were a number of people who didn't think much of the route going through Maryland rather than coming south and using more of the Appalachian Trail,'' Lukei said.
Under development for five years, 2,500 miles of the trail have been marked and much of that incorporates existing pathways, from Henlopen State Park in Delaware to Point Reyes National Seashore in California.
Some hikers figured it would be a natural for the trail to hook up with a lengthy portion of the Appalachian Trial, especially in Virginia, but that isn't the case.
``We do follow the AT for about three miles on the C&O Canal at Harper's Ferry [W. Va.],'' Lukei said.
The trail skirts north of Virginia by taking in a scenic chunk of West Virginia, including the Dolly Sods National Wilderness Area, the Blackwater Falls State Park, the Monongahela National Forest and a 60-mile stretch of the new North Bend Rail-Trail.
``Actually, by selecting the routing that we did through West Virginia, we have provided the opportunity for several types of loop trails by using the Big Blue Trail and the Allegheny Trail,'' Lukei said.
The Appalachian Trail is getting plenty of use on its own, said Lukei, who has had a love affair with the Georgia-to-Maine footpath for more than 20 years. Lukei has hiked the entire AT, served as president of the Tidewater Appalachian Trail Club and been a board member of the Appalachian Trail Conference.
``We are hopeful that eventually the routing [of the American Discovery Trail] will draw some people away from the AT,'' he said.
The American Discovery Trail has a different concept than the National Scenic Trails, which include the AT, the Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. Considered ``wilderness,'' the National Scenic Trails attempt to avoid urban areas when possible, although wildness often collides with reality.
While the ADT encompasses lengthy back-country jaunts, it also willingly visits major cities, including Washington, D.C., Cincinnati, Chicago, Denver and San Francisco. It embraces the modern philosophy that trails in urban areas also are important, Lukei said.
``The ADT is equally just about one-third on actual trails, one-third on gravel-or dirt-type roads and another one-third along side of paved roads,'' he said. ``From the outset of the project, it was intended to be different. It would link cities with wilderness, deserts and forests, people and communities.''
The ADT also is classified as a multiuse trail, which means in many areas it will be open to bikers and horseback riders. Unlike the other longest and most famous trails in the United States, it travels east to west rather than south to north, and it will link a number of existing trails, some famous, some little-known. What's more, it balloons into a dual route from Cincinnati to Denver, giving users the choice of two pathways and providing what Lukei sees as ``eventually becoming a premier biking loop.'' At 2,500 miles, it also likely will be the world's longest trail loop.
While many of the people attracted to the trail will come for two- to three-hour jaunts, the yet-to-be completed project already has lured its first thru-hiker, Lukei said.
``We have a couple that left last year on Mother's Day,'' he said. ``They got as far as Kansas and broke up. The male part of that pair has continued and this month is in Utah. He will be the first to have walked the whole thing.''
Three times longer than the Appalachian Trail, which graduates about 200 thru-hikers annually, it might take two years or more for an accomplished hiker to complete the ADT.
Lukei has hiked and biked large chunks of it and has written a book, ``The American Discovery Trail Explorer's Guide'' that gives a state-by-state breakdown of what can be seen along the way ($14.95 from Johnson Books, Boulder Colo., 800-258-5830). Nine maps are being published by Trail Illustrated (800-962-1643).
A federal feasibility study to determine if the ADT qualifies to be a National Scenic Trail is expected to be completed within weeks, Lukei said. If everything goes well, legislation will be introduced in Congress early next year to bring the ADT into the National Trails System under a category that differs from current requirements of the National Trails System Act.
In the meantime, Lukei said, trail supporters have a goal of getting half the trail marked this summer. The project is a joint venture of the American Hiking Society and Backpacker magazine.
by CNB