[Tennessee Trails News] New River Section of Cumberland Trail

[The Tennessee Trails List]

Message from Tony Hook, CTC General Manager


To all TTA Members:

I received the following email from a Cumberland Trail Hiker. It is only
because of support from TTA (financial & manpower) that we were able to
build the trail in this area. It is a testament to the efforts of all of
your efforts as volunteers.

Tony

-----Original Message-----
To: Tony Hook
From: Ben Foard
Subject: New River Section of Cumberland Trail
Date: Monday, October 26, 2009, 8:38 AM

Dear Cumberland Trail Folks:

I hiked up Anderson Mountain from Norma Road this past weekend. The fall
colors are at their peak and the views are fantastic. That area is truly
the “high country” of the Cumberland Plateau . I was disappointed that I
was the only one on the trail and that more people are not using this
incredible trail that you have worked so hard to establish and maintain.
Nothing is easy and I’m sure this section of the trail was particularly
hard to get approval for passage ... thanks for making the effort.

I have trekked that part of the Cumberlands since I was a kid in
the ‘60’s and have seen it change from a scarred strip mining wasteland
to a much improved landscape that still provides coal and logging
resources, but not at the environmentally devastating cost of previous
decades. It’s now possible to look at the landscape and see what it
looked like before it was torn to pieces by the strip miners. I will
continue to support your efforts to complete and maintain the Cumberland
Trail.

Ben Foard
Knoxville