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VOICE ONE:
I’m Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember withEXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about one of themost popular walking paths in the United States, the AppalachianTrail.
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VOICE ONE:
One of the most popular activities enjoyed by Americans isspending time in forests and walking along paths through thecountry. This activity, called hiking, has led to the creation ofpaths throughout the United States. Some of these paths, or trails,are short. Some are only a few kilometers. Others are many hundredsof kilometers.
One of the longest is the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Thetrail is the first completed part of the National Trails System. Thetrails system was established by Congress and the President innineteen sixty-eight.
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The Appalachian Trail is more than three thousand four hundredkilometers long. It starts in the northeastern state of Maine andends in the southeastern state of Georgia. The trail goes throughfourteen states.
They are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts,Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, WestVirginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia.
The path takes walkers through the Appalachian Mountains. Theyextend from the Canadian Province of Quebec to the southern Americanstate of Alabama.
VOICE ONE:
The Appalachian Mountains are among the oldest on Earth. Theyfirst began forming about one thousand million years ago. During themillions of years since then, the mountains were changed andreformed by the forces of water and wind. Ice also changed themountains, making many of them smaller and digging valleys and lakesamong them. Many different kinds of trees grow along the trail. Andmany different kinds of animals live in the forests along the trail.
Land along the trail is protected by the federal government andby state governments. Some parts are not protected by the governmentdirectly. Instead, they are protected by legal agreements withprivate owners willing to permit people to walk across theirproperty.
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Walkers on the Appalachian Trail pass through some of the greatvalley systems of the mountains. They can look down into thesebeautiful valleys and see farms and forests stretching across theland for many kilometers. Farmland in the valleys is rich andproductive. And some of the great events in American history tookplace in the valleys. For example, one of the great battles of theAmerican Civil War was fought in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.
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VOICE ONE:
The Appalachian Trail was the idea of Benton MacKaye. MisterMacKaye first proposed creating the trail in nineteen twenty-one.Although there were many separate trails in different parts of theeastern United States, most of them were not connected. In nineteentwenty-five, representatives of several private organizations met inWashington, D.C. and formed the Appalachian Trail Conference.
Their idea was to create a trail connecting the two highestmountains in the eastern United States — Mount Washington in NewHampshire, and Mount Mitchell in Georgia. It was another five yearsbefore development of the trail began, under the direction of MyronAvery. Seven years after Mister Avery took control of the project,the Appalachian Trail was completed. This happened on Augustfourteenth, nineteen thirty-seven.
VOICE TWO:
Creating the trail was a difficult job that involved the work ofmany thousands of people. But there were no public celebrations orevents to observe its opening. Public knowledge of the trail grewslowly. Today, it is one of the most famous trails in the world.However, it is not the longest hiking trail. Two others in thewestern United States are longer. They are the Pacific Crest Trailand the Continental Divide Trail. Still, the Appalachian Trail isthe most famous.
VOICE ONE:
People from around the world cometo see the natural beauty of the mountains, lakes, rivers, andvalleys near the Appalachian Trail. The trail makes it possible tosee much of this beauty without having to see cities, towns, andother parts of the modern world. Instead, people can see many placesalong the trail that look very much the way they did before humansarrived many thousands of years ago.
This is one of the main reasons why the Appalachian Trail is sopopular among Americans, especially those living in the easternUnited States. The trail is not far from most of the major citiesalong the eastern coast, such as New York, Philadelphia, andWashington, D.C. It provides a place where people from these citiescan leave behind the worries of modern life to enjoy the peace andbeauty of nature.
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VOICE TWO:
Most people who use the Appalachian Trail go mainly for shortwalks that last for less than a day. Many of them want to look atthe different kinds of plants and animals that live along the trail.
For many other people, the Appalachian Trail provides a chance tospend several days camping and hiking. They walk along the trailcarrying all the things they will need to survive for several days.These hikers carry food, cooking equipment, water, sleeping bags andtemporary shelters called tents.
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In New Hampshire’s White Mountains, there are special camps alongthe Appalachian Trail where people can stay. The AppalachianMountain Club operates these camps. The club is one of thethirty-two groups that belong to the Appalachian Trail Conference.Volunteers in these groups supervise and operate the AppalachianTrail through a cooperative agreement with the National ParkService.
The Appalachian Mountain Club has about ninety thousand members.It is the oldest conservation organization in the United States.
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The Appalachian Mountain Club operates several camps along ninetykilometers of the trail. Each camp provides hikers with shelter,beds and food. Each camp is located about a day’s walk from the nextone.
These camps are so popular that it is necessary to request tostay at one a year ahead. It is especially difficult to find a placein such camps during summer weekends.
Many people hike along the trail to such camps with theirfamilies. Writer Eileen Ogintz is one of those people who stayed atan Appalachian Mountain Club camp with her family. She found it verydifferent from what her family does every day at home. She and herfamily had to hike up a mountain path in the rain to get to theircamp. There are no radios or televisions. So families spend timetalking with each other. After two days in the wilderness, herfamily enjoyed the experience.
VOICE ONE:
The Ogintz family’s two days on the Appalachian Trail is similarto the experience of many people. The first part is difficult. Butthe rewards of experiencing nature are very satisfying. This may beenough for most people. But there are some people who want more thanjust a day or weekend on the trail. These people try to walk fromthe beginning of the trail to the end.
They usually start at Springer Mountain in Georgia in the earlyspring. Generally, they hike the more than three thousand fourhundred kilometers to Mount Katahdin in Maine in five to six months.
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One person who tried to walk the Appalachian Trail is writer BillBryson. Mister Bryson tells the story of his long walking trip inhis humorous book “A Walk in the Woods.” However, he and his frienddid not complete the trip as planned.
At the end of their long trip, Mister Bryson and his friend askedeach other how they felt about the experience and if they were sadto leave the trail. After thinking about it for a while, the twoagreed that they were both happy and sad about ending their trip.
Mister Bryson said he was tired of the trail, but still veryinterested in it. He became tired of the endless forests, but feltgreat wonder at their endlessness. He enjoyed the escape fromcivilization, but wanted its comforts.
At the end of “A Walk in the Woods,” Bill Bryson suggests thathis experiences on the Appalachian Trail changed the way he looks atlife and the world.
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VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written by Oliver Chanler. Itwas produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS inVOA Special English.