Trail to Every Classroom

Our latest adventure involves the Trail to Every Classroom, a joint program of the National Park Service, Appalachian Trail Conservancy and other public and private partners. We're part of a 48 member team of educators from Georgia to Maine who are learning about place-based service learning opportunities that get students outdoors and engaged in activities that connect standards, civic responsibility and stewardship of the land.



In April of 2008, we met with our south- eastern team of educators and hiked from Amicalola Lodge to the Len Foote Hike Inn. Along the way, we learned about Leave No Trace principles and shared stories and ideas with our colleagues from Stone Mountain and Hiawasee, GA, Hot Springs, NC, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and National Park Service. We also discovered a bit of "trail magic" when we met up with "Chops" and "Peter Pan", two AT hikers and Georgia Appalachian Mountain Club members who were doing trail maintenance. Since we were seeking our own trail names, it was fun to hear how they came by theirs. We learned that people will go to great effort to carve out time to both hike the trail and then give back to the trail community. The positive energy is contagious.