Not quite so famous, yet, is Tennessee’s own Cumberland Trail. This trail follows the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau and when completed it will be 300 miles across Tennessee from Chattanooga to the Cumberland Gap in Kentucky. Currently, over half, or about 170 miles of the Cumberland Trail is done and many of us have hiked segments of this beautiful trail. The Cumberland Trail is part of the longer Great Eastern Trail that will be a less crowded alternative to the Appalachian Trail. The Great Eastern Trail will be 1800 miles long and run from Alabama to New York.
Now, if all these facts and mileage figures are boring you, let’s get to some interesting stuff. Amazingly, the Cumberland Trail is being built completely by volunteer labor. Much of this labor comes from college students who volunteer during their spring breaks each year. Instead of partying in Panama, these future leaders donate their spring break raking, digging, cutting, and basically just building the trail by hand. This year nearly 250 college students will be coming to Tennessee from all over the United States from 18 different schools to work on the Cumberland Trail. There will be students here from Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, and several other states.
The trail building this spring will take place a little over an hour south of Crossville, between Soddy-Daisy and Chattanooga, during the 3-week period from February 28 through March 20. The General Manager of the Cumberland Trail organization, Tony Hook, has arranged for the students to stay at the Dogwood Lodge, a church camp facility near Soddy-Daisy where meals will also be prepared and served. In the evenings there will be educational programs about local history, geology, the environment and other topics.
If you ever thought that volunteer work was something that you wanted to do, here is a great opportunity for you. You don’t have to swing a pick or run a chainsaw (although you are certainly welcome to do so); you can help build the trail in many ways. You can work in the kitchen, supervise work on the trail, clip vegetation, be a go-fer, shuttle students, etc. And, working with young, smart, hard-working, young adults is more fun and rewarding than you can imagine. These are amazing, motivated young men and women that are just fun to be around; but as you can imagine 200 college students need support.
If you can help, or if you just want to know how you can help, please think about it. Come for a day or a week. If you can stay overnight just bring a sleeping bag and we will find a cot for you, or bring an RV or a tent and have your own place. All food will be provided.
Call Marleya at the Cumberland Trail office in Crossville at 456-6259 or email me for more information or any questions you might have.
A few years from now when people come from all over the world to hike on the 300 miles of the Cumberland Trail through Tennessee, you can say you helped build it…and you’ll be famous.
The photos above are from the March 2010 trail building near Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee.
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