never was completely closed because there are thousands of access points to the trail.
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The Ridgerunners are trained in how to use the Park radio and call from on and off the trail – reporting bear activity or hikers who need help. “There’s a lot of communication, including phone calls and text messages,” Hoyer said. The Ridgerunners submit weekly reports and also have weekly call-ins, providing updates and discussing successes and challenges. They relay that information to Hoyer, who then coordinates with SMHC to handle trail and shelter repairs. They also report repair work that is needed for shelters or privies, which is then completed by the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club (SMHC).įor any trail or facility damage, Ridgerunners take photos and determine GPS coordinates. So far this year two of the Ridgerunners have evacuated hikers in distress. They collect data on hikers and wildlife incidents, and sometimes even assist with evacuations. They check hikers’ backcountry overnight permits. The Ridgerunners interact with hikers - providing education on a range of backcountry issues, such as correctly using the food hanging system at shelters and not building illegal fire rings. Photo – Chloë de Camara/Appalachian Trail Conservancy Ridgerunners and Smoky Mountains HIke Club members learn how to dismantle illegal fire rings and re-naturalize the area during training in 2020. work,” said Chloë de Camara, ATC Trail Education Specialist who oversees the management of the Ridgerunner program for the ATC. “The Ridgerunners need a range of skills in their A.T. The A.T. section in GSMNP - including Charlies Bunion, Rocky Top and Mt. Cammerer - has 13 overnight camping sites (12 shelters and one campsite) and seven privies. I can’t overstate their value to be our eyes and ears on the A.T.”
We couldn’t mitigate as many issues without the Ridgerunners. “We couldn’t have the Ridgerunners without Friends,” Hoyer said. The budget for the Ridgerunner program for 2021 is $50,000.
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FOTS provides funding for the Ridgerunners’ salaries, plus equipment and supplies. “It’s kind of extraordinary how well it works.”Īnother key part of the Ridgerunner program is the annual funding from Friends of the Smokies (FOTS). “We work in concert with each other,” Hoyer said. in the park is a collaborative effort of GSMNP, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) and the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club (SMHC). They are our eyes and ears on the A.T. and our conduit for action.”Ĭoordinating the Smokies Ridgerunners and maintaining the A.T. “They engage with visitors and do all kinds of maintenance on privies and shelters. “Ridgerunners are a really important presence on the A.T.,” Hoyer said. Hoyer explained that the Park cannot focus solely on the A.T., so the Ridgerunners are hired to help manage visitor use of the A.T. in one calendar year) to hikers doing a section of the Trail,” she said. is the most used corridor in the Park and gets a real range of hikers – from day hikers who want to put their feet on the Trail to thru-hikers (hikers doing the complete A.T. benefits from something the Ridgerunners have done,” said Christine Hoyer, GSMNP Backcountry Management Specialist, who co-manages the Ridgerunners for the Park.
The photo was taken during pre-season training in February 2021. The 2021 Smokies Ridgerunners for GSMNP are Yael Girard, Amelia Cary and Ricky Vandegrift - from left to right in the photo at the top of this post.
thru-hikers, and one works from February through October. Two Ridgerunners work from February through May, which is the busiest time for A.T. Three Ridgerunners are hired annually for the GSMNP section of the A.T., hiking specific sections of the A.T. to help educate hikers, check permits, and assist in the maintenance of the Trail, shelters and privies. are Ridgerunners - seasonal employees who hike assigned sections of the A.T. Photo – Chloë de Camara/Appalachian Trail ConservancyĪ key part of maintaining the A.T. Ridgerunners use teamwork to untangle food storage cables in the Smokies during their training, February 2021. runs for 71 miles through Great Smoky Mountains National Park, from Fontana Dam to Davenport Gap. The Appalachian Trail (A.T.) is one of the longest hiking-only trails in the world – 2,193.1 miles, from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Katahdin in Maine.
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