The Georgia Appalachian Trail Club, Inc. (GATC) was organized in 1930 in Dahlonega, GA. It is an organization of individual volunteers who, because of their love for the Appalachian Trail, has assumed responsibility for its management and maintenance in Georgia. This is accomplished through cooperation with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) and the US Forest Service. The GATC is active in the conservation community on issues relating to the protection of the AT, and additionally it conducts a wide range of outdoor recreational events for its membership.
The Appalachian Trail, designated a National Scenic Trail in 1968, is a footpath over 2,100 miles long. It follows the crest of the Appalachians from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. The Trail in Georgia extends some eighty miles through the primitive areas of the Chattahoochee National Forest. Rising at times to elevations over 4400 feet, the Trail offers unlimited hiking adventure of exceptional challenge and variety.
To the Native Americans who once inhabited this wild and beautiful region, the word Appalachian meant "endless." So it is that the Appalachian Trail is, for all practical purposes, an endless footpath winding through mountain regions with a great variety of plants and animal life, climate, and geographic features.
Georgia AT