Stories Of That Gov't Trail At Dahlonega Trail Fest

For anyone who reads this blog or is plugged into hiker culture knows March means Appalachian Trail (AT) Thru-Hiking season. Now an annual part of this is Dahlonega Trail Fest.

This is the fifth edition of this three day thru-hiking festival held in downtown Dahlonega. Like I wrote about last year's Trail Fest it features all things AT. Once again I went on Saturday, which is the busiest day of the festival. What was different this is year was Deb accompanied me today. Last year she was sick and couldn’t go, but today she was looking forward to the festival. While the weather was sunny, it was surprisingly cool. I mean last week it was in the 60’s on top of Blood Mountain with no wind, but it was much colder (mid-40's) and windy in Dahlonega today with 3,000 foot less in elevation, well that is North Georgia for you.

The hardest things about Trail Fest is finding a parking spot. If you have ever been to downtown Dahlonega it is a small and not a lot of places to park. However after a couple of laps we were fortunate that someone was leaving and snagged their spot. Now don't get the wrong idea that this is some huge festivals with wall-to-wall people. No, one of the cool things about Trail Fest is that it’s not too big. While there is a good crowd it hasn’t grown to the point where it has lost it quaintness. And it is nowhere near as big as Trail Days in Damascus, VA (which I need to visit one day soon). 

It can be tough to find.

An AT Trail Community

Banjo picker downtown.

The quaint Dahlonega Trail Fest...

...the slightly large Damascus Trail Days (from Trail Days website).

While it is small there are still a wide variety of booths. Some had information related to clubs and outdoor issues including booths ranging for the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club (GATC) to one close to my heart the group Save Georgia’s Hemlocks. This is the group that tries to raise awareness on the plight of these majestic trees. I wrote more extensively about them here last year, but the short of it os that North America's Hemlocks have been decimated by a number of factors, most famously the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.

Some of the booths including GATC...

...the Save Georgia's Hemlocks.

They had Hemlock saplings looking for homes.

It is a serious problem.

There were also booths selling things ranging from pottery to apple cider donuts. Speaking of food there was the Grub Tent selling all sorts of hot fair and the Wine and Beer Garden. While there were no llamas this year, for a hiker there was something just as cool, one of the old signs that once stood on the summit of the northern terminus at Mount Katahdin. It was there along with another old Maine AT sign as part of the promotion for the documentary movie Blind Courage, It based on the book of the same name that tells the tale of the Bill Irwin the first blind person to solo hike the AT in 1990. I think the signs were ones that stood in Maine when Irwin did his solo hike. It was cool to be that close to AT history. 

The Grub Tent and Wine & Beer Garden.

No Llamas but we did have Cedar.

One of the old Maine AT signs...

...& the iconic one that once stood on Katahdin.

Deb & the Wood Booger with the sign.

Once again my main reason for coming was to see Gene Espy speak. For those who don’t know he was the second person to thru-hike the AT in 1951. Since Deb missed him last year she wanted to hear him speak today. Some of the stories he told I had heard before, but he had a few more new ones I haven’t heard. I could listen to him speak of the old days on that "Gov't Trail" all day. From how he tells it was a really different experience back then. Before he spoke I caught the tail end of a Thru-Hiker Panel answering questions on their experience on the trail which was also helpful.

History of Dahlonega sculpture.

Richard Judy & Michelle "Brownie" Pugh at the Thru-Hiker Panel.

The one and only Gene Espy!

For the speakers, to the booths and the overall thru-hiker vibe I can’t think of a better way of spending a March afternoon…well maybe hiking!