A Longer Walk in the Woods -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 1/22/2004
Last Visited: 4/12/2006
As Maine-based geologist Walt Anderson noted, the Appalachian/Caledonide Mountains were formed about 369-380 million years ago, when the then-existing continents on the Earth's surface all collided to form the super-continent of Pangea."This collision and uplift formed the Appalachians/Caledonides," Anderson told me. "There were no Appalachians before this time, although there might have been other and older mountains at other locations on Pangea (as some have speculated).
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Dick Anderson (no relation to Walt) of Freeport, Maine is the founder and president of the International Appalachian Trail/Sentier International des Appalaches (IAT/SIA), an organisation dedicated to creating an entity described by the group's name -- a trail through Canada and portions of Maine where one does not already exist.
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"The AT is basically owned by the National Park Service," Anderson told me, "What we're doing is creating a new trail, the IAT/SIA, from Katahdin to Belle Isle.The basic concept is to create a trail that follows the Appalachian Mountains."
And after Belle Isle, Anderson acknowledges, it might head east, across the sea.
The concept of a longer-than-AT Appalachian Trail has been around awhile, but it was Anderson who started the realization process in 1994.Then, while working on former Maine Governor Joe Brennan's campaign, Anderson suggested the Brennan promote the idea of an international mountain trail -- connecting countries, languages and cultures in North America -- and the IAT/SIA was born.
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According to Anderson, the Qu,bec government poured money into the project throughout the mid-to-late-1990's, so that today the entire route through the province lies on forest trails -- in other states and provinces, the "trail" follows roads, even highways.
"In Qu,bec, they've done a spectacular job," Anderson said.
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"Some of the Maine Chapter members had met with geologists to look at maps," Anderson said.
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After Newfoundland, it's a bit of a guess where Anderson and his chums might take the trail next, although I can say for sure that, upon reaching Cap Gasp, at Forillon, I was more than ready to hop in a kayak and head for Dingle, Ireland.
On the IAT/SIA website, there's a quote from Anderson that both sums up much of his philosophy and probably tells us his track isn't complete yet: "I have always like the concept of bio-regionalism, which defines areas not by political borders, but as biological systems."
In other words, Anderson and his chums want to see an international, multicultural, multicontinental entity that shares a singular mountain range and brings people -- and nations -- together.An international trail -- which it already is -- with distinct sections and scenery, with distinct cultures and climates, with distinct hulls and huts, and with distinct characters and climaxes -- sounds okay by me.
"We (the board members of the IAT/SIA) have discussed the idea of extending the IAT/SIA to the other side of the Atlantic," Anderson told me. "We would very much like to be in touch with hiking clubs in France, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, or any of the 23 countries that have remnants of the original Appalachians."
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