New England Public Radio

North Adams to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy: Put Us On The Map

A North Adams city councilor wants his city designated as an Appalachian Trail Community. The designation would put the city on official trail maps and websites and provide hikers with information about events and services there.

But City Councilor Joshua Moran hopes residents of North Adams will benefit the most.

“Hopefully the impact is all local,” says Moran. “Allowing some kind of pride and a sense of being in the community, having something as big and powerful as the Appalachian Trail run through it.”

And, Moran says, bridging the gap between hikers and residents could be good for city morale.

“The perspective that a lot of hikers take as they come in through town is it’s a great place, and I think sometimes in our day to day lives we forget to step away and realize there is a bigger picture to things,” Moran says.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy says it plans to review the application on November 21. North Adams would be the second town in Massachusetts to earn the designation, following Great Barrington.

Appalachian Trail Officials: Hiker’s Fatal Fall a ‘Rare’ Occurrence

Appalachian Trail officials say the recent death of a hiker in Southwestern Massachusetts was a rare occurrence.

Brian King with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy says his group has been told the young man slipped and fell about 35 feet. King says this sort of fatal accident happens about once every three years.

“And most of the time it’s not folks just out hiking like they were. The falls we do have tend to be teenagers out at a viewpoint, partying and had too much to drink,” King says.

The National Park Service’s chief law enforcement ranger for the trail, Todd Remaley, says this recent death was not on the main route, but on a side trail leading to a waterfall.

Remaley says firm statistics are hard to come by, but he estimates a total of 3 to 6 trail-related deaths each year, almost all from medical emergencies like heart attacks rather than from falls.