Although most of the Appalachian Trail is still open, hikers are asked to practice common sense during the pandemic while on the trail or to just stay home.
COVID-19 has challenged people to find new ways to stay active while practicing social distancing and local trail volunteer Cosmo Catalano, Jr said although folks are encouraged to stay home, common sense needs to be used to maintain social distancing.
Catalano said the trail organization structure is complicated and is organized by a number of entities. In Massachusetts about half the trail is on state forest lands managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The other half is on lands managed by the National Park Service.
But the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, a non-profit organization that organizes independent volunteer trail maintaining groups, has asked hikers to stay off the 2,200-long trail to help combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Thru-hikers have certainly been asked to cancel their long-distance treks.
Secondly, Catalano said hikers should not stop in communities to resupply.
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