Trail Magic

Good news for Blue Ridge hikers on the lookout for new trails. The Maryland-based American Hiking Society recently awarded nearly $50,000 in grants to 16 nonprofit, trail-focused organizations across the country.

One of the AHS's biggest gifts went to the Palmetto Conservation Foundation. The South Carolina organization received $5,000 to help with the ongoing construction of the lengthy Palmetto Trail, a proposed 425-mile trail extending across the state.

Other Southern trail groups that grabbed a little cash include the North Carolina-based Nantahala Hiking Club and Tennessee's Cumberland Trail Conference, which is continuing to work on the Cumberland Trail, which will eventually stretch for over 300 miles from Kentucky's Cumberland Gap National Park south to Chickamauga Chattanooga National Military Park and Prentice Cooper Wildlife Management Area just outside Chattanooga.

Since creating its National Trails Fund in 1997, American Hiking Society has awarded nearly $340,000 in grants to 89 different trail projects across the country.

-Jedd Ferris