Lee — Starting Saturday, June 17, Appalachian Trail hikers will have a new stop on their trek. With an 11 a.m. ceremony at the Town Common Pavilion on Saturday, June 17, the town will officially become an Appalachian Trail Community, a designation by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy that denotes that its residents and businesses can support thru-hikers with needed services and local hospitality. The trail is an approximately 2,190-mile footpath extending from Georgia to Maine.
Although Lee doesn’t have any trailheads on the route, the town is easily accessible to hikers, with resources such as lodging, grocery stores, and a library, said Debbie Cranwell, chair of the Appalachian Trail Community Committee. “What qualifies us is our location right off the Massachusetts Turnpike and then the availability of services we have for the hikers,” she said. Home to October Mountain State Forest, the largest forest in Massachusetts, the town offers many trail options. The closest Appalachian Trail trailheads are in Tyringham or at Jacob’s Ladder.
The certification generates awareness by residents of the hikers, offering them a ride or letting them know where things are, Cranwell said. “It puts us on the map as a trail town,” she said.
Upon certification, Lee becomes a link in the chain of five Appalachian Trail communities in Berkshire County, joining Great Barrington, Dalton, Cheshire, and North Adams. Lee is in the middle of that chain and provides a good spot for hikers to resupply, a site “which was very much needed,” Cranwell said.
The process for certification took a couple of years to complete, with Cranwell approaching town leaders to develop an ad hoc committee to work on the application. That process was finished in March of this year, with Cranwell presenting the proposal to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s New England Regional Committee.
Cranwell said her commitment to the project stems from a desire to support Appalachian Trail hikers as well as to generate involvement for the local section of the Appalachian Trail Management Committee, volunteers who maintain the trail.
For Lee, the certification means economic growth as well as an identity as an Appalachian Trail Community, she said. However, it will take some time for businesses to capitalize on the designation and ensuing draw of patrons, Cranwell said. “The motels are very much aware of the hikers, and they do cater to them,” she said, adding that one lodging entity will pick up a hiker if called.
Signage depicting the designation will probably be placed at the town entrances at a later date, Cranwell said.
A 4.5-mile hike to Upper Goose Pond in celebration of Lee’s designation as an Appalachian Trail Community is set for Saturday, June 24 at 9 a.m., meeting at the Jacob’s Pillow parking lot on Route 20. Open to the public and organized by the Appalachian Trail Community Volunteers, hikers can bring lunch and swim for the day. Participants can register here.
