Gear up and go! STORY & PHOTOS BY BETSY ILER
H
ikers from around the country descended upon Sylacauga last month for the Second Annual Pinhoti Fest, a hiking season kick-off celebration and expo in the Pinhoti Trail town’s Noble Park. An estimated 2,000 hikers attended this year’s weekend-long event, with more than 200 camping overnight at the park, said Pinhoti Fest organizer Kimm Wright. Wright is a founder of Pinhoti Experience Foundation and serves as the foundation’s executive director. She and her husband, Nathan, own Pinhoti Outdoor Center, a hiking hostel near State Route 150 on U.S. 280, where hikers, paddlers, cyclists and runners can spend the night and access a trail shuttle and find planning support for the area’s outdoor recreation destinations. Shortly after the couple opened
38 Lake Martin Living
the hostel center in 2019, local business leaders encouraged Wright to host an event that would draw outdoor tourism to the area. Pinhoti Experience Foundation promotes outdoor education through in-person and virtual classrooms, school partnerships and events that focus on hiker safety and preparedness, trail maintenance and sustainability and the principles of the leave-no-trace conservation effort. The foundation also serves as an advocate for tourism in the trail towns and communities along the Pinhoti Trail, a connector trail for the extensive Appalachian Trail. At pinhotiexperience.org, hikers can find services, water access, trail information and local landmark information in the various sections of the trail. They also can find information about area hiking events, such as Pinhoti Fest.