Maurice J. Forrester, Jr. passed away at home on the morning of July 5, 2022. Maurice spent his entire adult life advocating for and documenting hiking trails, especially in his native Pennsylvania. From 1976 through 1979, he served Keystone Trail Association as President, and then as Newsletter Editor. His quarterly column, "The View From Cogan Station", appeared in KTA's newsletter from 1978 through 1992. He has also served on numerous trail advocacy boards and committees in Pennsylvania. From 1975 to 1992, he served Appalachian Trail Conference (now Conservancy) as Treasurer, Newsletter Editor and member of the Board of Managers. He served as Chair of ATC's 1989 Biennial meeting in East Stroudsburg, PA. Maurice was a founding director of the Appalachian Trail Museum. During that time, the Museum Board was looking for a suitable location for the Museum. Maurice led the effort to secure its home in the Old Mill building at Pine Grove Furnace State Park. He was inducted into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame in 2016.
Mr. Forrester is perhaps best known for his writings. He served as editor of several editions of the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania. He is co-author of A Grip On The Mane Of Life, the definitive biography of Earl Shaffer, the A.T.'s first thru-hiker. He also wrote the forward to Earl Shaffer's famous autobiography, Walking With Spring and to Larry Luxenberg's Walking The Appalachian Trail. He was the lead author of the history of KTA's first 50 years. Maurice's obituary can be found HERE. The services will be private. There is a place there for friends and acquaintances to post condolences.
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The Appalachian Trail has been rerouted back onto the trail corridor just east of the Lehigh River between Palmerton and Walnutport, PA as of June, 2022. The 3.25 mile section was rebuilt by the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps and a crew led by professional designer and trail builder Peter Jensen. The work was supervised by Bob Sickley, Regional Manager of the Trail from the Susquehanna River to the Hudson River. The map below shows the rerouted section. The slideshow below shows the spectacular views of the Palmerton and Walnutport areas that are now visible from the A.T., as well as the excellent rock work done by the trail builders. This reroute completes a process of remediation begun several years ago. This section of the A.T. goes through a federal Superfund site that was damaged by a zinc processing plant in Palmerton. The Trail was temporarily rerouted so that a team led by the federal Environmental Protection Agency could remediate the damaged soil and plant new trees and vegetation. More information on the remediation efforts can be found HERE.
Last October, KTA and other partners including ATC rerouted another section of the A.T., just west of the Lehigh River. The A.T. was rerouted onto the former North Trail, providing spectacular views of the Lehigh Gorge and surrounding area. More on that reroute can be found HERE. KTA is grateful for the outstanding work performed by our volunteers and partners in making these relocations possible. We maintain a separate website for our Appalachian Trail section, which can be found here: https://ktalehighgapat.weebly.com/ |
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