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The IAT is the idea of Dick Anderson, a fisheries biologist and former commissioner of Maine's Department of Conservation. Dick had a dream, much like Benton MacKaye's dream of the Appalachian Trail. Dick dreamed of connecting the bioregion of the Northern Forest, on both sides of the US-Canada border.
"I visualized a trail that would connect two countries and cultures, link a state and two provinces and traverse two major watersheds--the Gulf of Maine and the Gulf of St. Lawrence."
-Dick Anderson
This would be a project that would foster international cooperation and promote understanding and protection of our common landscape. Recently the trail plan was extended to take the IAT all the way to where the Appalachians plunge into the sea at the end of the Gaspé Peninsula, Cap Gaspé.
The idea was first proposed to the public on Earth Day, 1994, by Maine gubenatorial candidate Joe Brennan. Two planning meetings were held to plan the International Appalachian Trail. The first one was held in New Brunswick at the Mt. Carleton Provincial Park on June 25, 1994. They were five people from Maine, one from Quebéc and nine from New Brunswick. Dick Anderson gave a slide presentation of aerial photographs of the proposed corridor which was done by Christopher Ayres, photographer. Cecil Freeman made a presentation on the New Brunswick Trails System. It was determined by the group that the trail would be named "The International Appalachian Trail/Sentier International des Appalaches." Six members from each jurisdiction (Maine, Québec, New Brunswick) formed the international committee.
A second meeting was held on July 22, 1994 in Orono, Maine. Trail locations, rules, logos and meeting schedules were discussed. In the years between 1994 and 2002, three meetings were held annually, one in each state or province. Since 2002 one meeting has been held each year. International meetings are held in a different jurisdictions each year. The meetings provide an opportunity to exchange news on trail development, discuss marketing issues and socialize with trail partners.
• Dick Anderson, president (Maine)
• Eric Chouinard, coordinator (Québec)
• Michel Albert, sec./tres. (New Brunswick)
Since 1995, the trail has been extended northward twice. First, it was extended from the original end at Mont Jacques Cartier to the east end of the Gaspé Peninsula at Cap Gaspé. Then, in 2002, upon a request from a Newfoundland delegation, the trail was extended through the Appalachians of Newfoundland to Belle Isle. The trail is now approximately 1400 miles long. Maps, a web site, trail guides and a companion guide have been written and are available for purchase through the Quebec Chapter site SIA/IAT store. More than 40 official campsites, consisting
of tent platforms, lean-tos or cabins, are now in place along the trail.
In October of 1997, John Brinda became the first person the hike the whole of the IAT, and the first known person to hike the entire East Coast of the North American continent in his trek from the Florida Keys to Cap Gaspé. Dick Anderson, who was anxious to see his dream actualized for the first time, gave him maps and guidance. Bushwhacking and road walking, patched together with recently constructed trails, allowed John to complete his journey.
The feat was repeated in 1998 by "Nimblewill Nomad" Eb Eberhart, a sixty year-old retired optometrist. Both hikers were amazed by the unspoiled beauty of the IAT's route. A highlight of their hikes was the view of a herd of Arctic caribou, the only herd south of the St. Lawrence, as well as the views of the ocean on both sides of them as he hiked along the Gaspé Peninsula.
Since 1998, a known total of 86 people have thru-hiked the trail from Katahdin to Cap Gaspé and 11 of those hikers, including “Nimblewill Nomad” have finished the hike at Belle Isle, Newfoundland. While many hundreds of hikers hike on the trail annually, only a few complete the whole trail and those that have describe it as a spectacular hike. All trails are ‘works-in-progress’. Chapters in Maine, New Brunswick, Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador continue to improve trail locations and maintain already constructed sections. All chapters have a commitment to maintain and improve North America’s only long-distance, international hiking trail.
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