The Green Tunnel

May 07 2024 51 ep. 22 mins 297
The Green Tunnel Podcast artwork

The Green Tunnel explores the history and culture of the United States’ most iconic long-distance hiking trail, the Appalachian Trail. Hosted by Mills Kelly, the show delves into topics including the quirky history of trail food, the shelters and structures built along the trail, and dangers you might encounter during a hike.

  History  Health & Fitness
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The End of the Trail

May 07 2024 27 mins  
Today’s episode is bittersweet because we have reached the end of our hike. After three years and 50 episodes, we are wrapping up The Green Tunnel with something a little different. Every episode of The Green Tunnel has focused on some aspect of the history of the Appalachian Trail, but today we’re looking forward. What will the AT’s future look like? How will the trail evolv

Hogs, Chipmunks, and Bears, Oh My!

Apr 22 2024 33 mins  
On today’s episode of The Green Tunnel, we are exploring a central reason why hikers head to the Appalachian Trail in the first place, to see wildlife. We’ll also talk about how the animals along the trail are changing the way hikers experience the AT and the ecology of the mountains the AT passes through.

Iconic Locations: The Katahdin Sign

Apr 08 2024 14 mins  
What long-distance AT hiker hasn’t dreamed of reaching that sign on the summit of Katahdin at the end of their hike? Today, we are headed to the top of the mountain to explore the history of the iconic sign.

Trail Writing

Mar 25 2024 30 mins  
The Appalachian Trail winds its way through Appalachia which is a place where people make sense of their world through stories. Stories of their lives in the mountains. Stories of the land and its riches. Stories, both fiction and non-fiction, about their journeys. In this episode of The Green Tunnel, we are exploring the history of writing about the Appalachian Trail.

Iconic Locations: Priest Mountain Shelter

Mar 11 2024 12 mins  
Did you know a significant number of hikers confess their sins in the logbook in the shelter on Priest Mountain? Why do they do this and what do they confess? Find out on today’s Iconic Locations episode.

Becoming a National Park

Feb 26 2024 28 mins  
Benton MacKaye wanted to be sure that anyone who chose to spend a few hours, a few days, or a few weeks on the trail would have the opportunity to really get away from civilization. However, most of the lands MacKaye hoped to route his future trail through were in private hands, owned either by individuals or corporations. If an Appalachian Trail was really going to be built, then

Iconic Locations: Delaware Water Gap

Feb 12 2024 8 mins  
The Delaware Water Gap is one of the most breathtaking spots along the entire Appalachian Trail and has been a favorite subject of landscape painters since at least the middle of the 19th century. It's an important marker for northbound hikers, but it's also a torturous landscape that many hikers call "Rocksylvania."

Wayfinding

Jan 29 2024 31 mins  
There is no better way to turn a good hike into a bad hike than taking a wrong turn and hiking miles out of your way. Especially if that means you climbed an extra mountain or two. Today, we are exploring the history of blazing, signing, and mapping the trail from Georgia to Maine.

Iconic Locations: Bear Mountain Bridge

Jan 15 2024 9 mins  
Bear Mountain Bridge sits just north of the oldest section of the entire Appalachian Trail and on today's Iconic Location episode we are what was once the world’s longest suspension bridge.

Constructing the Trail

Dec 11 2023 31 mins  
Today we’re going back to the earliest days of the Appalachian Trail to learn more about the critical role that the Civilian Conservation Corps played in making the trail a reality.