The Benton MacKaye Trail Association has won approval from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to allow the new long-distance trail passage through the park.

The Benton MacKaye route will zigzag for 105 miles through the North Carolina side of the park on exsiting trails from the Twenty Mile ranger station at the western edge of the park to Davenport Gap at the northern end of the park near Interstate 40.

“There will be no construction of new trails at all, but signage would be added at appropriate junctures to show Benton MacKaye hikers which way to go,” said Bob Miller, spokesperson for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Signage could begin appearing this year.

As park maps are updated in the future, Benton MacKaye labels will be added to the trail key. Trails with the Benton MacKaye overlay will retain their original names as their primary trail name.

The 275-mile Benton MacKaye Trail, named for the 1920s visionary of the Appalachian Trail, travels from Springer Mountain, Ga., to the Smokies. It parallels the AT to the west, traversing the Tennessee mountains before crossing into North Carolina and weaving through the Snowbird and Slickrock areas of the Nantahala National Forest until the trail reaches the park’s doorstep.

It is believed the trail could help relieve long-distance traffic on the portion of the AT through the park.

“We are hopeful that the trail will become an alternative to the Appalachian Trail, particularly in the spring when late snowstorms often make travel on the high-elevation AT problematic,” said Dale Ditmanson, Smokies Superintendent.

The Benton MacKaye is a much less direct route through the park, however. While it hovers at lower elevations, it passes up and down multiple drainages and ridges. The AT, which has a single long haul up to the highest ridge, a long trek along the spine and a long descent back down again, is about 75 miles opposed to the 102-mile Benton MacKaye route through the park.

The park, faced with omnipresent budget pressures, saw the potential for more trail volunteers, as well.

“We hope there would be a constituency to help maintain the Benton MacKayes Trail’s section of the park and the backcountry campsites,” Miller said.

The Benton MacKaye Trail Association began working on the trail in Georgia in 1980 and has reached the half-way mark: the Ocoee River in Tennessee. With 90 miles completed, that leaves about 85 to go — including several miles of new trail to be constructed in North Carolina from the Tennessee line to Deals Gap.

The Benton MacKaye Trail will add yet another long-distance hiking trail to the annals of WNC. The variety of long-distance hiking trails already criss-crossing WNC — the AT, the Mountains to Sea trail and the Bartram Trail — make the region one of the premier destinations in the nation for long-distance hiking.