For more than three decades, Ron has led the effort to build, protect, and maintain the trail, recruit and support its maintainers, and make the AT experience a rewarding one for its hikers. He helped redirect the trail off roadways, oversaw construction of two shelters, created workshops to train corridor monitors, wrote grants to educate trail neighbors, and instilled Leave No Trace principles in young AT campers. He cooked pancakes following an overnight function, and enlisted at-risk youth to help with boundary repainting.

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