Dahlonega is loved for so many reasons.
Summer weekends make it perfect for listening to old tyme music on the square. There’s the Bear on the Square Festival, dandy shopping all year long, cozy restaurants and Gold Rush Days.
Dahlonega is best known to many people for its proximity to Springer Mountain, where the Appalachian Trail heads north to Mount Katahdin in Maine.
Hikers from all around the world will hit the Appalachian Trail this year and Dahlonega makes sure they’re sent off in style.
Doesn’t matter if you call it “Spring on Springer” or Trail Fest, Dahlonega is the first town to celebrate our heroes who are about to embark on the quest of a lifetime: thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia’s Springer Mountain all the way to Maine’s Mount Katahdin.
The fun gets underway on Friday, March 14th and scoots along steadily until Sunday afternoon the 16th.
Dahlonega Trail Fest isn’t the biggest festival along the AT but there’s something special about seeing future thru-hikers all spiffed-up with brand-new gear and gizmos. They’re looking the 2,185.3 mile Trail right in the face and they’re saying, “Ha! I ain’t skeered!”
The official Trail Fest Facebook page says,
Celebrating the Appalachian Trail, Dahlonega’s designation as an ATC Trail Community, non-motorized outdoor recreation including backpacking, hiking, mountain biking, canoeing and kayaking, trail running.
Features speakers, films, workshops, vendors, information booths, equipment representatives, music, food, equipment giveaways, equipment silent auction, beer and wine garden.
Vendors know their best customers will be there perking up their packs and on the lookout for lightweight skyhooks and anti-gravity shoes.
The best part of Dahlonega’s Trail Fest? It’s in Dahlonega — a town so cool that if it were in California it would be as famous as Disneyland.
Trail fest promises:
- Great music
- Real-live AT hikers
- Fabulous food
- Hiking, horseback riding, kayaking
- Very interesting people and
- Fascinating speakers, films & workshops.
Don’t worry about being among flocks of gung-ho hikers. There is absolutely no chance that attending Dahlonega Trail Fest will infect you with the bug that will make you crave hiking the Trail for months and months.
Probably.
