This Land, Your Land

"America's Wild Spaces," a National Geographic Channel series that focuses on America's national parks, explores the Appalachian Trail in an episode being shown for the first time Tuesday evening.

"Much of the Appalachian Trail is close to major populations - so how wild can it be? We will travel from South to North and explore the remotest corners of the A.T. and meet the scientists fighting to keep this wilderness wild," the channel's Web site says. "We'll explore this 5 million-step journey through the five distinct regions of the AT landscape and learn what it takes to keep this ribbon of green safe, healthy and totally wild."

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy's Journeys magazine talked to filmmaker Brian Armstrong about the documentary. "Though there have been many other Trail films made, what sets this documentary
apart is that it’s the first made-for-broadcast film about the Trail ever completed. After meeting with the staff of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the Appalachian Trail Park Office, Armstrong came away feeling that the film was going to be something quite special. 'This was new,' he explains, 'I couldn’t believe I was going to be doing this show for Geographic that no broadcaster had thought to do before. I all at once felt privileged and extremely responsible to do it right.'"

Armstrong and his crew completed a thru-hike of the 2,174-mile Applachian Trail and talked to several hikers along the way.

The show airs for the first time at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

"Feedback from preliminary screenings of the film has been very good so far, and Armstrong feels very strongly about this particular accomplishment," the Journeys article says. "'I’ve been making films as a producer for National Geographic for 10 years ... pretty much all over the globe. This A.T. show rates, not in my top 10, but in my top two,' he says."