Pine Mountain Trail founder Neal Wickham dies at 86

Columbus environmentalist, naturalist and businessman Neal Wickham died late Wednesday night after battling cancer, his family confirmed.

He was 86.

Wickham was a man of vision who saw things in a way few around him did. He was the founder of the Pine Mountain Trail in Harris County. He opened Wickham’s Outdoor World in Midtown Columbus during the 1970s, well ahead of the explosion in outdoor recreation. He was one of the first to mention the possibility of breaching Chattahoochee River dams and creating whitewater in downtown Columbus.

Of all of his accomplishments, the Pine Mountain Trail — which runs 23 miles from the FDR Park Entrance past Dowdell Knob, the trail’s highest peak at 1,395 feet, and on to the WJSP-TV tower in Warm Springs — will be Wickham’s legacy.

“If it hadn’t been for Neal Wickham, we wouldn’t have the Pine Mountain Trail,” said Jim Hall, secretary of the Pine Mountain Trail Association.

Milton Jones, a retired Columbus attorney and longtime friend, called Wickham one of his environmental heroes.

“I don’t use that lightly,” Jones said. “I have two heroes in this community — though you could make the case for others — and they are Neal Wickham and John Flournoy. This community owes those two men a debt of gratitude that can’t be repaid.”

A Boy Scout leader looking for outdoor activities, Wickham envisioned the trail, designed it and worked on it.

“He had thousands of work hours over about 20 years,” Hall said. “Starting in 1975 and until 1994, he led every work day. And he wore this goofy red, felt hat every time.”

And he documented the work, Hall said.

“He has a stack of 3-by-5 index cards about what was done and who was there on every work day,” Hall said. “He was so proud of that.”

Hall met with Wickham last Tuesday to ask a few questions about the trail.

“I had about a half a dozen questions about how some of the places along the trail got their name,” he said.

Many of the favorite spots on the trail were named by Wickham, some were named after people who helped worked on the path, and others were specific to Wickham.

“His son Malon had a dog named after Miami Dolphins running back Larry Csonka,” Hall said. “You got Csonka Falls. You got Jenkins springs named after Bill Jenkins, who helped build the trail.”

Though many have touched and worked on Pine Mountain Trail over the years, the driving force was Wickham.

“He saw to it nearly single-handedly that that trail was put together,” Jones said.

A few years ago, Columbus businessman John Turner was meeting with Georgia Department of Natural Resources Director Lonice Barrett, trying to gain support for the Chattahoochee River white water course.

“Before we could talk about the river, he wanted to talk about Neal Wickham and the Pine Mountain Trail,” Turner remembered. “He said over the years he grew to love Neal. It was through his dogged determination and persistence that the Pine Mountain Trail exists.”

But Wickham’s work, business skills and advocacy were way deeper than just the trail. He opened Wickham’s Outdoor World in the 1970s in Cross Country Plaza.

“You could go in that store and get climbing gear, paddling stuff, all kinds of things,” Turner said. “It was a totally different kind of place from anything that was in Columbus. And it was way ahead of its time. But that was Neal.”

That store was a gateway to non-traditional activities that people take for granted today, Turner said.

“He introduced so many people to the outdoors in a way that they would have never dreamed and many of them had no idea the activities existed,” Turner said.

It was in 1995 that the Georgia House of Representatives passed a resolution designating a portion of the Pine Mountain Trail in honor of Wickham. There is also a section of Ga. 190 that runs through FDR Park that was named for Wickham.

Wickham never quit caring for the trail, Hall said.

“In 2011, when the trail suffered significant tornado damage, he was in his 80s and he was up there every weekend, working and sweating,” Hall said. “It was unbelievable.”

Wickham had an early vision for what is now the Chattahoochee River whitewater course that drew nearly 35,000 rafters last season in its third year.

“The genesis of the river idea came out of that store,” said Turner, who was the driving force in making it a reality. “The first time it was ever talked about was by a guy working in that store back in the 1970s.”

Wickham lived long enough to take a raft ride down the 2.5-mile course not long after it opened.

He also fought for environmental causes such as a Columbus tree ordinance in 2001 and was part of the opposition that thwarted a dam on the Flint River in the 1970s.

“He swung a big stick,” Jones said. “Any time there was an environmental fight, Neal would show up.”

Wickham is survived by his wife, Judith, and son, Malon, and two grandchildren.

Arrangements are incomplete.

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 10:26 PM with the headline "Pine Mountain Trail founder Neal Wickham dies at 86."