Ohn: Last fall's hurricane Helene was a storm of superlatives, not only was it the strongest ever to hit Florida's big bend region, once over land, it brought historic rainfall and record-breaking flooding across the southeast.

In the immediate aftermath, 430 miles of the famed appalachian trail were closed, as downed trees blocked footpaths and bridges were washed away.

Now, months of labor by volunteer work crews has brought that down to just five miles.

Across the southeast, hurricane Helene's devastation lingers.

>> I have lived in the middle East for many years, and this is worse than any war that I've been in.

It's horrendous.

John: On the appalachian trail in northeastern Tennessee, fallen trees and other debris still block footpaths.

For the past 11 months, at least 2,000 volunteers have worked to clear those obstacles.

They're from groups that maintain the trail, including the appalachian trail conservancy, which is responsible for its day-to-day management.

>> There are numerous places where trees used to stand and their roots were in the ground and the roots got pulled up and have left a large hole in the middle of the appalachian trail.

John: The trail was proposed in 1921, built by private citizens, and completed in 1937.

It stretches nearly 2200 miles, winding through 14 states from Maine to Georgia.

It passes through eight national forests, six sites in the national park system and two national wildlife refuges.

Each year, more than 3 million visitors from around the world walk at least part of the trail.

>> The appalachian trail is this amazing way to connect folks.

It can be somebody who's, yeah, wanting to hike from Georgia to Maine, and is going to do that in one summer or it's somebody who's never stepped foot on a trail.

John: These days, using the trail requires a bit of planning.

Sections are expected to be closed for the foreseeable future.

Matt perrenod of the appalachian trail conservancy says not all the work is being done by volunteers.

>> The vast majority of work gets done by the volunteers.

However, we can't ignore all the other partners around like the forest service people that helped get our gear up who pay attention to this trail day in and day out.

So there is an entire infrastructure built around that volunteer experience and then volunteers provide a lot of muscle.

John: The work is all done by hand.

There is no heavy equipment.

It's time-consuming and the progress is incremental.

Among those pitching in is a group from Japan.

They say they are motivated by the global response to the 2011 fukashima earthquake and tsunami.

They are eager to take what they learn here back home.

>> We all work for Japanese long distance trail.

But the history is quite new in Japan, so now we are trying to learn how to maintain maintain - - how to maintain and how to make it sustainable.

John: The volunteers may not be getting a paycheck for their labors, but perrenod hopes they feel that they are being compensated in another way.

>> The overriding thing I think they leave with is a feeling that they're part of something that's bigger than them.

And they know they are connected to other people who care about the same thing.

People leave with that and that might be the highest value.