Instructor George Owen has over decades served as president of three Appalachian area hiking clubs. He is a co-founder and former president of the Benton MacKaye Trail Association, former maintenance and construction director for the GA Appalachian Trail Club and just retired from the longest presidency of the Mountain High Hikers club. He grew up spending much time in the wilds of his native state Florida, and while in college ran the nature lore program of one of Florida's largest youth camps. He married and moved to Georgia with his wife Sandy where they became parents of two sons and now have four grandchildren. In Georgia, beyond his two careers, he became noted over decades for laying out and supervising the construction of over 125 miles of hiking trails on the Chattahoochee National Forest, including all the Benton MacKaye Trail of 82 miles, and several side trails of the Appalachian Trail (AT) including four miles of the 8.3-mile AT Approach Trail. After retirement he was a guide for an American company for ten years in the Swiss Alps. He in his senior years continues to lead hikes for trail clubs and groups and work on existing and proposed trails.