Evans was given the Distinguished Service Award for his many hours of work on trail maintenance and construction. A past BMTA president and past coordinator of maintenance for the N.C. and Smokies sections of the trail, Evans is best known for accomplishing the 21-mile trail relocation at Yellow Creek, which removed the Benton MacKaye Trail from a dangerous stretch of public highway and reopened a section of former Appalachian Trail mileage between Tapoco Lodge and Fontana Village, allowing direct access to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.