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The Appalachian National Scenic Trail is a 2,159.1-mile foot trail along
the ridge crests and across the major valleys of the Appalachian Mountains
from Katahdin in the central Maine wilderness to Springer Mountain in a
designated wilderness area in north Georgia. It was designed, constructed,
and marked in the 1920s and 1930s by volunteer hiking clubs joined together
by the Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC), but it wasn't until 1968 that
the National Trails System Act made the Appalachian Trail a linear national
park and authorized funds to surround the entire route with public lands,
either federal or state, protected from incompatible uses. The trail traverses
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North
Carolina and Georgia. The goal is to maintain the entire Trail environment
as a place for everyone to hike, backpack, or otherwise enjoy the Appalachian
mountains and wildlands, while at the same time conserving the natural,
scenic, historical, and cultural resources of this one-of-a-kind park. Primary
use is by weekend or short-term hikers. "Thru-hikers" generally
start from the South in early spring and hike the entire length in 5 to
6 months. More than 98% of the Hiking Trail is now on public land and two-thirds
of the population of the US live within 550 miles of it.
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail is a 2,167-mile (3,488 km) footpath
along the ridge crests and across the major valleys of the Appalachian Mountains
from Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in north Georgia. The trail
traverses Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee,
North Carolina and Georgia. The Appalachian Trail (A.T.) is used by day,
weekend and other short-term hikers, section hikers and thru-hikers. Thru-hikers
hike the entire length of the Trail in one season. |
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