Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost 2,200 miles (3,540 km) between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.[2] The Appalachian Trail Conservancy claims the Appalachian Trail to be the world's longest hiking-only trail.[3] More than three million people hike segments of it each year.[4]
This article is about the trail. For the conservation group, see Appalachian Trail Conservancy. For the train station, see Appalachian Trail (Metro-North station). For the book by Philip D'Anieri, see The Appalachian Trail (book).Appalachian Trail
2,197.4 miles (3,536.4 km) in 2024[1]
Clingmans Dome, 6,643 ft (2,025 m)
Bear Mountain State Park, 124 ft (38 m)
Easy to strenuous
Early spring to autumn for thru-hikers; year-round for other users
The trail was first proposed in 1921 and completed in 1937. Improvements and changes have continued since then. It became the Appalachian National Scenic Trail under the National Trails System Act of 1968.
The trail is maintained by 31 trail clubs and multiple partnerships[5] and managed by the National Park Service, United States Forest Service, and the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conservancy.[6][7] Most of the trail is in forest or wild lands, but some parts traverse towns, roads, and farms. From south to north it passes through Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Thru-hikers walk the entire trail in a single season. The number of thru-hikes per year has increased steadily since 2010,[4] with 715 northbound and 133 southbound thru-hikes reported in 2017.[8] The Appalachian Trail Conservancy estimates there are over 3,000 attempts to traverse the entire trail each year, about 25% of which succeed.[9] Many books, documentaries, and websites are dedicated to the pursuit. Some hike from one end to the other, then turn around and thru-hike the other way, a "yo-yo".[10]
Affiliated trail sections extend from either end from the north as the International Appalachian Trail into Canada and beyond, and from the south as the Eastern Continental Trail into the Southeastern states of Alabama and Florida.
The Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail informally constitute the Triple Crown of Hiking in the United States.[11][12]
Extensions[edit]
The International Appalachian Trail is a 1,900-mile (3,100 km) extension running northeast from Maine into New Brunswick and Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula, where it ends at Forillon National Park. It is a separate trail and not an official extension of the Appalachian Trail.[39] Other branches are designated in parts of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and along the western shore of Newfoundland, to the northern end of the Appalachian Mountain range, where it enters the Atlantic Ocean, near L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site. The route has since been extended to Greenland, Europe, and Morocco.[40]
Although the Appalachian Trail ends in Georgia, the Appalachian Mountains continue south to Flagg Mountain in Alabama.[41] In 2008, the Pinhoti National Recreation Trail in Alabama and Georgia, which terminates at Flagg Mountain, was connected to the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail via the Benton MacKaye Trail. Promoters of the Southern extension refer to MacKaye's statement at the 1925 conference that the Georgia to New Hampshire trail should, in the future, extend to Katahdin, and "then to Birmingham, Alabama". As of March 2015, The Pinhoti Trail terminates at the base of Flagg Mountain, near Weogufka in Coosa County, 50 miles (80 km) east of Birmingham.[42][43] In 2010, the Alabama state legislature formed the Alabama Appalachian Mountain Trail Commission to provide state resources for trail improvements, although officially designating Pinhoti as part of the Appalachian Trail would require an act of the United States Congress.[44]
The 8.8-mile (14.2 km) Appalachian Approach Trail in Georgia begins at Amicalola Falls State Park's visitor center and ends at Springer Mountain.[45] Because Springer Mountain is in a remote area, the Approach Trail is often the beginning of North bound thru-hike attempts. Much of the Approach Trail was originally built as part of the Appalachian Trail, before the southern terminus was relocated from Mount Oglethorpe to Springer Mountain.
Listed from south to north.
Southern terminus: Springer Mountain, Georgia
Northern terminus: Mount Katahdin, Maine
Management[edit]
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (originally, Appalachian Trail Conference) and the National Park Service oversee the entire length of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail via memoranda of understanding with other public agencies through whose land the trail runs, including the U.S. Forest Service, national parks, national forests, the Tennessee Valley Authority, state parks, and others, who help administer portions of the trail corridor. The estimated annual contribution of volunteer services for trail upkeep is $3 million.[128]
Use in research[edit]
The Appalachian Trail has been a resource for researchers in a variety of disciplines. Portions of the trail in Tennessee were used on a study on trail maintenance for the trail's "uniform environmental conditions and design attributes and substantial gradient in visitor use."[104] Beginning in 2007, various organizations, including the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the American Hiking Society, began a study to monitor environmental changes that have resulted from higher ozone levels, acid rain, smog, and other air quality factors.[129] Such research has been supported by the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Cornell University, the National Geographic Society, and Aveda Corporation.[129]
Behavioral studies have also been conducted on hikers themselves. A 2007 study on hikers found that most persons hike the trail "for fun and enjoyment of life and for warm relationships with others" and that "environmental awareness, physical challenge, camaraderie, exercise, and solitude" were chief results among hikers.[130] Since the highest single demographic of thru-hikers are males between the ages of 18 and 29, one informal study sought to find the correlation between this group and male college drop-outs.[131] A study in 2018 found that around 95 percent of thru-hikers identified their race or ethnicity as white.[36][132]
Official sites