JERRYANDMARCYMONKMAN/ ECOPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
Today the system comprises 8 scenic
and 18 historic trails totaling 47,000
miles and reflecting the immense
diversity of our nation’s history and
ecosystems.
Trails System (the other was the Pacific Crest Trail), this
iconic path stretches more than 2,175 miles through 14
eastern states from Maine to Georgia. The trail was
completed in 1937, but by the 1960s, hikers began to
notice that development of highways, pipelines, and vacation homes was threatening the wilderness feel of the
trail’s corridor. Concerned trail lovers appealed to the
federal government, and in 1968, Congress enacted
the framework of the National Trails System.
Today, the system comprises 8 scenic and 18 historic
trails totaling 47,000 miles and reflecting the immense
diversity of our nation’s history and ecosystems. The most
recent trail to be authorized—the Star-Spangled Banner
National Historic Trail, in the Chesapeake Bay region—
joined the system in 2008. “The Appalachian Trail alone
APPALACHIAN NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL
The granddaddy of national trails, the Appalachian
Trail stretches 2,175 miles through 14 states.
Conceived in 1921 and completed in 1937, the trail
traverses mountaintops, scenic dells, deep woods,
and culturally significant landscapes from Maine to
Georgia. An estimated 4 million people hike some
portion of the trail each year, including a number of
“through hikers” who follow the trail’s characteristic
white blazes—some 165,000 of them—along its
entire length. While the trail is open to the public
from end to end, some sections traverse private land,
and in many areas development threatens the trail’s
viewshed. To preserve the trail’s character, TPL has
completed many projects along its span, including
eight in New York and New England over the last
four years. Land protected includes 15 acres on
Vermont’s Stratton Pond (the largest pond on the
trail in Vermont) and 37,000 acres in the heart of
Maine’s 100-Mile Wilderness, the wildest and most
northerly stretch of the trail. More information is
available from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy at
www.appalachiantrail.org.
