By the Numbers:
NATIONAL SCENIC AND
HISTORIC TRAILS
Current number of National Scenic Trails: 8
Approximate total authorized miles of these
hiking trails: 15,600
Approximate percent of those miles open to
the public in 2005: 67
Rank of the Pacific Crest Trail among National Scenic
Trails in total miles open for public hiking: 1
Current number of National Historic Trails: 18
Approximate total authorized miles of these trails:
35,300
In 2005, approximate miles of historic trails
open to the public for auto travel: 21,690
Number of the 50 U.S. states on the National
Scenic and Historic Trail system: 48
Annual smiles per mile generated on National Scenic
and Historic Trails: inestimable
approaches Civil War battlefields, crosses remote stretches
of wilderness and the habitat of globally rare endangered
species, and offers views of the New York skyline,” says
TPL staffer J. T. Horn, who previously worked for the
Appalachian Trail Conservancy. “There are more threatened and endangered species along the Appalachian Trail
than in any other unit in the national park system.”
Trails in the system range from thousands of miles
in length—planned around a geographic corridor such
as the Appalachians or a historic route such as the
Oregon Trail—to shorter journeys such as the Selma to
Montgomery National Historic Trail. While some hikers make it a life’s goal to traverse an entire national
scenic trail, many more visitors tackle short, favorite
segments of trail for a few hours or maybe a day.
Certain public sites along the historic trails, such as
Fort Clatsop at the Pacific Coast terminus of the Lewis
and Clark Trail, attract flocks of visitors.
Each trail is administered by one or more of three
federal agencies—the National Park Service, USDA
Forest Service, or Bureau of Land Management—
depending on its location and other factors. Federal
funding for trail maintenance is often matched locally
Trails range from thousands of miles in
length to much shorter journeys. Some
historic sites attract flocks of visitors.
by the labor of volunteers. And each trail is supported
by a partner stewardship group such as the Appalachian
Trail Conservancy or the Florida Trail Association—a
cooperating foundation or nonprofit that supports the
trail’s protection, maintenance, and programming.
Professionalism in these groups has grown as trails
have been added, says Gary Werner, executive director
of the nonprofit Partnership for the National Trail
System (PNTS), which leads the advocacy efforts of the
many organizations that support national trails.
“In the early 1990s there were only a few trails that
had full-time staff; now five of the National Scenic
Trails and half of the Historic Trails employ paid staff.
We’ve come a long way.”
A TRAIL IS BUILT
We follow in Dale Allen’s footsteps, passing pockets of
sun-bleached sawgrass marsh within the trail’s cathedral
of palm, cedar, and pine. A self-described “unrepentant
schoolteacher,” Allen interprets the landscape as he
walks, pointing out distinctive plant life with a six-foot
length of weathered bamboo (“Shelf fungi! Overcup
oak acorns! Beautyberry!”). Narrow boardwalks constructed by Florida Trail volunteers elevate our path
where we might otherwise have waded.
Only unmarked forests—an impenetrable line of
brush—faced Allen when, as a volunteer more than 25
years ago, he first began to design and flag a route for
this section of the Florida National Scenic Trail. He
had moved to Tallahassee to work as a field representative for The Trust for Public Land, where he eventually
served as Southeast regional director for 23 years. “I
would scout for TPL during the week, and for the trail
Saturdays and Sundays,” says Allen.
“At first I would come out here in the driest weather
and think I could just flag a path from one beautiful vista
or big old tree to the next,” he continues. “But after a hard
rain, I often found my proposed route underwater. I
learned to follow deer and other game trails: the animals
know the easiest paths through these woods. It probably
