Hiking in the Appalachian National Park
Information courtesy of National Park Service - U. S. Department of the Interior
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail is a 2,174-mile footpath along the ridgecrests and across the major valleys of the Appalachian Mountains from Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in northern 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.
The A.T. began as a vision of forester Benton MacKaye and was developed by volunteers and opened as a continuous trail in 1937. It was designated as the first National Scenic Trail by the National Trails System Act of 1968. The Trail is currently protected along more than 99 percent of its course by federal or state ownership of the land or by rights-of-way. Annually, more than 4,000 volunteers contribute more than 185,000 hours of effort on the Appalachian Trail.
Short and long-term hiking, backpacking, bird and wildlife watching, and other backcountry recreation. Other activities are available along the Trail in 6 units of the National Park Service, 8 national forests and 60 state parks and forests.
Contact them by mail:
Appalachian National Scenic Trail NPS Park Office
Harpers Ferry Center
Harpers Ferry, WV 25425
- or -
Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC)
PO Box 807
Harpers Ferry, WV 25425
Contact them by phone:
Visitor Information
304-535-6331 (ATC)
Headquarters
304-535-6278 (NPS
