The North Country Trail is a long-distance hiking trail in the Midwestern and Northeastern United States. The trail extends roughly 4,800 miles (7,700 km) from Lake Sakakawea State Park in North Dakota to the Appalachian Trail in Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont, passing through eight states along its route. As of 2023, most of the trail is in place, though about one-third of the distance consists of road walking; those segments are frequently evaluated for transfer to off-road segments on nearby public or private lands.
National Millennium Trails are 17 short- and long-distance trails selected from 58 nominees as visionary trails that reflect defining aspects of America's history and culture. The trails were chosen on June 26, 1999, by the White House Millennium Council and announced by U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater at the second international Trails and Greenways Conference in Pittsburgh, PA.
- Unicoi Turnpike – 68.8 miles (110.7 km) – from Murphy, North Carolina westward to Vonore, Tennessee exploring the Cherokee Trail of Tears
- Cascadia Marine Trail – 160 miles (260 km) – from Olympia, Washington to Point Roberts, Washington at the Canada–United States border tracing early Native American trade routes in the Puget Sound region.
- Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail – 1,200 miles (1,900 km) – from Nogales, Arizona northwestward to San Francisco, California marks the route of Spain's exploration and settlement led by Juan Bautista de Anza
- Freedom Trail – 2.5 miles (4.0 km) – from Boston Common to Bunker Hill Monument in Boston, Massachusetts connecting 15 sites of great significance in the Colonial history of the United States.
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail – 3,700 miles (6,000 km) – from Camp DuBois at Wood River, Illinois westward to Les Shirley Park, Oregon commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806.
- Underground Railroad – various routes through the eastern United States, Texas, Oklahoma, southern Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean representing the Underground Railroad escape routes for people held in slavery prior to the American Civil War.
- Civil War Discovery Trail – 500 sites in 27 states – honors the sacrifices and hardships of the American Civil War.
- International Express – 5 miles (8.0 km) – Queens County, New York from Sunnyside to Flushing follows the route of the New York City Subway's IRT Flushing Line, an underground and elevated subway line which was built to redistribute the large numbers of recent immigrants in the early 1900s.
- Iditarod National Historic Trail – 938 miles (1,510 km) – Seward, Alaska northwestward to Nome, Alaska traces America's only remaining frontier trail, the route of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and the human migratory route across the Bering Land Bridge.
- Appalachian National Scenic Trail – 2,160 miles (3,480 km) – Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mt. Katahdin, Maine this forested trail is the longest natural public thoroughfare in the world
- Great Western Trail – 3,100 miles (5,000 km) – Canada–US border southward to the Mexico–US border through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and Arizona
- North Country National Scenic Trail – 4,600 miles (7,400 km) – from Lake Sakakawea, North Dakota eastward to Port Henry, New York traversing the different types of landscapes that define the northern rim of the continental United States.
- Hatfield–McCoy Trail System – 2,000 miles (3,200 km) through West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia along the mountain ridges and abandoned coal mining fields of southern West Virginia
- East Coast Greenway – 3,000 miles (4,800 km) – Key West, Florida northward to Calais, Maine connecting 15 of America's most populous states and most major cities on the eastern seaboard.
- Mississippi River Trail – 2,000 miles (3,200 km) – from Lake Itasca, Minnesota southward to New Orleans, Louisiana honors one of the world's longest rivers.
- American Discovery Trail – 6,356 miles (10,229 km) from Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware westward to Point Reyes National Seashore, California
- Pacific Northwest Trail – 1,200 miles (1,900 km) from the Continental Divide in Montana to the Pacific Ocean on Washington’s Olympic Coast.
The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests is an administrative entity combining two U.S. National Forests into one of the largest areas of public land in the Eastern United States. The forests cover 1.8 million acres (2,800 sq mi) of land in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Approximately 1 million acres (1,600 sq mi) of the forest are remote and undeveloped and 139,461 acres (218 sq mi) have been designated as wilderness areas, which prohibits future development.
The Shasta–Trinity National Forest is a federally designated forest in northern California, United States. It is the largest National Forest in California and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The 2,210,485 acre forest encompasses five wilderness areas, hundreds of mountain lakes and 6,278 miles (10,103 km) of streams and rivers. Major features include Shasta Lake, the largest man-made lake in California and Mount Shasta, elevation 14,179 feet (4,322 m).
The Idaho Panhandle National Forests are a jointly administered set of three national forests located mostly in the U.S. state of Idaho. In 1973, major portions of the Kaniksu, Coeur d'Alene, and St. Joe National Forests were combined to be administratively managed as the Idaho Panhandle National Forests (IPNF). The IPNF consists of more than 2.5 million acres (10,000 km2) of public lands in the panhandle of north Idaho, with small areas extending into eastern Washington (4.7%) and western Montana (1.2%). The northernmost portion of the IPNF share a boundary with Canada. The Forest Supervisor's office is located in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho with district office's in Bonners Ferry, Sandpoint, Priest River, Fernan and Smelterville, and St. Maries and Avery.
The Mountains-to-Sea State Trail (MST) is a long-distance trail in the US for hiking and backpacking, that traverses North Carolina from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks. Its western endpoint is at Clingmans Dome, where it connects to the Appalachian Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Its eastern endpoint is in Jockey's Ridge State Park on the tallest sand dune on the east coast. The trail is envisioned as a scenic backbone of an interconnected trail system spanning the state. As such, its route attempts to connect as many trail systems and natural scenic areas as practicable. A little over half of the trail is complete in multiple segments across the state.
Three Rivers Park District is a special park district serving the suburban areas of the Twin Cities including suburban Hennepin, Carver, Dakota, Scott, and Ramsey counties. Three Rivers's mission is "To promote environmental stewardship through recreation and education in a natural resources-based park system." Three Rivers operates twenty parks and ten regional trails, with at least two more regional trails planned. Nearly seven million people visit Three Rivers facilities each year. It has over 27,000 acres (11,000 ha) of parks and trails.
The Florida Trail is one of eleven National Scenic Trails in the United States, created by the National Trails System Act of 1968. It runs 1,500 miles (2,400 km), from Big Cypress National Preserve to Fort Pickens at Gulf Islands National Seashore, Pensacola Beach. Also known as the Florida National Scenic Trail, the trail provides permanent non-motorized recreation for hiking and other compatible activities within an hour of most floridians.
The Salmon River is a 33.5-mile (53.9 km) river in the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Oregon that drains part of southwestern Mount Hood. The entire length of the river is a protected National Wild and Scenic River. Several portions are in protected wilderness. It is affluent to the Sandy River, a tributary of the Columbia River.
The Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness is a wilderness area located on the northern side of Mount Hood in the northwestern Cascades of the U.S. state of Oregon, near the Columbia River Gorge and within Mount Hood National Forest. Prior to Wilderness designation it was known as the Columbia Gorge Recreation Area.
The Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail, formerly known as the John Wayne Pioneer Trail and the Iron Horse Trail, is a rail trail that spans most of the U.S. state of Washington. It follows the former railway roadbed of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad for 300 miles (480 km) across two-thirds of the state, from the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains to the Idaho border.
There are many diverse trails within Olympic National Park. These trails traverse many different biomes, allowing hikers to explore from the coast of the Pacific Ocean to the summit of Mount Olympus. The trails vary in length from less than a mile and a few minutes hike to many miles and multiple days. The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail traverses the park from east to west, and has approximately 135 miles within its borders. The trails are divided into five separate areas, Staircase/Dosewallips Trails, Hurricane/Elwha Trails, Quinault/ Queets Trails, Hoh/Bogachiel/Sol Duc Trails, and Coastal Routes.
The Bay Circuit Trail and Greenway or Bay Circuit is a Massachusetts rail trail and greenway connecting the outlying suburbs of Boston from Plum Island in Newburyport to Kingston Bay in Duxbury, a distance of 200 miles (320 km).
The Grand Portage State Forest is a state forest located near the community of Hovland in Cook County, in extreme northeastern Minnesota. The forest encloses Judge C. R. Magney State Park, Swamp River Wildlife Management Area, Hovland Woods Scientific and Natural Area, and Spring Beauty Hardwoods Scientific and Natural Area. It borders the Grand Portage Indian Reservation to the east, the Superior National Forest to the west, and Ontario to the north. The forest is named after the Grand Portage, a historic trade route between the Great Lakes and the Northwest.
The Nature Coast State Trail (NCST) is a 31.7-mile long segment of Florida's Statewide System of Greenways and Trails System built along abandoned railroad tracks, and designated by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a National Recreation Trail. It has two primary sections following unused rail lines that were originally built by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. It includes historic sites such as a 1902 train trestle bridge over the Suwannee River near Old Town and train stations in Trenton, Cross City, and Chiefland. At Wilcox Junction abandoned rail tracks cross and connect with several communities. The trail is available to hikers, cyclists, and horse riders.
Minneapolis is often considered one of the top biking and walking cities in the United States due to its vast network of trails and dedicated pedestrian areas. In 2020, Walk Score rated Minneapolis as 13th highest among cities over 200,000 people. Some bicycling ratings list Minneapolis at the top of all United States cities, while others list Minneapolis in the top ten. There are over 80 miles (130 km) of paved, protected pathways in Minneapolis for use as transportation and recreation. The city's Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway parkway system accounts for the vast majority of the city's shared-use paths at approximately 50 miles (80 km) of dedicated biking and walking areas. By 2008, other city, county, and park board areas accounted for approximately 30 miles (48 km) of additional trails, for a city-wide total of approximately 80 miles (130 km) of protected pathways. The network of shared biking and walking paths continued to grow into the late 2010s with the additions of the Hiawatha LRT Trail gap remediation, Min Hi Line pilot projects, and Samatar Crossing. The city also features several natural-surface hiking trails, mountain-biking paths, groomed cross-country ski trails in winter, and other pedestrian walkways.
The protected areas of North Carolina cover roughly 3.8 million acres, making up 11% of the total land in the state. 86.5% of this protected land is publicly owned and is managed by different federal and state level authorities and receive varying levels of protection. Some areas are managed as wilderness while others are operated with acceptable commercial exploitation. The remainder of the land is privately owned, but willingly entered into conservation easement management agreements, or are owned by various nonprofit conservation groups such as the National Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy. North Carolina contains 1 National Park, and various other federally owned protected land including 2 National Seashores, 5 National Forests, 12 Wildlife Refuges, and the southern half of the Blue Ridge Parkway. North Carolina has an extensive state park system of 42 open units, 35 of which are state parks, 4 that are recreation areas, and 3 staffed state natural areas, along with other designated units managed by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
