Great Eastern Trail | |
---|---|
Length | 1,600 mi (2,600 km) |
Trailheads | Florida Trail North Country Trail |
Use | Hiking |
Difficulty | Moderate to strenuous |
Season | Year-round |
The Great Eastern Trail is a network of hiking trails forming a long-distance route in the eastern United States. North of Georgia, the route runs parallel to, and slightly to the west of, the Appalachian Trail. As of 2022, it is still under development and its current length is approximately 1,600 miles (2,600 km). Upon its completion the network is projected to be more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) in length. [1]
The Great Eastern Trail network mostly consists of previously-existing long distance trails that have been combined to form a multi-state network. Some new connectors between those trails remain to be developed. [2] Hiking northbound, the network is projected to begin in Florida and to pass through Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, with its northern terminus at the North Country Trail in western New York State. [3] Much of the route in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia will be shared with the Eastern Continental Trail network. [4]
Upon its completion, the Great Eastern Trail is slated to be added to the US National Trails System. [5] The project received support from the American Hiking Society and the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program [6] of the US National Park Service, but then became an independent entity. The Great Eastern Trail Association was incorporated in Virginia on August 10, 2007, by signatories from the nine states through which the trail passes. [7]
In June 2013 "Hillbilly" Bart Houck of Mullens, West Virginia and Joanna "Someday" Swanson of Willow River, Minnesota became the first to complete a thru-hike on the developed segments of the Great Eastern Trail network from Alabama to New York. [8] In October 2016, Kathy Finch of New Hampshire became the first to complete a southbound thru-hike of the completed segments from New York to Alabama. [9]
The Great Eastern Trail will be incorporated into portions of the previously-existing trails listed below; while several gaps remain to be filled. The list below follows the projected route from south to north. [10]
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains before experiencing natural erosion. The Appalachian chain is a barrier to east–west travel, as it forms a series of alternating ridgelines and valleys oriented in opposition to most highways and railroads running east–west.
The Appalachian Trail, 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. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy claims the Appalachian Trail to be the longest hiking-only trail in the world. More than three million people hike segments of the trail each year.
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The Tuscarora Trail is a 252-mile (406 km) hiking trail in the eastern United States, following the Appalachian Mountains through portions of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Its route is roughly parallel to, and to the west of, the Appalachian Trail.
The Great Appalachian Valley, also called The Great Valley or Great Valley Region, is one of the major landform features of eastern North America. It is a gigantic trough—a chain of valley lowlands—and the central feature of the Appalachian Mountains system. The trough stretches about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) from Quebec in the north to Alabama in the south and has been an important north–south route of travel since prehistoric times.
Appalachia is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, to Cheaha Mountain in Alabama, Appalachia typically refers only to the cultural region of the central and southern portions of the range, from the Catskill Mountains of New York southwest to the Blue Ridge Mountains which run southwest from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia, and the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. In 2020, the region was home to an estimated 26.1 million people, of whom roughly 80% are white.
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The Tennessee Valley is the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and is largely within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches from southwest Kentucky to north Alabama and from northeast Mississippi to the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina. The border of the valley is known as the Tennessee Valley Divide. The Tennessee Valley contributes greatly to the formation of Tennessee's three legally recognized sectors.
The Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) is a series of highway corridors in the Appalachia region of the eastern United States. The routes are designed as local and regional routes for improving economic development in the historically isolated region. It was established as part of the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965, and has been repeatedly supplemented by various federal and state legislative and regulatory actions. The system consists of a mixture of state, U.S., and Interstate routes. The routes are formally designated as "corridors" and assigned a letter. Signage of these corridors varies from place to place, but where signed are often done so with a distinctive blue-colored sign.
"Ridgerunner" is a nickname for people from the higher parts of mountainous areas in the Southeastern United States, especially the Appalachians. However, it has significantly different meanings from one State to another. The name has been used of people from some parts of: Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
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Mount Rogers National Recreation Area is a United States national recreation area (NRA) in southwestern Virginia near the border with Tennessee and North Carolina. It centerpiece is the Lewis Fork Wilderness containing Mount Rogers, the highest point in the state of Virginia with a summit elevation of 5,729 feet. The recreation area is under the jurisdiction of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. The recreation area was established by an act of the United States Congress on May 31, 1966.
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