Tuesday, September 4, 2012

List Of Long Distance Hiking Trails

Trails

This is a list of long distance trails in the US that are at least 100 miles in length and are primarily footpaths. Most of these trails are maintained by hiking clubs and outdoor recreational organizations. Please consider joining these organizations, becoming a trail maintenance volunteer, making a donation, or purchasing merchandise from their web site stores. These are all great trails. so get out there and hike them.

Appalachian Trail
As probably the best known long distance trail in the US, the Appalachian trail spans 2,181 miles from Maine to Georgia. Many local trail organizations contribute time and effort to maintaining sections of the trail.

Arizona Trail
The Arizona Trail is a primitive long distance trail, nearly 800 miles long, that traverses the state of Arizona from Mexico to Utah. The rail is broken into 43 sections that are 11 to 35 miles in length.

Benton MacKaye Trail
The Benton MacKaye Trail runs through the Appalachian Mountains of the southeast US for nearly 300 miles and passes through some of the most remote backcountry of Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina.

Buckeye Trail
The Buckeye Trail forms a circuit around the state of Ohio and is neat 1,444 miles in length. There are 26 section to the Buckeye trail each named after a town or trail feature.

Cohos Trail
The Cohos Trail is a 162 mile trail in northern New Hampshire that stretches across the state's most remote and unpopulated terrain.

Colorado Trail
Stretching almost 500 miles from Denver to Durango, the Colorado Trail travels through the spectacular Colorado Rocky Mountains amongst peaks with lakes, creeks and diverse ecosystems. Trail users experience six wilderness areas and eight mountain ranges topping out at 13,334 feet.

Continental Divide Trail

The Continental Divide Trail links Mexico to Canada, passing through the states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. At this time, the CDT is not yet completed although significant portions have been completed in all 4 states. The Continental Divide separates the rivers and streams that flow east to the Atlantic Ocean from those that flow west to the Pacific.

Finger Lakes Trail
The Finger Lakes Trail is 562 miles long and connects the Catskills with the Allegheny Mountains passing through remote sections of New York State.

Florida Trail
The Florida Trail stretches the length of the State of Florida for nearly 1,400 miles. Portions of the trail that cross private land can only be hiked if you are a member of the Florida Trail Association, so join now.

Foothills Trail
The Foothills Trail is a 76 mile woodland path along the Blue Ridge Escarpment in northwestern South Carolina.

Horseshoe Trail
The Horse-Shoe Trail is a 140-mile hiking and equestrian trail that runs from Valley Forge to the Appalachian Trail in southeastern Pennsylvania. The trail runs roughly parallel to the I-76 turnpike from Harrisburg to Valley Forge.
  • Join the Horse-Shoe Trail Club
  • Guide to the Horse-Shoe Trail

Ice Age Trail
 The 1,000 mile Ice Age Trail is located entirely within the state of Wisconsin. The Trail goes through mixed forests, open prairies, marsh and wetland areas, along wide gravel rail-trails and established state park trails. It traverses farm fields, urban and residential areas, small communities and remote state and national forests.

John Muir Trail
The John Muir trail runs for 211 miles from Yosemite Valley to Mt. Whitney, in California. The trail is considered one of the most picturesque hikes in the US and trail elevation ranges from 8,000 feet to nearly 15,000 feet. Wilderness Permits are required to camp on the trail.

Long Path
the Long Path is a 326 mile hiking trail extending from the George Washington Bridge, north to John Boyd Thacher Park near Albany. Future plans are to extend the trail to the Mohawk River and eventually into the Adirondaks.

Long Trail
Built by the Green Mountain Club between 1910 and 1930, the 272 mile Long Trail is the oldest long-distance trail in the United States. The Long Trail follows the main ridge of the Green Mountains from the Massachusetts-Vermont line to the Canadian border as it crosses Vermont's highest peaks. It was the inspiration for the Appalachian Trail, which coincides with it for one hundred miles in the southern third of the state.

Mason Dixon Trail
The 193 mile long Mason-Dixon Trail starts on the Appalachian trial at Whiskey Spings in Cumberland County, PA and runs to Chadds Ford, PA, on the banks of the Brandywine River. The Mason Dixon trail system membership is aging and seeks new members and volunteers to help preserve this historic trail.

Metacomet-Monadnock Trail
The Metacomet-Monadnock Trial is 114 miles long and runs from the Connecticut-Massachusetts state line to Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire. The M-M trail passes through  the most beautiful sections of Western Massachusetts and is maintains by the Western Massachusetts Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club.

Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway
The Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway is a 50 mile hiking trail linking Mount Monadnock with Mount Sunapee in southwestern New Hampshire. The trail winds along the Monadnock Highlands that separate the Connecticut and Merrimack River watersheds.

Mountains to Sea Trail
North Carolina's Mountains to Sea trail is a 935 miles long, stretching from Clingman's Dome in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park to Jockey's Ridge State Park on the Atlantic Ocean. The entire end-to-end trail is not completed, although significant portions are finished. .


North Country Trail
The North Country Trial is nearly 4,600 miles long and passes through 7 northern states including New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin,
  • Join the North Country Trail Association
  • Purchase maps and guides

Ouachita Trail
 The Ouachita Trail stretches 223 miles through the beautiful Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Ozark Highlands Trail
The Ozark Highlands Trail is 165 miles long and is located in northwest Arkansas.

The Ozark Trail
The Ozark Trail is 350 miles of trail that wind through the Missouri Ozarks, part of a 25-year-old concept to run a trail from St. Louis to the Arkansas border and eventually connect with the Ozark Highland Trail in Arkansas to create a 700-mile through-trail.

Pacific Crest Trail
The Pacific Crest Trail is 2,650 miles long and zigzags its way from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon and Washington. The trail passes through a wide variety of habitats including desert, old-growth forest and alpine back country.

Pacific Northwest Trail
The Pacific Northwest Trail is 1,200 miles long and runs from the Continental divide to the Pacific, passing through the Rocky Mountains, the Selkirk Mountains, Pasayten Wilderness, the North Cascades, the Olympic Mountains and the Wilderness Coast.

Midstate Trail of Pennsylvania
The 285 mile Midstate Trail is the longest continuous footpath in Pennsylvania running from the Mason Dixon Line to the Pennsylvania/New York State border. The trail features spectacular vista from mountaintops and the remoteness of wild forests and streams.

Superior Hiking Trail
The Superior Hiking Trail is a 205 mile long footpath that follows the rocky ridgeline above Lake Superior in northeastern Minnesota from Two Harbors to the Canadian border. The trail has trailheads with parking lots every 5 to 10 miles, making it ideal for section hikers.


Tahoe Rim Trail
The Tahoe Rim Trail is a 165 mile loop around Lake Tahoe. About 50 miles of the trail overlap with the Pacific Crest Trail.

Tuscarora Trail
The Tuscarora Trail is a 248-mile route that parallels the Appalachian Trail in northern Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. 

 

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