Appalachian Trail in the context of "Via Transilvanica"

The National Trails System is a series of trails in the United States designated "to promote the preservation of, public access to, travel within, and enjoyment and appreciation of the open-air, outdoor areas and historic resources of the Nation". There are four types of trails: the national scenic trails, national historic trails, national recreation trails, and connecting or side trails. The national trails provide opportunities for hiking and historic education, as well as horseback riding, biking, camping, scenic driving, water sports, and other activities. The National Trails System consists of 11 national scenic trails, 21 national historic trails, over 1,300 national recreation trails, and seven connecting and side trails, as well as one national geologic trail, with a total length of more than 91,000 mi (150,000 km). The scenic and historic trails are in every state, and Virginia and Wyoming have the most running through them, with six.

In response to a call by President Lyndon B. Johnson to have a cooperative program to build public trails for "the forgotten outdoorsmen of today" in both urban and backcountry areas, the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation released a report in 1966 entitled Trails for America. The study made recommendations for a network of national scenic trails, park and forest trails, and metropolitan area trails to provide recreational opportunities, with evaluations of several possible trails, both scenic and historic. The program for long-distance natural trails was created on October 2, 1968, by the National Trails System Act, which also designated two national scenic trails, the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, and requested that an additional fourteen trail routes be studied for possible inclusion. Sponsored by Senators Henry M. Jackson and Gaylord Nelson and Representative Roy A. Taylor, part of the bill's impetus was threats of development along the Appalachian Trail, which was at risk of losing its wilderness character, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund was used to acquire lands. In 1978, as a result of the study of trails that were most significant for their historic associations, national historic trails were created as a new category with four trails designated that year. Since 1968, over forty trail routes have been studied for inclusion in the system.

Appalachian Trail station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, serving campers and hikers destined for the Appalachian Trail, in Pawling, New York. It is the only rail station directly located on the Appalachian Trail. Trains stop on weekends and holidays only.

The North Country Trail (NCT, officially designated the North Country National Scenic 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.

The trail was designated a National Scenic Trail by the United States Congress in 1980, and became an official unit of the National Park System in 2023. The NCT is administered by the National Park Service, managed by federal, state, and local agencies, and built and maintained primarily by volunteers coordinated by the North Country Trail Association (NCTA) and affiliated local organizations.

In geography, a backcountry, back country or backwater is a geographical area that is remote, undeveloped, isolated, or difficult to access. These areas are typically rural or mountainous and sparsely populated.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a national park of the United States in the southeast, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains and part of the Appalachian temperate rainforest, which are a division of the larger Appalachian Mountain chain. The park contains some of the highest mountains in eastern North America, including Kuwohi, Mount Guyot, and Mount Le Conte. The border between the two states runs northeast to southwest through the center of the park. The Appalachian Trail passes through the center of the park on its route from Georgia to Maine. With over 12 million visitors in 2024, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the United States.

The park encompasses 522,419 acres (816.28 sq mi; 211,415.47 ha; 2,114.15 km), making it one of the largest protected areas in the eastern United States. The main park entrances are located along U.S. Highway 441 (Newfound Gap Road) in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and Cherokee, North Carolina, and also in Townsend, Tennessee. The park is internationally recognized for its mountains, waterfalls, biodiversity, and forests. In addition, the park preserves multiple historical structures that were part of communities occupied by early European-American settlers of the area.

Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, and Hanover High School. The Appalachian Trail crosses the town, connecting with a number of trails and nature preserves.

Most of the population resides in the Hanover census-designated place (CDP)—the main village of the town. Located at the junctions of New Hampshire routes 10, 10A, and 120, the Hanover CDP recorded a population of 9,078 people at the 2020 census. The town is part of the Lebanon–Claremont micropolitan area and also contains the smaller villages of Etna and Hanover Center.

The Cumberland Valley is a northern constituent valley of the Great Appalachian Valley, within the Atlantic Seaboard watershed in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Appalachian Trail crosses through the valley.

The White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) is a federally managed forest contained within the White Mountains in the northeastern United States. It was established in 1918 as a result of the Weeks Act of 1911; federal acquisition of land had already begun in 1914. It has a total area of 750,852 acres (303,859 ha) (1,225 sq mi). Most of the WMNF is in New Hampshire; a small part (about 5.65% of the forest) is in the neighboring state of Maine. Conservationist and community activist Katherine Sleeper Walden was instrumental in securing at-risk land for the forest, including thousands of acres in the region surrounding the locally famous Bowl near Wonalancet.

While sometimes called a park, it is a national forest, used for logging and other limited commercial purposes in addition to recreational activities. The WMNF is the only national forest located in either New Hampshire or Maine, and is the most eastern national forest in the United States. Most of the major peaks over 4,000 feet high in New Hampshire are located in the national forest. Over 100 miles (160 km) of the Appalachian Trail traverses the White Mountain National Forest. In descending order of land area the forest lies in parts of Grafton, Coos, and Carroll counties in New Hampshire, and Oxford County in Maine.