Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian Trail runs for about 2,197 miles, or 3,536 km, along the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. Its southern end is Springer Mountain in Georgia and its northern end is Mount Katahdin in Maine, and it passes through 14 states on the way.

The forester Benton MacKaye proposed the trail in 1921 as a long footpath linking wild areas within reach of the crowded eastern cities. Volunteers from hiking clubs built it section by section, and it was completed in 1937. In 1968 it became one of the first two National Scenic Trails in the country.

The trail is marked with white paint blazes on trees and rocks, while blue blazes lead to side trails, shelters, viewpoints and parking. More than 250 shelters and campsites are spaced roughly a day's walk apart. The highest point is Kuwohi in the Great Smoky Mountains at 6,643 feet, and the lowest is at Bear Mountain State Park in New York at 124 feet. Along the way the route crosses the Smokies, Shenandoah National Park, the Delaware Water Gap, the Green Mountains and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

The National Park Service, the US Forest Service and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy manage the trail together with 31 local trail clubs. Thru-hikers who walk the whole route in one season usually need five to seven months, and most start in Georgia in early spring and walk north.

Most visitors walk short sections as day hikes, which need no permit and no fee. Some areas crossed by the trail, such as Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah national parks and Baxter State Park around Katahdin, have their own permit or registration rules for overnight stays.

How many people finish a thru-hike?

About one in three hikers who set out to walk the whole trail complete it, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. More than 20,000 completed thru-hikes have been reported to the Conservancy since the trail was finished, and anyone who walks the full distance, in one go or in sections, can apply to be recognised as a 2,000-miler.

The Conservancy asks thru-hikers to register their plans voluntarily through its ATCamp system. Registering shows how many people intend to start on each date, which helps hikers pick a less crowded start and eases pressure on shelters and campsites in Georgia in March and April.

Northbound, southbound or flip-flop?

Most thru-hikers walk north from Springer Mountain, but the Conservancy also promotes flip-flop hikes, which begin somewhere in the middle, often around Harpers Ferry, walk to one end, then return to the start point and walk to the other. A flip-flop gives more flexibility, fewer crowds, milder weather and easier terrain at the start.

Southbound hikers start at Katahdin in Maine, where Baxter State Park has its own rules for long-distance hikers, and face some of the hardest terrain in the first weeks. The Conservancy's headquarters and visitor centre at 799 Washington Street in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, close to the trail's psychological halfway point, is where many hikers stop to have their photograph taken for the long-running hiker archive. Some sections of the trail charge entrance or permit fees, and some campsites charge to stay.