Appalachian Trail Hiking

The Appalachian Trail is a track across Eastern United States, spanning 2,175 miles. It is commonly regarded as one of the hardest hiking trails across the United States today. The trail passes through the Appalachian Mountains; however, on top of this you will also pass through scenic towns and over beautiful rivers.

The trail spans through 14 states including New York and Massachusetts, and many hikers try and complete the 2,175 miles in a season. When a hiker attempts the entire trail in one season it is called a “thru hike” – it will take months of hard work. Only highly trained hikers with lots of planning can complete such a journey. The trail is usually hiked south to north from Georgia to Maine between May and September to avoid the brunt of the bad weather. There is also an unofficial expansion to the Appalachian trail, which starts from Canada, through Quebec and down into Maine.

Section hikers are hikers just looking to get outdoors and enjoy several days of hiking. They complete different sections of the trail without doing the whole thing from start to finish. All classes of hikers can finish a section hike with the proper supplies and training.

Even though it is not the toughest hike around you will come across some harsh obstacles, including some extremely hard-hitting weather (thunderstorms), bears, snakes and some steep grades.

You will never be short of a spot to stay, as there are 250 camp sites between the beginning and the end of the trail, also, as this is an extremely popular hiking route, many people offer out their homes as additional place to stay.

The amount of people that have complete the trail is around 10,000 people, but it is suggested that around 100,000 have attempted it, making the overall completion rate around 10%, and with figures like this it is not hard to see why the Appalachian Trail is one of the most feared hiking spots in the USA.

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