Great Eastern Trail

The Great Eastern Trail is a north-south hiking route that runs roughly 1,600 miles through the Appalachian Mountains west of the Appalachian Trail in the eastern United States. It is still under development as of 2016. From south to north, it runs from Flagg Mountain through Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, ending in western New York state. A connection from Flagg Mountain south to the Florida-Georgia Border is considered "Phase II Development."

Contents

• Great eastern trail overview part 1 alabama pinhoti
• Great eastern trail top 9 facts
• Trails in system
• References

It is a potential connector in the US National Trails System, linking the Florida National Scenic Trail in the south to the North Country National Scenic Trail in New York. In between, it would connect with and briefly overlap two other National Scenic Trails: the Appalachian Trail and the Potomac Heritage Trail.

Many sections of Great Eastern Trail are already hikeable for day use and backpackers. The longest continuously usable sections are on the Pinhoti National Recreation Trail, and from Narrows, Virginia, northward through portions of Virginia, West Virginia, all of Maryland, all of Pennsylvania, to a junction with Finger Lakes Trail carrying North Country National Scenic Trail near South Bradford, New York.

The project enjoyed support from the American Hiking Society and the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program 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.

On January 10, 2013, "Hillbilly" Bart Houck (Mullens, WV) and Joanna "Someday" Swanson (Willow River, MN) started hiking in Alabama and arrived in New York on June 18, 2013, becoming the first to complete a thru-hike of the Great Eastern Trail. In October 2016, Kathy Finch (NH) became the first to complete a southbound thru-hike from New York State to Flagg Mountain, Alabama.

Several other names were suggested and used earlier during the development of the trail, including the Western Appalachian Alternative. The northern terminus was once considered to overlay with North Country National Scenic Trail at Crown Point, New York, but was truncated to the NCNST junction in southwestern New York State.