Blue Ridge Mountains: Appalachian Trail, Black Mountains, Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Unicoi Mountains, George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest, Fight at Monterey Pass

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 75. Chapters: Appalachian Trail, Black Mountains, Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Unicoi Mountains, George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest, Fight at Monterey Pass, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Holston Mountain, Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests, Roanoke Star, Battle of South Mountain, Gathland State Park, Skyline Drive, Catoctin Mountain, Rockfish Gap, Poor Mountain, Humpback Rock, Battle of Loudoun Heights, Swift Run Gap, Old Rag Mountain, Mount Rogers, Big Meadows, Three Ridges Wilderness, Gambrill State Park, Ashby Gap, Bull Run Mountains, Washington Monument State Park, Battle of Manassas Gap, List of mountains of the Blue Ridge, Short Hill Mountain, Great Balsam Mountains, Unaka Range, Snickers Gap, Potomac Water Gap, Plott Balsams, Elk Ridge, Blue Ridge Mountain, Brushy Mountains, Sky Meadows State Park, Thornton Gap, Rocky Mountain, Maintop Mountain, Quirauk Mountain, Bald Mountains, Catoctin Trail, Lambs Knoll, Blue Ridge Music Center, Fox's Gap, Peaks of Otter, The Priest, Keyes Gap, Hawksbill Mountain, Great Craggy Mountains, Neighbor Mountain, Elk Pond Mountain, Fishers Gap, Mary's Rock, Carters Lake, G. Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area, South Mountain State Park, Wilson Gap, Whitetop Mountain, Turner's Gap, Hillsboro Gap, Pignut Mountain, Mabry Mill, Paris Mountain, Purcell Knob, Crampton's Gap, Apple Orchard Mountain, Chester Gap, Twelve O'clock Knob, High Knob, Knob Mountain, Buford's Gap, Chilhowee formation, Greenbrier State Park. Excerpt: The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately 2,181 miles (3,510 km) long. Along the way, the trail passes through the states of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The path is maintained by 30 trail clubs and multiple partnerships, and managed by the National Park Service and the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conservancy. The majority of the trail is in wilderness, although some portions traverse towns and roads, and cross rivers. The Appalachian Trail is famous for its many hikers, some of whom, called thru-hikers, attempt to hike it in its entirety in a single season. Many books, memoirs, web sites and fan organizations are dedicated to this pursuit. An unofficial extension known as the International Appalachian Trail, continues north into Canada and to the end of the range, where it enters the Atlantic Ocean. The Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail form what is known as the Triple Crown of long distance hiking in the United States. The trail was conceived by Benton MacKaye, a forester who wrote his original plan shortly after the death of his wife in 1921. MacKaye's idea detailed a grand trail that would connect a series of farms and wilderness work/study camps for city-dwellers. In 1922, at the suggestion of Major William A. Welch, director of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, his idea was publicized by Raymond H. Torrey with a story in the New York Evening Post under a full-page banner headline reading "A Great Trail from Maine to Georgia!" The idea was quickly adopted by the new Palisades Interstate...