The Appalachian Trail stretches nearly 2,200 miles continuously from the eastern US states of Georgia to Maine. After almost 20 years of hard work and collaboration between the US Government (including workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps under the Works Progress Administration), local hiking groups, and private land owners, the trail was completed in 1937. The Appalachian Trail is currently managed by the National Park Service and the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Around 4 million people use the trail per year. It is also serves as a natural laboratory for environmental studies research on topics related to human activity, such tropospheric ozone levels and acid rain.
Contributed by Fox Jamison
Course: Modern Global Environmental History
Instructor: Dr. Wilko Graf von Hardenberg
University of Wisconsin–Madison, US
- Goldenberg, Marni, Eddie Hill, and Barbara Freidt. "Why Individuals Hike the Appalachian Trail: A Qualitative Approach to Benefits." Journal of Experiential Education 30, no. 3 (2008): 277–81.
- Bryson, Bill. "A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail.". New York: Random House LLC, 2006.