Appalachian Trail in North Carolina

Each spring nearly 1,500 people hoist unbelievably heavy packs onto their backs and strain down a misty trail, intent on accomplishing the most difficult task of their lives: going the length of the Appalachian Mountains. The footpath links a tree-covered mountaintop in Georgia and a rock-capped summit in central Maine. The trail winds for 300 miles across western North Carolina, home to some of its highest elevations and most spectacular scenery. Nearly sixty years old, the Appalachian Trail (AT) was the first organized recreational avenue to wilderness. Today there are many long-distance trails, but none equals the AT. Descriptions of the following trails are included: the Overmountain Victory Trail (OVT), in the Southern Balds area; Lovers Leap Rock and Pump Gap Trail in the Hot Springs area; Rube Rock and Groundhog Creek Trails in the Max Patch area; Chestnut Branch Trail, Lower Mount Cammerer Trail, Mount Cammerer Trail, Low Gap Trail, and the Big Creek Trail in the Greak Smoky Mountains National Park; the Jump-Off, Charlies Bunion, Sawteeth, Boulevard Trail, Spruce-Fir Nature Trail, Clingmans Dome, Andrews Bald, Forney Ridge Trail, Silers Bald and Clingmans Dome Bypass trail in the Great Smokies' Newfound Gap Area; Shuckstack hike, Lost Cove Trail, Lakeshore Trail, Cheoah Bald and Wesser Bald in the Stecoah Area; and Siler Bald hike, Big Laurel Falls Trail, Southern Nantahala Wilderness, Lower Ridge Trail, Standing Indian, Kimsey Creek Trail, Park Creek Trail, Park Ridge Trail, the Long Branch Trail and the Chunky Gal Trail in the Wayah Bald/ Standing Indian area.