National Trails
America's National Trails - a cooperative venture to link natural, historic, and cultural resources throughout the country.
As record numbers of Americans today seek opportunities to participate in outdoor activities, we hear stories in the news every day about the visitor overcrowding in Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Zion and other national parks. In fact, according to the National Park Service (NPS), the ten most popular parks drew more than 38 million visitors in 1996. In this week's segment I'll examine one of the "less famous" (but no less interesting) designations of the NPS - the National Trail System. The trails that comprise the NTS, some of which are thousands of miles in length, serve as reminders of our rich national heritage before the advent of railroads and the highway system, at a time when people traveled overland on foot, on horseback, or by wagon.
Though Congress established the National Park Service in 1916 to protect the nation's resources while providing opportunity for recreation, it wasn't until 1968 that the National Trails System Act provided for the development of a national system of trails in urban, rural, and even wilderness settings.
courtesy of the National Park Service
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Originally, the act specified three categories of national trails: scenic trails, recreation trails, and connecting or side trails. In 1978, historic trails were added as another category. Today, national scenic trails (NST) and national historic trails (NHT) may only be established by Congress, while national recreation trails (NRT) are designated by the secretaries of Agriculture or Interior.
Of the 19 national scenic and national historic trails so far established as part of the National Trails System, 12 are administered by the National Park Service, four by the Forest Service, and one by the Bureau of Land Management. Each national scenic and historic trail is a partnership between an administering federal agency and one or more non-profit trail organizations.
Perhaps the most famous American trail is the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. The AT was originally conceived in 1921 as a national preserve parallel to the East Coast. Today, the 2,160-mile footpath runs from Mount Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia, traversing 14 states while passing through 8 national forests, 6 units of the national park service, and 60 state parks, forests, and game lands. Primary use is by weekend hikers, but each year more than 1500 brave souls attempt a "thru-hike" - that is, they try to cover the entire 2,160 miles in one trip; of these, only about 300 succeed in this arduous 5-6 month journey.
Other national trails that feature spectacular scenery include the North Country NST, which journeys through a variety of environments, from New York's Adirondack Mountains to the vast plains of North Dakota, and the Continental Divide NST, which provides spectacularly rugged backcountry travel from the Canadian border down to Yellowstone National Park.
Historical trails follow original routes of travel of national historical significance, including exploration, migration, and military action. The California NHT traces the route of the greatest mass migration in American history, while the Iditarod NHT represents a series of historic trails made famous by Alaska gold prospectors and their dog teams during the late 19th and early 20th century gold rush. Each year the renowned 1,150-mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race is run along the trail from Anchorage to Nome.
Other national historic trails focusing on early exploration routes include the Lewis and Clark NHT, which commemorates the route of the 1804-1806 Expedition from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean; the Oregon National Historic Trail, which served as a pathway to the Pacific for gold seekers, missionaries, fur traders, and emigrants; and the Santa Fe NHT, which traces the route developed by US and Mexican traders following Mexican Independence in 1821. Historic trails also cover tragic chapters in American heritage. The Nez Perce NHT honors the heroic attempt by "non treaty" Nez Perce Indians to escape capture by the US Army, and the Trail of Tears NHT marks the route used for the forced removal of more than 15,000 Cherokee Indians from their ancestral lands by the US army .