The Appalachian Trail is a continuously marked footpath that goes from Maine to Georgia. The distance of the Appalachian trail is about 2,160 miles. The highest point on the Appalachian Trail is the Clingmans Dome. The Clingmans Dome is in North Carolina, and Tennessee. The lowest point part is the Prospect Rock, which is located in New York. Clingmans Dome gets an average of 85 inches of rain per year. This mountain was named after Thomas Lanier Clingman, a prospector. The picture to the left is Clingmans Dome, this was taken from a helicopter. To the right is a picture of Prospect Rock. All I could find out about Prospect Rock is it is on the Northern end of Capapon Mountain.

The Appalachian Trail passes through fourteen states. The states that it goes through are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and Georgia. I'm going to tell you the states and how long the Trail is in the states: Maine - 281 miles, New Hampshire - 161 miles, Vermont - 146 miles, Massachusetts - 90 miles, Connecticut - 52 miles, New York - 88 miles, New Jersey - 74 miles, Pennsylvania - 232 miles, Maryland - 41 miles, West Virginia - 2 miles, Virginia - 544 miles, Tennessee-North Carolina - 371 miles, Georgia - 75 miles.

There is also another trail, which is an extension of the Appalachian Trail. This Trail is called the International Appalachian Trail. The International Appalachian Trail is 675-miles long, it runs from Maine into Quebec. This Trail is actually a seperate trail, not a real extension of the Appalachian Trail. I also found out that the trail is currently protected along more than 99 percent of its course by federal or state ownership of the land. Also, more than 4,000 volunteers contribute over 175,000 hours of effort on the Appalachian Trail, which is used to keep it clean and other things. The last thing I found out is: Trail hikers who complete the entire trail a couple of times in a single season are termed "thru-hikers"; the people who try the trail a couple of times in a series of seperate trips are known as "section-hikers." Those heading from Georgia to Maine, are termed "north-bounders" while those heading in the opposite direction are termed "south-bounders." Northbound is the direction in which the whole route is most often attempted, as many hikers will start out early spring and follow the season as it progresses. Part of hiker subculture includes making colorful entries in log books at trail shelters, signed under trail names adopted by the hikers.