An intro to hiking the USA's coolest wilderness trails

[María José]

 

For visitors, this enormous country is packed with appeal for anyone and everyone, from history, culture, dining, and shopping to some of the most amazing ecotourism experiences on the planet. Hikers and other fans of the great outdoors will be in heaven in the wide open spaces out in the American West (and even no small few along the Eastern Seaboard), starting with a network of national parks which though under increasing siege these past couple of years is still the envy of the world, wild and well maintained. The efforts of the U.S. National Park Service are crucially supplemented by private and public-private support associations which in addition to providing financial support also offer pools of volunteers to help maintain wilderness areas and especially the well-marked hiking trails throught them.

Three of these trails - the so-called Triple Crown - are particularly worth your time: the Pacific Crest Trail through California, Oregon, and Washington State; the even longer Continental Divide Trail through five states from New Mexico to Wyoming; and back east, the Appalachian Trail through 14 states from Georgia to Maine. Any one of these can be the adventure of a lifetime, and as an inveterate hiker, I have a few tips for anyone considering embarking on that adventure.

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