Longest Hiking Trails In The United States

The United States is laced with long-distance hiking trails, and the longest of them run for thousands of miles across deserts, mountains, and forests. Some link several states or even cross into Canada, while a couple loop within the bounds of a single state. People take them on for the exercise, the solitude, and the scenery. Below are ten of the longest hiking trails in the country, listed in order of length, starting with the longest.

Longest U.S. Hiking Trails

American Discovery Trail

The American Discovery Trail is billed as the only coast-to-coast nonmotorized trail in the country. Counting both of its parallel midwest routes, it totals more than 6,800 miles, though a single continuous coast-to-coast hike runs closer to 5,000 miles. It crosses 15 states and Washington, D.C., reaching from Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware on the Atlantic to Point Reyes on the California coast. Along the way it passes through 16 national forests and 14 national parks and links more than 10,000 sites of historic, cultural, and natural significance, connecting urban centers to wilderness areas.

Great Western Loop

The Great Western Loop is a roughly 6,875-mile circuit that links five existing long-distance trails, among them the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail, into a single loop around the American West. Andrew Skurka became the first person to complete it, in 2007, and only a handful of hikers have finished it since. It runs through nine states, including New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona, and crosses the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, 12 national parks, and 75 wilderness areas.

Eastern Continental Trail

The Eastern Continental Trail is an informal linkage of footpaths rather than a single designated trail, running about 5,400 miles from Key West, Florida, to Belle Isle in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It strings together the Florida Trail, the Appalachian Trail, the International Appalachian Trail, and others, and hotels, hostels, and campgrounds can be found all along the way. Its high point comes at 6,643 feet on Kuwohi, formerly called Clingmans Dome, on the Tennessee-North Carolina line in the Great Smoky Mountains.

North Country Trail

The North Country Trail is next on the list at about 4,800 miles, which makes it the longest of the country's National Scenic Trails. It runs between Lake Sakakawea State Park in North Dakota and a junction with the Appalachian Trail in Vermont's Green Mountain National Forest, crossing eight states after a 2021 extension added its Vermont section. It winds through 10 national forests, open grasslands, and river valleys, and it passes the Finger Lakes in New York and the shores of the Great Lakes. Trail towns in every state along the route provide services for hikers.

Great Western Trail

The Great Western Trail runs about 4,455 miles between Mexico and Canada through five western states: Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. It is a multiple-use corridor rather than a foot-only path, and hikers along it pass historic routes such as the Mormon Honeymoon Trail, Beale's Wagon Road, and the Moqui Stage Station, which have changed little since the pioneer era. Northern sections are often closed in winter because of snow.

Continental Divide Trail

The Continental Divide Trail comes in at about 3,100 miles. One of the three Triple Crown trails, it follows the Continental Divide between Mexico and Canada through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. Along the way it crosses glacial valleys, the rugged Needle Mountains of Colorado, open desert, and high alpine tundra.

Pacific Crest Trail

The Pacific Crest Trail stretches about 2,650 miles along the highest reaches of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges. Another member of the Triple Crown, it begins at the Mexican border near Campo, California, and ends at Manning Park in British Columbia, Canada.

Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian Trail extends about 2,197 miles between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, passing through 14 states along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains. Its length is remeasured almost every year as sections are rerouted. The trail climbs from a low of about 124 feet at Bear Mountain State Park in New York to its high point of 6,643 feet on Kuwohi, formerly Clingmans Dome, in the Great Smoky Mountains. It is open only to foot travel, with no motorized or bicycle use, which makes it one of the longest continuously marked footpaths in the world, though it does cross many roads and highways along the way. More than 250 campsites and shelters line the route, along with trail towns where locals assist hikers, and the protected corridor is home to over 2,000 rare, threatened, endangered, or sensitive plant and animal species.

Buckeye Trail

The Buckeye Trail stands out because it is contained within a single state. Its 1,444 miles loop around Ohio, passing through forests, farmland, and small towns, and it uses Lake Erie as one of its northern access points.

Florida National Scenic Trail

The final trail on this list is the Florida National Scenic Trail. Like the Buckeye Trail, its roughly 1,400 miles lie entirely within one state, in this case Florida. Hikers pass the Big Cypress National Preserve in the south and the Gulf Islands National Seashore in the northwest. Its scenery includes swamps, forests, and grasslands.

The US National Trails System

Most of these routes belong to the National Trails System, created by the National Trails System Act of 1968. The Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail were the first two trails it designated. The system has since grown to include 11 National Scenic Trails, several of which appear above, along with a larger set of National Historic Trails and shorter National Recreation Trails. Together they protect sensitive ecosystems and open long stretches of public land to hikers, cyclists, and other non-motorized travelers.

Longest Hiking Trails In The United States