• Difficulty: Easy to Strenuous
• AT and the Bear Mountain Trails Project

The Appalachian Trail, known by hikers as the AT, runs from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, a distance of about 2,160 miles. In the New York-New Jersey region, it runs more than 160 miles, from the Delaware Water Gap to Connecticut. The trail is uniformly marked with a 2" x 6" white-painted, vertical blaze.

The first section of the AT was built by volunteers of the NY-NJ Trail Conference in 1922-23, from the Bear Mountain Bridge to the Ramapo River south of Arden in Harriman-Bear Mountain State Parks.

The AT was designated a National Scenic Trail by Congress in 1968. The AT and a protective corridor are managed cooperatively by the National Park Service and the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC). The ATC delegates maintenance responsibilities to member trail clubs, including the NY-NJ Trail Conference, along the length of the trail.

The Appalachian Trail Guide to New York-New Jersey and similar guides for other states describe the trail in great detail, with comments about trail features every few tenths of a mile. These guides are revised every three to five years. The Appalachian Trail Data Book, published by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, is revised yearly and covers the whole trail in fewer than 100 pages.

The AT on Bear Mountain is the focal point of a multi-year, multi-agency trail building and rehabilitation project being led by the Trail Conference.

• Learn more about the Bear Mountain Trails Project.

Learn more about the AT:

• Interactive Map of the AT (another one)
• Appalachian Trail Conservancy
• National Park Service
• Local Management Committees have more information about their sections
  • New Jersey AT
  • Orange Rockland AT
  • Dutchess Putnam AT
• Appalachian Trail Related Links