Hiking America Adds the Great Eastern Trail: Alabama to New York
Nine states, Alabama to New York, and the last thru-hike was in 2020. Bernie Krausse starts north from Flagg Mountain in 2027, and we're building a free GPS track as we go.
The Great Eastern Trail runs west of the Appalachian Trail through nine states: Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York. It strings together trails you may already know, like the Pinhoti in Alabama, the Cumberland Trail in Tennessee, Pine Mountain in Kentucky and the Mid State Trail in Pennsylvania, with road walks linking the pieces. Hiking America is adding it alongside the American Discovery Trail and the Great American, for hikers who want a long walk beyond the Appalachian Trail.
Tim Hupp, president of the Great Eastern Trail Association (GETA), tells us the last thru-hike of the trail was in 2020. Bernie Krausse plans to walk it north from Flagg Mountain, Alabama, to New York in 2027.
GETA welcomed us in
Before we drew a single line, I wrote to Tim to ask how GETA would feel about a Hiking America guide. He welcomed the project, opened GETA's maps and trail descriptions to us, and answered route questions no website covers yet.
In Maryland, his relocation map moves our line onto the C&O Canal Towpath through the Paw Paw Tunnel before it climbs north into Green Ridge State Forest, which puts more than 30 miles of towpath under both the Great Eastern and the Great American Rail-Trail. In Chattanooga, his answer sends our line through the middle of the city, across the Tennessee River on the Walnut Street Bridge for now.
Watch the track come together
We're building a free Great Eastern GPS track one state at a time, working from the land managers' own maps, with GETA settling which trail counts as the Great Eastern wherever sources disagree. Tennessee is on the table now, with Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York following through December. You'll see each state land in the Hiking America Facebook Group as we finish it, and Tim gets the whole track to look over before it goes public.
The Great Eastern GPS track will be free to anyone. Hiking America subscribers will get services, waypoints, and state guides as each state comes online.
Want the free Great Eastern track the day it's ready? Sign up for free!
Bernie's next long walk
Bernie has walked the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide trails twice each. This year he walked from the U.S. Capitol to the Pacific at La Push, Washington, in what's believed to be the first end-to-end thru-hike of the Great American Rail-Trail.
He sees the Great Eastern as a great choice for hikers looking for something beyond or an alternative to the Appalachian Trail, and he'll send weekly dispatches from it the way he did from the Great American: here, in this newsletter and on social media, each one pointing you to GETA. Catch up on his Great American hike.
Bernie Krausse
Great Eastern Trail - Westbound
Begins: TBD - Flagg Mountain, Alabama
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Have you hiked part of the Great Eastern?
If you've walked any of the Great Eastern in the last few years, email us at support@hikingamerica.com with what you found: a closure, a reroute, a missing blaze, a road walk you'd skip. Every hiker who sends field data gets credit in the guide.
Hike Your Hike - John. 🥾
Hiking America is an independent navigation resource and is not part of the Great Eastern Trail Association. Learn about GETA at greateasterntrail.net.