Access to the Appalachian Trail is available several locations in the Watauga Lake area:
- Dennis Cove - east of Hampton
- Watauga Lake - Shook Branch Swimming Beach
- Watauga Lake - Watauga Dam
- Cross Mountain Road - between Hwy 67 and Hwy 91
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The Appalachain Trail travese Johnson and Carter counties. There are several location that you can access the trail for long or short hikes.
Access to the trail
About the Trail
In 1921, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail was simply an idea. Benton MacKaye proposed the idea of the Trail as the connecting element of “a project in regional planning.”
The efforts of countless volunteers made MacKaye's idea a reality. Today, the Appalachian Trail is best known as a simple footpath.
The Appalachian Trail, completed in 1937:
- Is a unit of the National Park Service.
- Is the nation's longest marked footpath, at approximately 2,178 miles.
- Is the first national scenic trail, designated in 1968.
- Crosses six national parks.
- Traverses eight national forests.
- Touches 14 states. Houses more than 2,000 occurrences of rare, threatened, endangered, and sensitive plant and animal species.
- Crosses numerous state and local forests and parks.
- Is maintained by 30 trail clubs and multiple partnerships.
Fun facts about the Appalachian Trail:
- Lowest elevation: 124 feet – near the Trailside Museum and Zoo at Bear Mountain, New York
- Highest elevation: 6,625 feet – on Clingmans Dome in Tennessee
- There are 165,000 blazes along the length of the Trail.
- More than 10,000 people have reported hiking the length of the Trail.
- It takes approximately 5 million footsteps to walk the entire length of the Trail.
- More than 6,000 volunteers contribute about 200,000 hours to the Appalachian Trail every year.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is a volunteer-based organization dedicated to the preservation and management of the natural, scenic, historic, and cultural resources associated with the Appalachian National Scenic Trail in order to provide primitive outdoor-recreation and educational opportunities for Trail visitors.
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GPS
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Map Locations
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Click on piture for larger image
Approaching: traveling east on Hwy 321/67.
Make a left turn to enter the park.
Approaching: traveling west on Hwy 321/67.
Make a right turn to enter the park.
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