The Appalachians are among the oldest mountains on Earth, reaching back more than 500 million years into time. The present chain, stretching from the Gaspe to Georgia, once may have been higher than the Alps or the Rocky Mountains. Weather and erosion have sculptured the mountains and left them as they are today. They provide a wonderful richness of plant and animal life as well as startling contrasts in mountain scenery as different as the White Mountain National Forest and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains, a footpath extends 2,202 miles from Mt. Katadin, 5,267 feet, in Maine to Springer Mt., 3,782 feet, in Georgia.