The Appalachian Trail was proposed in 1921 by Benton MacKaye and completed in 1937, largely through the efforts of hundreds of volunteers. Designated by Congress as a National Scenic Trail in 1968, it meanders over 2140 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia north to Katahdin in Maine, crossing fourteen states, eight National Forests, six National Park areas, and many state lands. Millions of day hikers use the trail each year, an extensive system of shelters and tentsites provides overnight accommodations, and hundreds of through-hikers complete the entire trail each summer. In this region, most of the trail is maintained by seasonal staff and volunteers of the AMC in cooperation with the USFS, ATC, and others, while the Appalachian Trail is protected, managed, and maintained cooperatively by the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Appalachian Trail Conference, state agencies, and 31 member clubs. On the eastern edge of the White Mountain National Forest, the trail overlooks the Wild River valley to the east, smaller rounded mountains along the Maine-New Hampshire border formed by the glacial period ending 14,000 years ago, and on clear days the Atlantic Ocean 90 miles away; to the west it traverses the Presidential Range, Mount Washington, and the Great Gulf Wilderness, with Gorham, Berlin, and the Mahoosuc Range to the north and Jackson, Bartlett, and the Conways to the south.
