Appalachian Trail surge
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail made history by appearing on the National Park Service’s most-visited parks list for the first time — a clear sign long-distance hiking is booming. Visits dipped slightly across parks in 2025, but officials expect a major uptick in 2026 tied to the U.S. 250th and are calling on Congress to fund overdue repairs on trail infrastructure (fox21online.com).
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy reported the A.T. had 16.9 million recreation visits in 2025 — the first official annual visitation estimate for the corridor — based on a new analysis combining trail counters, field observations and anonymized mobile-location data. (appalachiantrail.org) National Park Service figures show 6,215,118 visits to the portions of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail it manages in 2025, placing those NPS-managed segments inside the agency’s top‑10 most-visited sites. (nps.gov) The NPS recorded 323,014,305 recreation visits across its system in 2025, a decline of 8.85 million visits — or 2.7% — from the record year in 2024. (nps.gov) An NPS infrastructure factsheet lists roughly $119 million in deferred maintenance and repairs for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and another estimated $90 million in annual routine maintenance needs, including work on trail bridges and a trail tunnel. (nps.gov) Advocates and the ATC have been urging Congress to act: lawmakers filed trail-specific legislation such as the Appalachian Trail Centennial Act (S.2708/H.R.9159), and trail groups are pushing appropriations and deferred‑maintenance proposals including bills tied to larger park-restoration funding. (congress.gov) State-level estimates highlight where use concentrated in 2025 — New Hampshire’s 161‑mile stretch saw about 2.88 million recreational visits and Pennsylvania’s 230‑mile section drew more than 2.7 million — even as voluntary ATC thru‑hiker registrations fell (3,641 registered thru‑hikes in 2025, down roughly 15% from 2024). (nhpr.org)
