Appalachian Trail saw huge 2025 traffic
The Appalachian Trail drew about 16.9 million visitors in 2025, and New Hampshire’s stretch alone logged nearly 2.88 million visits — making NH the second-most visited state portion of the A.T. last year [](https://www.backpacker.com/news-and-events/news/appalachian-trail-ninth-most-popular-park-2025/).
The Appalachian Trail [Conservancy announced]appalachiantrail.org that it modeled 2025 use by combining aggregated, anonymized mobile‑location data with trail counters and field observations and that it partnered with Placer.ai for the analysis. appalachiantrail.org Approximately one‑third of the A.T. sits on National Park Service land, and those NPS‑managed sections logged 6.2 million visits in 2025, a total that placed the A.T. ninth in the NPS Annual Park Ranking for the year. appalachiantrail.org Virginia — which contains roughly 550–557 miles, nearly a quarter of the Trail according to ATC state data — was the single most‑visited state portion in 2025, while Maine logged the fewest estimated visits at about 85,000 and its segment covers roughly 282 miles. appalachiantrail.org Registered A.T. thru‑hikes fell to 3,641 in 2025, a drop of roughly 15% from 2024 based on ATC registration figures reported by The Trek, even as overall segment use surged. thetrek.co
