Closing a "Gap" in National Hiking Trail System

[Grzrd]

Efforts are under way to close a 40 mile gap between the Appalachian Trail and the North Country National Scenic Trail:

One of the longest hiking trails in the United States stops 40 miles short of its most famous cousin, but a group is trying to bridge that gap.
The North Country National Scenic Trail runs 4,600 miles from North Dakota to New York's eastern border. From there, it's about 40 miles across Vermont fields and mountains to the Appalachian Trail, the famous 2,170-mile hiking trail that runs from Georgia to Maine.
Seeking to bring them together now are a push from the organization that runs the North Country Trail; a changed attitude from officials in Vermont, where the connection was blocked decades ago; and a growing movement to connect the nation's longest hiking trails.
"This 40-mile gap is a gap in the system," said Bruce Matthews, executive director of the Michigan-based North Country Trail Association, which is working with the National Park Service, Vermont's Green Mountain Club and others to build the new connecting trail. "There's no logical reason for it." ....
Thousands have hiked the entire Appalachian Trial. Just 11 people have completed the North Country Trail ....
The route to extend the North Country Trail through Vermont hasn't been chosen, but it's expected to be about a 40-mile path that will hook up with the state's Long Trail, which is the same path as the Appalachian Trail at that point.
It could be years before the shield-shaped markers used by the North Country Trail start sprouting in the fields of Vermont's agricultural heartland.
In the mid-1970s when the North Country Trail was being planned, Vermont officials objected to it coming into the state over concerns additional hiker traffic could overwhelm the state's 273-mile Long Trail, which runs from Massachusetts to Canada. So the North Country Trail ended on the shore of Lake Champlain at the base of the bridge between Crown Point and West Addison.
The National Park Service is doing a feasibility study, which must be completed before the plan can be presented to Congress. Matthews said he was hopeful the Park Service approval can be finished this summer.

Even hiking trails have trail advocates, concerns about increased traffic, and governmental studies ...   

[J N Winkler]

Hiking trails are a minimum improvement and thus are a perfect example of how congestion can occur with small numbers.  This is why hikers who want to "get away from it all" frequently hike cross-country, and also why popular national parks like Denali have an area permit system which is designed to limit the number of people who are hiking backcountry in any given area of the park.

[realjd]

I thought I'd heard of all of the National Trails (AT, PCT, CDT, and FT), but I'd never heard of the NCT.

That said, the AT is a VERY busy trail. If you're looking for solitude, find a different hike. If they expect the new connector to get that much traffic, and that's a big if, then an environmental and traffic study is warranted IMO.

[triplemultiplex]

I was not aware that the North Country Trail was anywhere near continuous.

And this is from a guy who has logged several miles on the NCT in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.