New England Traverse: Discovering a Wilderness Route

It's rare to find a remote route when trying to traverse New England. Worse yet, at the current rate this will only get worse. This could be remedied with greater conservation efforts in the region in an effort to preserve this beautiful land.

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The challenge in hiking across New England lies in the absence of possible routes due to a scarcity of natural environments. With the continued urbanization and deforestation of America there is now a need more than ever to protect these environments. Without this protection it will be increasingly difficult to find wilderness areas to enjoy and connect with nature.

The northeast United States is particularly vulnerable, as it is still largely unprotected and subject to continued population growth and increased land development. However, the region has experienced the conservation and preservation of considerable amounts of wilderness making a traverse of New England a possibility.

ARTICLE OUTLINE

Introduction
The Route
Long Path - Hudson Highlands
Appalachian Trail - Hudson Highlands
Appalachian Trail - The Berkshires
Long Trail - Green Mountains
References

# WORDS: 2080
# PHOTOS: 13

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Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

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Dec 10, 2013 at 7:55 pm #1310864

Ryan Jordan
Admin

@ryan
Locale: Central Rockies

Companion forum thread to:

New England Traverse: Discovering a Wilderness Route

Dec 10, 2013 at 8:56 pm #2053069

Sam Farrington
BPL Member

@scfhome
Locale: Chocorua NH, USA

John,
Nice route you have there from the Big Apple to Quebec as directly as possible, yet fairly forested and remote as well.
It is fun to plan out long routes, and then hike them whenever you can get away.
Best Wishes for Good Hiking.

Dec 11, 2013 at 9:30 am #2053197

Rodney
Spectator

@rodney-m
Locale: Northeast Oregon

Nice report and a wonderful introduction to this traverse. I may have missed it, but I did not see that total mileage or an approximation of the same. Let us know.

Thanks again,
Rodney

Dec 11, 2013 at 9:49 am #2053202

Sam Haraldson
BPL Member

@sharalds
Locale: Gallatin Range

Having spent a week in New England last year and not having been there since I was a child it was a great eye opening experience to witness just what a beautiful landscape exists there. Your article highlights the vastness of the trail network and inter connectivity among the Wilderness and natural areas in a way that I truly didn't understand.

I greatly appreciate your attention to both the existing infrastructure as well as the attention you paid to how tenuous this is in light of the future development inherent alongside such a large population, John. Continued promotion of these open spaces and highlighting their importance will be a task for the present and future generations into eternity.

Dec 11, 2013 at 4:07 pm #2053322

Jeffrey List
BPL Member

@jlist
Locale: Pacific Northwest

Nice linkup of trails, but given the title of the article it wasn't what I expected. New Jersey and New York are not in New England, and the route doesn't hit both the highest terrain in New England (New Hampshire) and the arguably the most remote (Maine). Seems like the most obvious "New England Traverse" would be to simply start at the NY/CT and follow the AT to Mt. Katahdin in Maine, and then continue to the Canadian border on the International AT. The route only skips one New England state: Rhode Island.

Dec 12, 2013 at 6:35 am #2053486

Luke Stollings
BPL Member

@lstollin

border to border, not boarder to boarder. You're not surfing, after all!

Thanks for putting this together!

Dec 12, 2013 at 3:53 pm #2053693

Michael Gillenwater
BPL Member

@mwgillenwater
Locale: Seattle area

"With the continued urbanization and deforestation of America there is now a need more than ever to protect these environments."

I'll be the first one to decry habitat destruction and our political failure to protect even more wilderness areas.

But it is inaccurate to suggest that we have been experiencing deforestration in the Eastern USA.
http://www.nature.org/newsfeatures/natures-comeback-eastern-us-forests.xml

Yes, there was horrendous deforestation following colonization by Europeans. But in the last century we have seen a significant reforestation. Little of it has become wilderness and too much of it is urban sprawl. But the fact is that there has been a net reforestation rather than deforestation in that region.

Although some research is indicating that the trend may be reversing somewhat.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=us-eastern-forests-resume-decline
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