WhiteBlaze Pages 2024
A Complete Appalachian Trail Guidebook.
AVAILABLE NOW. $4 for interactive PDF(smartphone version)
Read more here WhiteBlaze Pages Store

  • AT Park Crossings

    I used the GIS information available at the ATC site to create a map of major state parks and forests that touch the AT. This map has clickable links. A couple of things to say about it.

    1. It only contains those parks and forests provided in the original layer at the ATC site and that intersect the AT. Small parks are not included, i.e. Pen Mar. Larger nearby parks were removed. The metadata is included in the .htm files.
    2. To use, one has to download ArcReader to view the map. It is a somewhat large viewing program available from ESRI(175MB).
    3. Then extract the zip folder. I'm fairly certain it will extract into a folder named AT Parks. All of the files need to be included. Don't move any of the files separately.
    4. The exact file to open is the AT_parks_only.pmf file. This will open in ArcReader. I included the arcmap file if you should happen to have that. The file for Arcmap is AT_parks_only.mxd.
    5. I turned off the shelters and roads layers. Just check the box if you wish to see these.
    6. To use the links, there is a lightening bolt icon. Click on that then find the park you wish to link to, then click on the park. I used as many of the official links that I could find, and I may have missed a link or two.
    7. The icon with the letter i is the information icon. This can be used to identify map objects. For instance, I didn't turn the labels on for the shelters, so this tool could be used to get the names.


    This is my second pass. I can make corrections or alterations if anyone is interested. I could add additional smaller parks if I had the data. Best if it was already a vector or raster file. If there is anything screwy with this file, let me know and I will do what I can to fix it. Sorry that the files are somewhat large, but that is the nature of GIS files.
    This article was originally published in forum thread: AT Park Crossings started by Alligator View original post
    Comments 2 Comments
    1. Edwardo Rodriguez's Avatar
      Edwardo Rodriguez -
      Now which of these park do we need to get a wilderness permit while on the AT
    1. dzierzak's Avatar
      dzierzak -
      Quote Originally Posted by Edwardo Rodriguez View Post
      Now which of these park do we need to get a wilderness permit while on the AT
      The Smokies and Shenandoah.