Is it time to blaze more long trails??

[Gravytrain]

Nice list, but not all encompassing. Grafton Notch loop Trail isnt on there.

Well, it's Wiki, fix that! LOL

[fiddlehead]

Lots of trails in the states.
Many more in the rest of the world.
Better to maintain the ones we have, than to build new ones, IMO.

Europe has a few new ones.
One from Norway, thru Sweden and down through Germany and then the Alps I believe.
That one is over 7,000 kms, should be plenty long enough for anyone thinking of a new adventure.

I'm looking at this Via Dinarica trail that's quite new and 1200 kms or so.
(Balkans)

The Pyrenees HRP was one of the highlights of my hiking life when we did it in '99.

European hiking is different in a way.
They tend to go to these big huts (like in the White Mtns of NH), at night instead of tenting.
That leaves the hills and mountains free for the best camping spots with unbelievable views.
Or, if you're sociable, go into the gites or huts, and buy some wine and sleep in a room full of Europeans, etc.

Biggest problem I see is the lack of outhouses, or the tendency for Europeans to **** wherever they feel like it.
Not cool.
(but then they've been hiking those mountains a lot longer than we've been hiking ours I believe)

[ki0eh]

Great Eastern Trail parallels the A.T. from a footstep (near Pearisburg) to a county or two (most of PA and VA) to a state (AL) to the west. http://www.greateasterntrail.net http://www.gethiking.net with a sub-forum on this site and a Facebook group "Great Eastern Trail Hiking" now featuring the adventures of a thru-hiker (if successful, she will be the 3rd) who followed the trail into White Sulphur Springs, WV just after a 1 in 1,000 year precipitation event at the end of last week.

[Bronk]

Correct.
but there are few with the proliferation of services and ease of logistics that todays beginning hiker wants.
the AT is by far the easiest and safest trail logistically to hike.

We certainly do not need any more trails like the AT. In fact, it should remain the sacrificial lamb to protect other trails from the hordes who demand their version of a suburban hiking experience., that would ruin real wilderness.

I'm not sure I agree with that. I posted a link awhile back to the Katy Trail and the Rock Island Trail, both in Missouri, that I think would appeal to people who want to do a hike where there are lots of services available and you can literally hike from town to town without having to camp at all if you don't want to. Perhaps these trails would be a good place for people to get their feet wet...I see lots of people posting here who haven't really hiked before that want to do a thru hike but they are afraid to sleep in the woods. They are out of shape. They want more connectivity to services. These trails provide that. The Katy Trail was developed as a bike trail, but to me this just means it is graded so it will be easier to walk...no steep up and down. I believe both of these trails were rails to trails programs.

http://www.bikekatytrail.com/cities.aspx

http://rockislandtrail.org/about/