While the Appalachian Trail, itself goes only from Katahdin in Maine to Springer in Georgia, that is not the full extent of the Appalachian Mountains. In recent years, in both the north and the south, trails have begun to be constructed to connect the termini of the AT with further portions of the Appalachian Mountains.
South: Connecting Alabama to the A.T.
Here is some information about connecting Alabama to the A.T. from the The Alabama Hiking Trail Society.
North: Information about the International A.T.
An Article from the Bangor Daily News about the I.A.T. from July 1997. Website for the International Appalachian Trail (Sentier International des Appalches) - Quebec portion
Someone posted this message in the Discuss the A.T. Forum:
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 07:29:54 -0500
Subject: More: Section Completed
The In'tl Appalachian Trail section from Perth-Andover NB Canada to Plaster Rock NB is now completed. (Distance about 38 km or so).Work will continue on the Plaster Rock to Mt. Carleton Provincial Park section now(this year) and the short trail section from Perth to the U.S. border. As well the Trans-Canada trail has opened up a 35 km section of trail from Perth to Grand Falls New Brunswick, Can.. Happy Trails!
Here is a fairly long file of info IN FRENCH regarding the proposed extension of the A.T. into Canada. It will probably look rather odd. The accent marks look OK in the text browser Lynx, but probably won't look OK in other browsers. I will try to work on it to fix the formatting to make it easier to read.
This file arrived mysteriously in my P.O. box one day, sent from Canada. It seemed that it might be of interest to people interested in the A.T., but you must keep in mind that it represents the views of the writers of the document, and not of the general A.T. community.
Thanks to Allan Gould and Roland Schaefer, an English translation is now available.
Below is a post from the newsgroup rec.backcountry on the same topic.
From: presque@saturn.caps.maine.edu (Steven Vance) Newsgroups: rec.backcountry Subject: International AT Date: 28 Dec 1995 16:43:00 GMT
Two planning meetings were held to plan the extension of the Appalachian Trail. The first one was held in New Brunswick at the Mt.Carleton Provincial Park on June 25, 1994. They were five person from Maine, one from Quebec and nine from New Brunswick. Dick Anderson gave a slide presentation of aerial photographs of the proposed corridor which was done by Christopher Ayres, photographer. Cecil Freeman made a presentation on the New Brunswick Trails System. It was determined by the group that the trail would be named "The International Appalachian Trail/Sentier International des Appalaches." Six members from each jurisdiction (Maine, Quebec, New Brunswick) will formed the international committee.
The second meeting was held on July 22, 1994 in Orono, Maine. The following items were discussed: By-laws, trail rules, logo, interim executive, and funding. The Interim board executive of the International Appalachian Trail/Sentier International des Appalaches is as follows:
Dick Anderson, president (Maine)
Andrew Wake, vice-president (Quebec)
Michel Albert, sec./tres. (New Brunswick)
New Brunswick started earlier this summer the trail within Mt. Carleton and Sugarloaf Provincial Parks. Maine started work on the trail's first Maine section from September 14-18, 1994.
The Appalachian Trail Conference has welcomed the international Appalachian Trail as a new long distance trail and offers its best wishes for success in its development as voted at the boards managers semi annual meeting Nov 18 1995 and in a letter to the SIA/IAT Nov 29, 1995. The public hearing is set for Fri January 12 at 7 pm at the Patten Elementary School Auditorium. Questions regarding the event should be directed to Stephanie Andelman 207 773 2790
more information e-mail jnadeau@gov.nb.ca