PHOTO GALLERY: THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS !

THE 8TH OF 9 IN A SERIES OF THE “MOUNTAIN RANGES” OF THE WORLD! DON’T MISS THE OTHER 7 PREVIOUSLY DONE!

Photo by Isaac Wendland on Unsplash – THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS ARE PART OF THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS.

The Appalachian Mountains are a barrier to east–west travel, as they forms a series of alternating ridgelines and valleys oriented in opposition to most highways and railroads running east–west. This barrier was extremely important in shaping the expansion of the United States in the colonial era.

The mountains are more than 250 million years old and have been worn down over the years.

Because they extend so far north and south, the Appalachians have a wide range of temperatures. In Canada and in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Arctic conditions often prevail, especially at high elevations. The south has milder weather, but heavy clouds and haze are common.

The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province.

Photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash

Map of just where the Appalachian mountains are located in the United States. This is the second mountain range in the United States. The other one is, of course, the Rocky Mountains, out in the Western United States.

Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash — The Blue Ridge Mountains

rear view of man on mountain road against sky — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

The Appalachian Trail:

The Appalachian Trail is one of the most iconic hiking trails in the world. Due to its length and stunning scenery, people have flocked there since the trail’s completion in 1937.

While 3 million people hike some part of the trail each year, a much smaller set of 3000 adventurous types attempt to trek the entire thing. Getting from start to finish in a single year (called a “thru-hike”) is no easy feat, and only about 10 to 15 percent of people who start out make it all the way. It’s not hard to see why: Thru-hikers must traverse 2193 miles across 14 states, not to mention managing the approximate 464,500 feet of elevation gain/loss along the way. That’s a lot of trail mix.