Heavily illustrated with color photos.

America’s Great Forest Trails is an unprecedented showcase and practical travel guide to the finest woodland hiking opportunities, calling us to get out “into the woods” but also reminding us of the importance of leaving no trace through these fragile ecosystems. No other book combines the hiking-boots-on-the-ground guidance found here with spectacular photography and narratives that describe, motivate, and inspire the hiker in all of us. Featuring 100 outstanding hikes lasting from one day to several weeks, this photo-packed book is an inspirational bucket list for anyone looking to escape into America’s finest areas of wild beauty and to experience both the excitement and serenity of being among the trees—from armchair traveler to day hiker to experienced backpacker. America’s Great Forest Trails introduces readers to 100 hikes of a lifetime, from legendary trails to some that are scarcely known. The trails included range across the country: from the ancient Appalachians and the Pacific Coast’s uplift, to the Rockies, Desert Ranges, Sierra Nevada, Cascade Mountains, Olympics, and beyond to the wild terrain of Alaska and the islands of Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Readers get practical details about each trail and guidance on how to protect these special places so they remain alluring and rewarding to the generations ahead who seek both solace and adventure.

Fittingly, the Act's chief sponsors were a Senator from Nevada, Key Pittman, and a Representative from Virginia, A. Willis Robertson. The Pittman-Robertson Act, as it came to be called, sped through Congress and was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt on September 2, 1937. From a modest beginning, the Pittman-Robertson program has grown with the economy and the human population of our country. By now it has channeled nearly $1.7 billion in Federal excise tax receipts, augmented by some $600 million from the States, into activities to restore wildlife. The projects include State acquisition of acreage needed to bring wildlife back, research into wildlife requirements and problems, active management of habitats, and development of scientific ways to enable wildlife and people to share our land in harmony. The program has strengthened State governments and built wildlife management into a respected profession.

'Prepared under the direction of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, at the Patuxent Research Refuge, Laurel, Maryland.'