How to Hike Across America

Hiking across the country is challenging, but a great way to see America. There isn't a wilderness trail that goes east to west the entire length of the country. However, it's possible to hike across the United States with little, if any, motorized traffic. Thorough planning of your hike is essential to make it a fun, safe and exciting adventure.

Instructions

1. Go to the American Discovery Trail website and purchase a map kit. You can buy kits for individual states. The kits show various hiking paths in each state and highlight the route to take if you plan to follow the American Discovery Trail across the country.

2. Plan your route. The American Discovery Trail runs from Delaware to California and crosses through 15 states. Not all of the trail is wilderness. It is a combination of hiking trails, paved greenways and rural roads all linked together to form the larger trail. It runs through the middle of the United States and covers about 6,800 miles.

3. Veer north. Heading west, the American Discovery Trail forks at Elizabethtown, Ohio, near Cincinnati and the Indiana border. You can veer north toward Oxford, Ohio, and travel through northern Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado before the trail merges with the southern route at Denver, Colorado.

4. Head south. From Elizabethtown, the southern route will take you through Kentucky, southern Illinois, Missouri and Kansas before rejoining the northern route at Denver and heading to California.

5. Visit many state and national parks, historical sites such as the Abraham Lincoln Boyhood Home in southern Indiana or a Pony Express station in Nebraska, not one but two Gardens of the Gods (one in Illinois; one in Colorado) as you follow, in some cases, in the footsteps of the pioneers who moved westward to settle the nation.

Tips & Warnings

• Get in shape. You will be walking several miles carrying a backpack every day. Prepare by beginning an exercise program at least three months before your hike across the country. Do some form of aerobic exercise, such as walking, cycling or running three to five times a week for 20 to 40 minutes.

• Check in periodically with family or friends to let them know where you are.

• Bring along a journal to record your hike across the country.

Resources

• Get information about the paths that make up the ADT.