Eastern Continental Trail
The Eastern Continental Trail is a network of hiking trails in the United States and Canada, reaching from Key West, Florida to Belle Isle, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Description
The hiking distance of the ECT is approximately, not including water gaps around Newfoundland. The trail system was named by long-distance hiker M. J. Eberhart. The first person to complete the ECT from Key West to Cap Gaspé, Quebec, was John Brinda in 1997.From south to north, the route strings together the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail, the Florida Trail, a road walk through southern Alabama, the Pinhoti National Recreation Trail, and part of the Benton MacKaye Trail, to reach the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail at Springer Mountain, Georgia. The ECT includes the entire Appalachian Trail to Mount Katahdin, Maine, then continues on the International Appalachian Trail through Maine, New Brunswick, and Quebec. The hiking trail ends at the Gulf of St. Lawrence; the hiker can then travel to Newfoundland by other means and complete the next section of the ECT across that island. After another water gap, the ECT reaches its symbolic end at Belle Isle off the northern end of Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula.