How much of the GET is actually hiking trail, as opposed to roadwalking?
Perhaps more than one might expect, considering that the route doesn’t use a single mile of trail built specifically for its purposes. Perhaps 285 miles or so of the route utilizes local trails maintained by the US Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management and associated volunteer groups. Another 70 miles of the GET is concurrent with the Arizona Trail, a long distance trail which runs from the Mexican border to the Utah border a total distance of 750 miles. While not every mile where the Arizona Trail and GET coincide is foot trail at this time, the organization which oversees the AZ Trail is making steady progress toward that goal with each passing season. Still another 45 miles of the GET follows the Continental Divide Trail’s official route through the Black Range in southwestern New Mexico, most of which is foot trail at this time. So all told, as of early 2007 the Grand Enchantment Trail for roughly 400 miles follows a route that consists of hiking trail or soon-to-be hiking tr
