When we think about the National Park System, we don't always think of National Scenic Trails being part of the system, which is a huge mistake. Some of the country's greatest hiking trails are part of the system. Trails such as the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, the North Country National Scenic Trail, even the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.

Fall, that lofty season when Eastern hardwood forests don foliages red, gold, and orange, lures us like motorized lemmings into national parks to admire nature’s wizardry. We inch along, practically bumper to bumper at times, to be dazzled in a final seasonal hurrah before the paint-by-number leaves are shed and winter’s first squalls convince us that being inside really isn’t such a bad thing.