Editing Tuscarora Trail (section)

== History ==

The Tuscarora Trail was originally conceived as an alternate route for the [[Appalachian Trail]], which had been built in the 1920s-30s. By the 1960s, and before it was protected as a [[National Trails System|National Scenic Trail]],<ref>Seaborg, Eric (July/August 1984), "The Road Less Traveled". ''National Parks''. '''58''' (7/8) :34–35</ref> a number of segments of the Appalachian Trail were being encroached upon and sometimes closed by private and commercial landowners. To ensure the trail's continuity, the [[Appalachian Trail Conservancy]] began to consider alternate routes that could be used to bypass those threatened segments of the AT, with the goal of avoiding high-demand areas and maximizing [[public land]] usage.<ref name="Cramer">{{Cite book |title=Pennsylvania Hiking Trails |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=2008 |isbn=9780811734776 |editor-last=Cramer |editor-first=Ben |edition=13th |location=Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania |page=3-4}}</ref>

The alternate route was originally built in the late 1960s as two separate trails: the 142-mile Big Blue Trail in Virginia and West Virginia, and the 110-mile Tuscarora Trail in Maryland and Pennsylvania, which were separated by an unofficial crossing of the [[Potomac River]].<ref name="PATC_web1">{{cite web|title=Tuscarora Trail|url=http://www.kta-hike.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=128&Itemid=65|access-date=2014-03-29|publisher=[[Potomac Appalachian Trail Club]]}}</ref><ref name="Lupp_p2-4">Lupp and Brown, p. 2-4</ref> By 1997, a crossing of the river via a road bridge had been approved, and the two trails were combined to form a continuous 252-mile route known as the Tuscarora Trail,<ref name="Cramer" /> because it largely traverses ridgetops above the [[Tuscarora Sandstone]] formation.<ref name="Lupp1">Lupp and Brown, p. 1-2</ref>

During the 1980s, several segments of the Tuscarora Trail in Pennsylvania had to be closed due to damage from [[Lymantria dispar dispar|gypsy moth]] infestations.<ref name="Mitchell">{{cite book|last1=Mitchell|first1=Jeff|title=Backpacking Pennsylvania: 37 Great Hikes|date=2005|publisher=Stackpole Books|isbn=0811731804|location=Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania|page=82}}</ref> After several years of rehabilitation, those segments were reopened.<ref name="Lupp_p2-4"></ref> In the early 2000s, the Tuscarora Trail was named as a component of the [[Great Eastern Trail]], which will extend for more than 2,000 miles from Florida to New York.<ref>{{cite web|title=Maps & Trail Descriptions - Great Eastern Trail|url=http://www.greateasterntrail.net/maps.html|access-date=14 April 2018|website=www.greateasterntrail.net|date=May 20, 2014 }}</ref> A loop consisting of the Tuscarora Trail and the Appalachian Trail between their two junctions has been dubbed the Tuscalachian Loop, which is 435 miles in length.<ref name="Mitchell" />