The Cohos Trail runs through vast Coos County, NH (pronounced co-ahss), an isolated realm of forests, mountains and lakes that covers about three-tenths of the length of the entire state of New Hampshire -- more than 1 million acres. With its head tucked up against the Canadian border and its tail wriggling over the Presidential Range and down to the Saco River south of Crawford Notch, the Cohos Trail, when fully complete, will be a serpentine 162-mile-long footpath. It should become one of the great and challenging long-distance trails in the eastern United States when completed in 2007 or 2008.

Right now, the trail is nearly finished. The line that marks the trail on the map to the left is solid red and red-orange. There is a one one-mile gap just south of Lake Francis in the Connecticut Lakes Region. After the gap, the trail runs all the way to First Connecticut Lake (the biggest blue-colored body of water illustrated near the top of the map). From Ramblewood Cabins and Campground on Golden Eagle Road just north of First Connecticut Lake to East Inlet Road just above Second Connecticut Lake, there is a gap of some 10 miles. Through hikers tramp this gap by walking Route 3 or bushwhacking. We hope to close this gap and the smaller one near Lake Francis in 2007. This would complete the trail as originally planned.

This map also shows other features. The red-orange trail color represents White Mountain National Forest trails upon which the CT rides. These are managed by the U.S. Forest Service, by the Appalachian Mountain Club, by the Randolph Mountain Club and by the White Mountain Regional High School Wilderness and Forestry Class. The solid red line is The Cohos Trail managed by The Cohos Trail Association. The white dots in the solid red line indicate the present gaps in the trail. The broken red line is a proposed extension of The Cohos Trail tentatively called the High Country Trail. It has been designed in the hopes of extending the CT into very remote and virtually unknown (to hikers) high elevation terrain along the Maine border and the Canadian border.

If and when it is complete, the original Cohos Trail will be just over 160 miles in length. With the proposed extension and a potential link to Canada's Mont Megantic, The Cohos Trail would stretch nearly 220 miles and become an international trail. In Canada, the CT would ride the Sentiers frontaliers trail system in L'Estrie, the Eastern Townships of Quebec. The trail would end at the door of a world class astronomical observatory on the summit of hulking Mont Megantic.

This map shows the distinct geographical divisions along the trail, ranging from the White Mountains in the south to the Boundary Mountains in the north. In between is some of New England's most disverse and remarkable terrain.