Q: Where is the highest point on the trail? A: Martin Hill, between PA Route 326 and SR 3005 south of Rainsburg, Bedford County, in Everett Region, Section 1, at 829 m (2,720 ft).

Q: Where is the lowest point? A: Near the site of Fort Horn, along Spook Hollow Road, beside the West Branch Susquehanna River, south of McElhattan, Clinton County, in Woolrich Region, Section 13.

Q: Where is the southern terminus of the trail? A: At the point where Black Valley Road becomes PA Route 326, 4 km northeast of Flintstone, Maryland.

Q: Where is the northern terminus of the trail? A: At the intersection of Heffner, Mayo, and State Line Roads, on the border between Lawrence Township, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, and the town of Tuscarora, Steuben County, New York.

Q: And the exact middle of the trail is located where? A: Very close to Hairy John Picnic Area, along PA Route 45 east of Woodward, near the border of Centre and Union Counties, the dividing point between Sections 10 and 11.

Q: What is a “footpath” as opposed to a “trail”? A: Long ago, all trails were footpaths. Then the Spaniards introduced the horse, and later came the bicycle and the automobile. Still later the ATV arrived on the scene. Some people who have created travelways to ride one or more of these items on have appropriated the term “trail” in naming some of their passages, so now people frequently confuse a natural surface footpath in the trees with a graded stone-covered narrow road. We carry the name Mid State TRAIL for historical reasons, but we are, as we always have been, a FOOTPATH welcoming those who WALK.

Q: Why does the Mid State Trail use the metric system? A: The Mid State Trail was the first hiking trail in the United States to use metric measure. The second edition of the trail guide (1973) was completely metric. Metrication is a patriotic measure designed to help end our cultural isolation and ease our chronic balance of payment problems.

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