Originally Posted by
Traveler
Please feel free to post here. The Appalachian Trail is for anyone who can find their way to it, citizen of the US or not, and is free to roam along its length. As are most all the long distance trails in America, even as they wend their way through National Parks, Forests, and Wilderness areas. Walking into privately owned land is a little different here, but as I understand it, even in Norway there are posted places you cannot just wander into. Livestock and other land uses can present a danger to people, and limited access is necessary.
The cost to go into National Parks in the US is pretty reasonable. Entry fees pay for infrastructure maintenance so you can come from half a world away and drive into them, maybe spend a few days, use restrooms, drink water, and perhaps have a few photos or two of some of the most rare scenery on the planet. There are Park passes you can get to reduce the one-off costs of going to them, however, even at 20 to 25 dollars a car its still a pretty good bargain considering what you are getting. As an aside, there are times during the year where entry into National Parks are free, though admittedly its only for a handful of days out of the year. You can also avoid paying by walking into the parks on connecting trails.
Something you should probably consider is the population living within a few hours drive of those parks dwarfs the population of the entire Country of Norway, with over 7 million just in the regional area. Expand that to four hours and you will easily double the population of Norway. Then consider people come from all over the world to see these parks, which adds to the wear and tear on roads and services the park provides. Someone has to pay for these, and while there is some contribution to the National Park Service from our national tax system, its small and requires some additional funding to ensure these wonderful places remain in good shape and accessible.
In percentages, I think Norway has most of North America beat in terms of 15 to 29 year olds hiking. In pure numbers however, there were 3.1 million visitors to Yosemite alone in 2014. if only 50% of those people walked a trail or two, it would surpass the numbers of young adults in Norway who hike. For some additional perspective, in 2015, 305 million people visited our national parks. If only 10% of those people hiked 2 - 5 miles, that would be about 6 times the population of Norway. So as you can imagine, these parks have a great deal of use and are a world wide attraction. This does not include the many State, County, and local parks that have miles of trail systems in them, which millions of people use throughout the year.
We sure welcome you to come and walk on our trails and see all there is to see here. There are many ways to take advantage of our park system, some of them are cost free.