I'm writing this one particularly for those who are more familiar with the Appalachian Trail. And it has to do with hiking other distance trails. These trails are separate and have their own incorporation. While it might be true that they took a couple pages from the AT in the beginning, the fact is that most of them are no longer in their infancy. What I mean is that their internal operating environment (or culture) has been in constant evolution ever since and sometimes they've tackled the same problem in different ways. Also, the subculture in the surrounding area and the conditions on the trail's various surfaces will also lead to some differences in how things are run. It's not right for everybody to conform.
Another difference between them is resources. Not all of them have public/ private partnership like the national scenic trails, which means that besides grants, they're "going it alone" so to speak. And not all of them are located on one feature on land that no one wants, either. By annual number of hikers, the Appalachian Trail typically has the others beat by a long shot. Without looking, I bet it's dues paying membership base also has it just as beat. I wouldn't think of the AT as the rule, but the exception.
Non-concurrent North Country Trail (as far as I know) does not have enough paper maps on the market to cover it. And the situation in the Adirondacks is settled as far as routing is concerned. But actually building off-road trail trail there seems to be an ongoing process. In some part, paper mapping for this agency needs to be done by making prints from Google Earth. When concurrent, North Country does not map. So you'll need to do business with the parent agency in order to get those.
With the American Discovery Trail on the other hand, their map maker went out of business some time ago. Their navigational materials now consist of GPX waypoints that you'll need mapping software to make the prints from and it's various guides. If you still find Google My Maps, you might be able to reconstruct it's roads. Then if the guides mention something in a off-road area, like a picnic shelter, compare the park map to the one on your software and place waypoints/ placemarks on them. When off-road and in-person, you'll just navigate from one waypoint to another.
And you might need this technique for the International Appalachian Trail - Newfoundland & Labrador.
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