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North Country Trail (NCT) - 4,600 miles - View Gallery

Showcasing the Great North Woods of our states that border Canada, the North Country Trail meanders for 4,600 miles between Lake Champlain, New York and Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota, seeking places of wild splendor. In the mid-1960s, the USDA Forest Service proposed an east-west hiking path to complement the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail within the new National Trails System. Designated as a National Scenic Trail in 1975, the North Country Trail now has more than 2,000 miles open to public use, tapping into many existing trails to help define the route—the Finger Lakes Trail in New York, the Superior Hiking Trail in Minnesota, and the Buckeye Trail in Ohio among them.

Exceptional scenery is the strong suit of this trail. Its route is by no means direct, but takes full advantage of spectacular hiking destinations in each of the seven states it traverses. In New York, the rolling Adirondack Mountains give way to glacial topography. The splash of waterfalls echoes throughout the boulders of Watkins Glen. The trail passes the deepest canyon in New York State, the Genesee River Gorge, where cliffs rise more than 600 feet and the river drops through three major falls. Pennsylvania’s half-million acre Allegheny National Forest provides deeply shaded footpaths beneath beech, birch, and maple trees, and the trail dives deep into Slippery Rock Gorge, where clear water gurgles over giant boulders dropped by ancient glaciers.

The Ohio section of the North Country Trail includes the state’s top hiking destinations, including Hocking Hills State Park. Here, a wonderland of eroded stone showcases impressive caves, waterfalls, and deep gorges. There are notable Native American earthworks along the route, including Serpent Mound State Memorial, the largest snake effigy mound in the United States. In Michigan, Tahquamenon Falls, the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi, froths like root beer, and the trail picks its way along the cliffs above Pictured Rocks, offering panoramas of Lake Superior and perspectives on the colorful rocks below. Wisconsin’s Chequamegon National Forest offers classic North Woods wilderness, and is where the trail first began. More perspectives on Lake Superior await the hiker exploring the trail’s best places in Minnesota, along with the fames Boundary Waters on the Canadian border. Notable grasslands and open prairies mark the trail’s westernmost sections in North Dakota.

With such length and diversity, the North Country Trail is a magnet for day hikers and backpackers alike, with as much as 475 miles of unbroken footpath in Pennsylvania and New York and more than 600 miles in Michigan. Long distance hikers have challenges in wayfinding and coping with sometimes lengthy connecting roadwalks between completed sections, as well as completing such massive mileage over the course of hiking season.

Now overseen by the National Park Service, the trail is under the care of the North Country Trail Association (NCTA), based in Lowell, Michigan. With 28 local chapters, NCTA relies heavily on its widespread base of volunteers to build new trail and maintain the existing route. Volunteer Adventures, coordinated by the chapters, bring together trail builders from along the entire route into crews to complete major projects. For more information on volunteerism and the trail itself, visit www.northcountrytrail.org

“Fun Facts”
In Ohio’s Hocking Hills, a portion of the North Country Trail follows the Grandma Gatewood Trail. An Ohio native, Grandma Gatewood is renowned for being the first female Appalachian Trail thru-hiker, completing her hike in 1955 at the age of 67. After Grandma Gatewood’s passing in 1973, the 6-mile route of her annual Winter Hike through Hocking Hills State Park was named for her. Since 1965, the Winter Hike has remained an annual tradition.

In the middle of Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, you can step off the North Country Trail and step into a brewery. The sweep of forest surrounding these majestic falls was once owned by Jack Barrett, a timber magnate who gifted the land to the state of Michigan—except for one little spot, where in 1950 he had a replica logging camp, Camp 33, built. The grandchildren of Jack Barrett continue to run the concession, now a brewery, restaurant, and gift shop.

One of the easiest sections of the North Country Trail to hike is the Superior Hiking Trail in Minnesota, thanks to its proximity to US 61 and many developed trailheads. You can walk out and back from trailheads, hopscotch two cars, or take advantage of the Superior Shuttle, a regularly scheduled private shuttle service for hikers from late May through October along the 205-mile trail route. See superiorhikingshuttle.com