View Full Version : North Country Trail would be LONGEST
Flash Hand
10-27-2004, 18:18
Anyone have more information about North Country Trail? It will be the longest trail in the United States after the completion, probably about 5 years or so. Do you think a thru hiker will accomplish that 4,000 miles hike despite the winter situation? it take us 3 to 6 month to finish the 2,174 miles as an average hiker. It might take about 6 to 12 month to finish the North Country Trail.
Link to NCT Assocation website - www.northcountrytrail.org/index.htm
Flash Hand :jump
Lone Wolf
10-27-2004, 18:21
Probably a s**tload of road walking involved.
smokymtnsteve
10-27-2004, 18:24
well lets see ya say 4000 miles , I estimate that our man Chris, could probably hike that in about ...Ooohhhh..150 days, so give him 5-6 months.
Probably a s**tload of road walking involved.
Yup, a good bit, but less so than when my friend & co-worker Ed became the first person to thru-hike the trail. Ed is perhaps the only person to have hiked all 8 National Scenic Trails, most of them more than once.
http://www.northcountrytrail.org/explore/endtoend/talone.htm
White Oak
10-27-2004, 19:56
Another good trail to bookmark. So many trails, so few years (sigh).
TakeABreak
10-28-2004, 00:21
NCT would not be as tough as the other trails, a person who could twenty miles a day on the A.T. should be able to do 30 here easily, I have lived in Michigan most of my life and can tell you it nothing like the A.T. flat to rolling small hills, LOTS of Mosquito's though.
Mosquito's here in the summer is our biggest pest, in the U.P. our black flies are like those in Maine in early season.
Incidently, the NCT is not even close to the longest trail in the US. That distinction will be held by the C2C trail. A friend of mine is trying to be the first thruhiker of it. He has come down from Gaspe and is now somewhere in PA. Check out www.andrewskurka.com
Flash Hand
10-28-2004, 15:41
How many road miles do we would have to walk along the NCT?
Flash Hand :jump
chris i think your friend is a couple of years late on this one. Nimblewell Nomad has already done this, and even has bagged the few additional miles above gaspe. sorry.
and this year he has completed the lewis and clark trail. The ol Nomad just keeps on tickkin!!!!
chris i think your friend is a couple of years late on this one. Nimblewell Nomad has already done this, and even has bagged the few additional miles above gaspe. sorry.
and this year he has completed the lewis and clark trail. The ol Nomad just keeps on tickkin!!!!
No Legs, you're wrong. Nomad hiked the Eastern Continental Trail from Gaspe to Key West. Not the Coast2Coast, a conglomeration of many trail including the IAT, AT, LT, road walking, NCT and another one out west. Its a 7000 mile, 11 month walk. I just randomly ran into Andrew's website yesterday and was intrigued. He's even sponsored by Golite and has an insanely light load. His pictures are phenomenal! Check er out
Lone Wolf
10-28-2004, 17:35
Yup. A-Train is right LEGS. Sorry. :)
minnesotasmith
10-28-2004, 18:30
I have this map I think came from a National Geographic. It is entitled "National Trails System Map and Guide", and has this on the back bottom right: "GPO (gov't printing office, no doubt) 1993 -342-398/60062 Reprint 1993".
Strictly speaking, the front is a continental U.S. map with 10 National Scenic Trails and 9 National Historic Trails shown on it. The back has short blurbs (150 words or so each) on all of those trails, with small pics of about 8.
It has this about the North Country National Scenic Trail:
"North Country National Scenic Trail
National Park Service
Established 1980
3200 miles (5150 km)
Conceived in the mid-1960's, the North Country Trail links New York's Adirondack Mountains with the Missouri River in North Dakota. The trail journeys through a variety of environments: the grandeur of the Adirondacks, Pennsylvania's hardwood forests, the farmland and canals of Ohio, the Great Lakes shorelines of Michigan, the glacier-carved forests, lakes, and streams of northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, and the vast plains of North Dakota. Today almost half of this trail is open for public use. Some of the longer segments cross nine national forests and two national park areas along the route.
North Country Trail Association, P.O. Box 311, White Cloud, MI 49349; 616-689-1912
National Park Service, North Country National Scenic Trail, 700 Rayovac Drive [ironically industrially-named street IMO - MS], Suite 100, Madison, WI 53711 608-264-5610"
=========================================
By my map, the NCT goes from S. Central ND across N. Central MN, across NW WI to the Upper Peninsula of MI, south along the Western part of MI, veers to the South Central MI/OH line, goes counterclockwise 3/4 of the way around OH (from 10:00 to 2:00), goes through NW PA, SW to NE NY (doesn't go very far into the Adirondacks IMO), terminating at that the big lake that is along the northern half of the NH/NY line (Lake Champlain, I think).
IMO it goes WAY too far south in OH, and would be better if it were nearer the Canadian border when in upstate NY. It also ought to be pushed further north in MN, cutting over by Ely and going through at least half of the lovely Arrowhead region NE of Duluth. Not a bad-sounding trail, though, IMO, if they ever get it finished.
Andrew's pictures are wonderful. The text below them is nice too.
SavageLlama
10-28-2004, 23:50
The NCT would go through PA and NY, but it looks like a lot of work is still to be done before anyone starts hiking it.
SavageLlama
10-29-2004, 00:08
Check out www.andrewskurka.com (http://www.andrewskurka.com)
Wow. Those are good pix. You gotta love this one..
http://www.andrewskurka.com/assets/C2C/pictures/iat/gallery2/moose.jpg
tlbj6142
10-29-2004, 09:20
I thought some older guy was going to hike the C2C trail this year (2004). I know he, too, was starting in PA in Feb? Mar? Did that trip get aborted?
I think he was mentioned in the bp'er article on the C2C trail last year.
FWIW, the Buckeye trail portion of the NCT has very little road walking. Something like less than 20%.
That was Andy. He started in western PA in Feb, made it into Ohio, and tore a hip flexor which trying to cover too much ground on snowshoes. He spent two months or so healing up, went out to Colorado to do some work for GoLite, hike the CT (in something like 14 days), and then out for the C2C.
Incidently, does any one know who first thruhiked the ECT? I think it was John Brinda, but I'm not sure of the timing.
tlbj6142
10-29-2004, 11:24
That was Andy.For some reason I remember the guy looking much older (like 50?) than Andy. Maybe it was a bad photo.
Lone Wolf
10-29-2004, 11:52
Yes Chris it was John Brinda to first thru-hike the ECT. He started in January 97 and finished in October. M.J. Eberhart (Nimblewill Nomad) did it a year later.
www.aldha.org/brinda.htm
The Solemates
10-29-2004, 15:21
Thats interesting to know. I thought Brinda did not complete the AL or FL portions of the ECT, but I guess it looks like he did. Why does Nomad claim he did it first then?
He wrote a book, didn't he?
The Solemates
10-29-2004, 15:31
Yea, Nomad wrote a book: Ten Million Steps. And in it he claims he is the first to hike the entire ECT, but obviously Brinda did it first. Ive read Nomad's book...its decent, but not excellent.
Lone Wolf
10-29-2004, 15:38
I've got the book in front of me. Do you know where in it he says he is the first?
The Solemates
10-29-2004, 15:42
I dont know. I dont have it right now. Maybe I am wrong...didnt mean to bring up a soft point.
Lone Wolf
10-29-2004, 15:44
I'm not taking sides. Was just curious too cuz I also thought Nomad was first.
smokymtnsteve
10-29-2004, 15:47
It's getting hard to ask an Honest question around here...everybody is SOoooo touchy, :D
The Solemates
10-29-2004, 15:50
I dont know, Id have to go home and look it up, but Im pretty sure Nomad declares he was first. He even mentions Brinda in the book (when he talks about hiking the IAT), but from what I remember Nomad declares that Brinda didnt do the entire ECT. The link you originally gave said Brinda did it first. Who knows.
minnesotasmith
10-29-2004, 19:45
From http://www.northcountrytrail.org/ :
"Already, more than 1,700 miles have been certified off-road"
Also, the third frame from the top on the left side of the home page shows a planned reroute of the NCT to go along the entire periphery of the MN Arrowhead (excepting only the base, which is the Duluth GMA). I applaud this without reservation. I've spent months in the Arrowhead, and IMO it can be thought of as "Improved Maine". What a lovely, lovely trail this will be once it is completed...:clap
JojoSmiley
10-29-2004, 19:52
Hey folk,
Just a quick note. My husband Nomad98 and I hiked from Milford, OH to Ithaca, NY on the NCT this year and let me tell you. If the roadwalking we did in OH is only 20% I would be quite amazed. There was a lot of it between small sections of trail as well as a large portion to get down to thru Marietta to get to a 40 mile forgotten section in the Wayne NF, still in OH.
The NCT is a real work in progress and there is quite a lot of roadwalking in NY too. I am looking forward to getting back out and finishing in NY in the Adironacks as well as going out west to ND and beyond.
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