North Country Trail would be LONGEST

[Flash Hand]

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

[Lone Wolf]

Probably a s**tload of road walking involved.

[smokymtnsteve]

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.

[MOWGLI]

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/exp...end/talone.htm

[White Oak]

Another good trail to bookmark. So many trails, so few years (sigh).

[TakeABreak]

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.

[chris]

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]

How many road miles do we would have to walk along the NCT?



Flash Hand

[LEGS]

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!!!!

[A-Train]

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]

Yup. A-Train is right LEGS. Sorry.

[minnesotasmith]

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.

[lobster]

Andrew's pictures are wonderful. The text below them is nice too.

[SavageLlama]

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]

Check out www.andrewskurka.com

Wow. Those are good pix. You gotta love this one..

[tlbj6142]

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%.

[chris]

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]

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]

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]

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?