An Introduction to This Guide

Over the years, I've been approached by several people contemplating end-to-end hikes on the North Country National Scenic Trail , "Asking for my advice as the author of the standard overview of the trail. My first word of advice has always been, "Buy a file cabinet. You'll need it."' I already had a file cabinet full of information on the North Country Trail when I started this project, so thought my advice was sound; but so far, I've bought three more, and am not done researching yet.

Therein lies the rub. There's a lot of information out there, much of it dated and wrong. Many areas of the trail are irritatingly incomplete, both on the ground and in the information about it. The sheer difficulty of assembling information needed for an end to end hike of the trail has resulted in the need for the potential user to spend more time than most are willing just to get the basic information needed to follow the trail. Even when all the information in print has been assembled, there still have been gaps that can only be solved by a visit to the area.

There are many reasons why the NCNST has not had a high profile, and the lack of an effective guide for the length of the trail has been one of them. This is the first attempt there's been to write a guide for the whole trail, unmarked roadwalks and all, and not just selected parts of it, in an effort to boil down those several file cabinets worth of information about the route into a single source that's as correct and usable as can be made, knowing that perfection is impossible. Sources for this book include most of the material about the trail that's ever been published; a few items may have been missed, but, as far as possible, none of significance that I'm aware of. It represents the amalgamation of hundreds of trail, county and city maps; thousands of pages of trail guides, trail logs and reminiscences from users, articles in the North Country Trail Association's magazine, the North Star; research in the National Park Service files, and lots of help from many people more familiar with specific sections than I am; handouts from many agencies and groups, motel and campground guides, input from chambers of commerce and other local authorities, many interviews and questionaires and letters, a hefty phone bill, a fair amount of searching on the internet, and personal visits to many locations, all of this assembled over a period of more than ten years.

This is a work in preparation for publication. I'll come right out and say it: there are errors in this work! The errors come from several sources, the biggest one being that the trail is constantly changing. New sections of the trail are added every year, others are relocated, and a few grow faint or obsolete. Trail maintenance efforts can change, improve or deteriorate anything in a surprisingly short time. Businesses open, close, move, change owners or change services. Policies change. The information on this web page basically dates from late 1997 [with some minor updates], and information and corrections received by me since that time may not have been applied to the page. What with everything, there are inaccuracies and downright mistakes. As I stated above, the North Country Trail Association and National Park Service are not responsible for this page, and neither they nor I cannot or will not be held liable for any errors herein. You have been warned!

Knowing that errors exist, however, the decision has been made to put this work on-line, in order for it to be of what use is possible to those planning a hike on the NCNST. I am not sure that this project will ever get finished; I have done but little on it since the summer of 1998, thanks to inability to get information on future plans in two different major areas, and, frankly, running out of steam on it.

If you're planning a hike on the North Country Trail, there are a few things about the trail you should know. I could have listed them all here, but that's elsewhere on this website, at Following the North Country National Scenic Trail. Read at least the preface and the introduction.

I will mention a couple of other things:

Approximately 1700 miles of the trail are certified by the National Park Service. Except in some special circumstances, certified trail is located off roads, and motorized vehicles are restricted. The balance, except for about 1200 miles, is marked in some way or another, although not often identified as North Country Trail. Several hundred miles of excellent hiking trail is not yet certified, although quite certifiable. All noncertified sections, especially roadwalks, with a few exceptions, are not officially "North Country Trail"; in most of these the route given in this book to connect certified sections must be regarded by the user as a "suggested" route. As much as possible, roadwalks have been selected with a view to walking in mind, taking the most direct route possible with a view to low-use roads. While many hundreds of miles of these roadwalks have been inspected, not all have, and the author can take no responsibility for those walking them. Users should be especially careful of traffic when walking roads, walking facing opposing traffic and giving vehicles the right of way.

Due to the size of the guide, a lot of stuff has had to be editied for length, and this means that stuff gets left out. If you are hiking any of the longer certified sections, I'd strongly suggest that you order a copy of Certified Sections of the North Country National Scenic Trail or the pertinent section from the North Country Trail Store. Certified Sections of the North Country Trail, by Byron and Margaret Hutchins, provides accurate route descriptions by an experienced guidebook writer who walked the sections with a measuring wheel. Not all certified segments are yet covered at this writing, but to date many of the segments long enough to be a weekend or week's hiking destination have been covered, with more to come in the future. Segments published as of 1998 include Pennsylvania's Allegheny National Forest and Cook State Forest; Ohio's Wayne National Forest, Burr Oak to Sinking Spring, Sinking Spring to Milford, Little Miami Scenic Park, and the Miami and Erie Trail; several areas in Michigan; Wisconsin's Chequamegon National Forest and Brule River State Forest; Minnesota's Chippewa National Forest, and North Dakota's Sheyenne National Grasslands, New Rockford and McCluskey Canals and the Lonetree Wildlife Management Area. The whole set is available from the North Country Trail Store. Individual map sets are available at various prices; contact the North Country Trail Store for more information. (Prices are subject to change. Contact the Trail Store for the latest information!)

In four areas -- western New York, the greater part of Ohio, all of Michigan, and northern Minnesota -- various groups have published detailed trail maps of varying degrees of quality. The North Country Trail Association stocks these maps in the North Country Trail Store, 229 E Main St, Lowell, MI 49331. Availability varies, but they can be contacted at (888) 454-NCTA, or faxed at (616) 897-6605. The North Country Trail Association is in the early phases of developing a multicolor topographic trail map, far more accurate than those available anywhere else, using GPS and computerized technology; the Finger Lakes Trail Conference has a similar program under way for western New York. Though it will be many years before these maps are complete, the first of them are now available soon from the North Country Trail Store.

Because there's a lot of stuff here, this website has been kept fairly simple. You won't find frames, or many photos, but lots of maps. The maps are derived from a publication format, and are perhaps somewhat oversize; often they will range off the screen. However, they print out nicely; all you have to do is to hit the "PRINT" button of your browser. You can also save the graphics and text to your own drive; all it takes is a right-click of your mouse button.