North Country Trail
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| North Country Trail | |
|---|---|
| Length | 4600 mi; 7403 km |
| Trailheads | Lake Sakakawea State Park, North Dakota Crown Point State Historic Site, New York |
| Use | Hiking |
| Trail Difficulty | Varies from location to location |
| Sights | Diverse environmental, cultural, and historic features of the northern United States. |
The North Country National Scenic Trail (NCNST), which one-day will stretch more than 4,600 miles from Crown Point in eastern New York to Lake Sakakawea in western North Dakota, is the longest of the eight National Scenic Trails authorized by Congress. Like its sister trails – the Appalachian, Continental Divide, Florida, Ice Age, Natchez Trace, Pacific Crest and Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trails – it was designed to provide peaceful recreational opportunities in some of America's outstanding landscapes.
The NCNST is administered by the National Park Service, managed by federal, state, and local agencies, and built and maintained primarily by the volunteers of the North Country Trail Association (NCTA) and its partners.
Passing through the seven states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota, the NCNST connects more than 160 public land units, including parks, forests, scenic attractions, wildlife refuges, game areas, and historic sites. The list includes:
- Ten National Forest areas (Finger Lakes in New York, Allegheny in Pennsylvania, Wayne in Ohio, Hiawatha, Manistee, and Ottawa in Michigan, Chequamegon in Wisconsin, Superior and Chippewa in Minnesota and Sheyenne National Grassland in North Dakota)
- Four areas of the National Park Service (Michigan's Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Wisconsin's St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, New York's Fort Stanwix National Monument, and Ohio's Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park)
Other federal facilities along the NCNST include:
- Two National Wildlife Refuges (Minnesota's Tamarack and North Dakota's Audubon)
- Two Bureau of Reclamation projects (North Dakota's Garrison Diversion Unit's New Rockford and McCluskey Canals) and,
- Six Army Corps of Engineers impoundments (Baldhill Dam at Lake Ashtabula, North Dakota, Tom Jenkins Dam and Burr Oak Lake, William H. Harsha Lake [also known as East Fork Lake], Ohio, Tionesta Lake, the Kinzua Dam, and Allegheny Reservoir, Pennsylvania)
The NCNST also threads its way through 57 state parks and state historic areas, 47 state forests, 22 state game areas, seven state water conservation districts and at least ten county forests and parks. Several hundred miles of trail eventually will also cross private land thanks to owners who have granted easements across their property.
Existing and new sections of the NCNST are generally limited to foot travel, including hiking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. Other non-motorized uses, such as bicycling and horseback riding are generally limited to areas specifically designed to withstand such use.
About 10,000 people are involved with the NCNST in one way or another, either through membership in the North Country Trail Association or membership in one of eight organizations affiliated with the NCTA: the Finger Lakes Trail Conference, the Buckeye Trail Association, the Superior Hiking Trail Association, the Kekekabic Trail Club, the Northwestern Ohio Rails-to-Trails Association, the Butler Outdoor Club, the Rachael Carson Trails Conservancy and the Friends of the Jordan River National Fish Hatchery.
The 28 chapters of the NCTA and its 3,200+ members and each affiliate organization have assumed responsibility for trail construction and maintenance of a specific section of the NCNST.
When the Trail was established in 1980, portions of it were designed to follow the already existing Finger Lakes (New York), Baker (Pennsylvania), and Buckeye (Ohio) Trails. Their sponsoring organizations became affiliates of the North Country Trail Association and agreed to maintain those portions of their trails to be used by the North Country National Scenic Trail. The Northwestern Ohio Rails-to-Trails Association joined later to help create a link between the Buckeye Trail in Ohio and newly-constructed trail in Michigan; the Superior Hiking Trail Association and the Kekekabic Trail Club joined when it was proposed that the North Country National Scenic Trail route through Minnesota be changed to include an already-completed section of the Superior Hiking Trail along Lake Superior, and the Kekekabic and Border Route Trails along the Canadian border.
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