The North Country Trail is part of the National Scenic trail system and is a work in progress.  The trail will stretch for about 4600 miles linking communities, forests, mountains, and prairies across seven northern states. Already, more than 2100 miles have been certified off-road. Additional miles follow shared paths, and some road walks yet remain.

The NCT western terminus is in Lake Sakakawea State Park in North Dakota and the trail travels through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.  The eastern terminus of the trail is currently planned to be at Crown Point State Historical Park in New York along Lake Champlain on the Vermont border.  The panorama above is from the current eastern terminus at Crown Point. The future plan is to have the North Country Trail enter Vermont and end at the Appalachian Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest.

The New York DEC has recently laid plans for the NCT to cross through the Adirondack Park.  The information about this exciting plan is available at the DEC website.  We also have pages dedicated to the North Country Trail in Adirondack Park.

CNY Hiking at the Eastern Terminus of the NCT at Crown Point

A wide group of volunteers work in partnership with the National Park Service to build, maintain, and promote the North Country National Scenic Trail.  The North Country Trail will be the longest trail of the National Trail System which includes the Appalachian Trail. The North Country Trail is blazed blue except for a stretch in New York where is follows the Finger Lakes Trail and is blazed white. We are unsure why the Finger Lakes Trail Conference has decided not to change the blaze color as other trails have done.

The NCT passes through ten National Forests:  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. The NCT passes 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.

There are two National Wildlife Refuges that the NCT crosses:  Minnesota's Tamarack and North Dakota's Audubon.  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 also cross private land thanks to owners who have granted easements across their property.

For more information on this exciting trail please see the North Country Trail official website. 

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