North Country Trail in the Adirondacks

[Grumpy]

An article generally outlining three proposed routes for the North Country Trail across the Adirondack Park can be read at this link.

What do you think about these proposed routes?

When completed, the North Country Trail will run about 4,600 miles from Crown Point, New York, to Lake Sakakawea, in the middle of North Dakota. The route goes through New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. More information about the trail -- including a discussion and message board -- is available at the NCT Association web site.

G.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

Damn. something else to do when I retire.

As far as the route through the Adirondacks, I kind of like it. I don't think I'd want a trail like that going through the high peaks, and it's going through areas fairly remote, making for nice peaceful hiking.

 

[Grumpy]

According to the linked article, it looks a North Country Trail route through the High Peaks definitely is a non-starter.

Now, Pete (or anybody else familiar with these things), I have a question for you. The article includes some gobbledygook about "Class III" and "Class IV" trails, mentioning that these refer to some kind of NY DEC standard to which trails are built and maintained. Do you know anything about this that you can share?

G.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

The article includes some gobbledygook about "Class III" and "Class IV" trails, mentioning that these refer to some kind of NY DEC standard to which trails are built and maintoined..

My browser only showed the pictures... I thought something was missing..

Class I is a primative path.
Class II is a typical older ADK herd path
Class III is a renovated herd path
Class IV is a secondary trail
Class V is something likeLoj to Marcy dam
Class VI is a 'fixed up tail... ed handicapped accesible
Class VII is a horse trail
Class VIII is a ski trail

There are rules about the width of the tred, sidecutting, sinage, use of ladders, bridges, etc at each level.
Note that an ordering appears, but it breaks down for the ski trail, which has all kinds of different parameters.

 

[lumberzac]

While I find the idea of another long distance trail through the Adirondacks intriguing, I have to ask, at what cost? What many people and I enjoy about the Southern Adirondacks it the fact that there are few people. Bringing a National trail through this area will certainly change this, but I don’t know to what degree. The environment should outweigh the wants and desires of a few hikers.

 

[Papa Bear]

While I find the idea of another long distance trail through the Adirondacks intriguing, I have to ask, at what cost? What many people and I enjoy about the Southern Adirondacks it the fact that there are few people. Bringing a National trail through this area will certainly change this, but I don’t know to what degree. The environment should outweigh the wants and desires of a few hikers.

Yes ... and when the North Country Trail was first proposed, it was supposed to connect to the LT somewhere in Northen Vermont and thence to the AT. This was shot down by the GMC as I recall for the very reasons you mention.

There always seems to be a trade off between publicizing areas we love and "prortecting" them from overuse. Thing is, we (and anyone, really) can certainly hike to any of these spots if we want to, without them being designated as part of something "official".

 

[JimB]

I don't think there is a great chance of high traffic. A section of the NCT(also FLT in this area) is 2 miles from my house and I run/hike/ski etc at least once a week on it. I have done at one time or another most of the NCT/FLT in this area and have only seen a handful of other users. There is a trail cannister at the top of Mt Roderick that I always sign and only about 20 people a year go by. Some are section hikers, very few are thru hikers and most are only doing the little 4 or 5 mile loop. I wish more people would use it. Especially as trail breakers in the winter

 

[tgoodwin]

I know that this issue has been kicked around for many years now, but I still am not sure what is the real problem with letting the route use existing trails as much as possible. While some like to say that the High Peaks are "overused", I don't believe that users hiking in from North Dakota will significantly increase use levels. Lumberzac correctly questions the cost of the new trail construction and how it will affect the overall character of the Southern Adirondacks. JimB notes the relatively few users on the existing sections of the trail. Why then go to the expense of constructing many miles of new trail if so few will actually use it - unless a section happens to have some value to local hikers.

This debate has also raged about the Long Path from Palisades Park in New Jersey to Whiteface Mt. Again, it's not people who hike from New Jersey that might sometimes crowd High Peaks Trails, it's the people who DRIVE from New Jersey who are the most numerous. There has also been concern that the N-P Trail will lose its "identity" if other trails piggyback onto its route. Well, the Long Trail seems to have managed to keep its identity even though the longer and more famous AT follows its southern half.

I hardly see the North Country Trail becoming a popular end-to-end trail like the AT, but let them finish that trail with as little new cutting as possible in the Adirondacks. If somehow it does prove to be a popular trail, then there can always be reroutes of which there have been many on the AT.