Mythbusters

If you've ever been to the Finger Lakes region of New York you can appreciate just how many opportunities exist for all types of backcountry experiences. From kayaking and canoeing to mountain biking, hiking and camping, Finger Lakes is a backcountry jewel. It also contains the Eastern end of the NCT.

It's good to know that the region has multi use trail advocates in the Western New York Mountain Bicycling Association. WNYMBA works to protect trail access for mountain bikers in the area. Their web site has plenty of great information on local trails and access issues, as well as an extensive set of bulletin board forums. The site also offers this little list of NCT myths along with the truth that busts them.

NCT Myths

The North Country Trail designed for hiking, not biking Trails designed for hiking and biking are essentially identical.

Both use the same design standards set forth by groups like the Forest Service, AMC, and IMBA. The only significant differences are (1) mountain bike trail designs need to consider transitions between open-and-flowing and tight-and-technical sections; and (2) switchbacks are often problematic for hiking trails because foot traffic cuts the corners.Mountain bikers want access to the entire North Country Trail.No. Groups like WNYMBA are not asking for sections of the NCT on private land in New York to be opened to bicycles. If Individual landowners allow access to bicycles, however, this would be welcome.

Congress modelled the North Country Trail after the Appalachian Trail, which is hiking-only.

Among all trails created by the National Trails System Act, only the Appalachian Trail is restricted to be "administered primarily as a footpath." Other National Scenic Trails are open to more than foot travel, including the Pacific Crest Trail equestrians) and Contintental Divide Trail (mountain biking, equestrians.) The Act states that "National scenic trails... will be extended trails so located as to provide for maximum outdoor recreation potential and for the conservation and enjoyment of the nationally significant scenic, historic, natural, or cultural qualities of the areas through which such trails may pass."

Congress never envisioned mountain biking on trails when passing the National Trails System Act in 1980.

They may not have and we'll likely never know. However, the current Act states that "potential trail uses allowed on designated components of the national trails system may include, but are not limited to, the following: bicycling, cross-country skiing, day hiking, equestrian activities, jogging or similar fitness activities, trail biking, overnight and long-distance backpacking, snowmobiling, and surface water and underwater activities."

The NCT was built by hikers so it should only be open to hikers.

Mountain bikers and equestrians have contributed to building and maintaining the NCT. Because of the maintenance efforts of WNYMBA, the NCT section south of Ellicottville is one of the best maintained sections in in Cattaraugus County. In Michigan the Harbor Springs NCTA chapter was formed primarily by mountain bikers.

I especially like the last myth. Because it gets to the heart of what a small number of people out there want to do, rewrite history. Many sections of trail that today make up the NCT were opened and continue to be maintained by people who never intended that their efforts would only be enjoyed by one small set of users.

Where to begin?

From the horses mouth:

WHAT IS THE NORTH COUNTRY NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL?
In March 1980 Federal legislation authorized the establishment of the North Country National Scenic Trail (NST) as a component of the National Trails System. It is one of only eight trails authorized by Congress to be National Scenic Trails. National Scenic Trails are long distance, non-motorized trails.

In many ways, the trail is similar in concept to the more widely known Appalachian Trail--both are NST's. In other ways, it is uniquely different as it crosses a more diverse geographic area. The North Country NST will extend from the vicinity of Crown Point, New York, to Lake Sakakawea State Park, on the Missouri River, in North Dakota, where it joins the route of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.As work on the trail has progressed, it appears that the final length will approach 4,200 miles, instead of the originally estimated 3,200 miles.

HOW LONG IS THE NORTH COUNTRY TRAIL?
The best current estimate is that the North Country National Scenic Trail will be between 4,200 and 4,500 miles long when completed.

WHAT USES ARE ALLOWED ON THE
TRAIL?
The North Country Trail is built primarily for pleasure walking and hiking. However, in places other uses such as cross-country skiing, nowshoeing, horseback riding, and bicycling are appropriate and are allowed. On all public lands, local managers determine the uses that will be allowed in accordance with their management objectives and the capability of the land to accommodate the various uses without damaging the natural resources.

Over the past three decades the North Country Trail has slowly grown from an idea into a patchwork of trail segments stretching form New York to North Dakota. To date, many sections of the NCT utilize existing local trails that were/are already in place. In some places the NCT overlaps public rail trails. In other areas, such as lower Michigan, the NCT follows multiuse public trails.

While the NCT grows, it is also under attack. Not by loggers or developers, but by the people who would claim to protect it. The North Country Trail Association, a private group headquartered in Lowell, Michigan, acts as an advocacy group for the trail. But the NCTA has a myopic agenda. Their focus is not only to complete the trail and help to maintain it through volunteer support. The NCTA explicitly seeks to ban all other users from the trail. In areas where the NCT has overlapped local mountain biking and hiking trails, the NCTA is working to exclude everyone except hikers.

Imagine biking on a public trail your whole life, and even putting in volunteer trail work to keep it maintained, only to find-out one day that bikes have been banned from your local trail! That is exactly what the NCTA is trying to do.

This blog is intended as a place to present a view and opinion of the NCT that includes access for human powered locomotion where the terrain and trail can sustain it. The backcountry does not belong to one small clique. Like those trees in the forest, it belongs to all of us.