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   Local North Country Trail Association volunteers are excited to start building a new 11-mile North Country National Scenic Trail segment within the Chippewa National Forest in October.  The public is invited to help out!

   Volunteers of the North Country Trail Association’s Star of the North and Arrowhead Chapters will soon start building the final piece of a new North Country National Scenic Trail (NCT) segment within the Chippewa National Forest in Cass County.  Congress authorized this new 11-mile segment in 2019 with the passage of the NCT’s “Arrowhead Re-route” legislation after a decade plus of NCTA advocacy.  The new hiking trail will closely parallel State highway 6 and meet up with new trail being built in Itasca County by the Arrowhead Chapter that connects with Tioga Beach in Cohasset.

   Local North Country Trail Association - Star of the North (STN) and Arrowhead (ARW) Chapter volunteers and staff from the Chippewa National Forest will work on building the new NCT during the week of October 22-25. Volunteers will work on building the new trail on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday but people can participate for as long as they are able to. The group will enjoy free primitive camping at Schoolcraft State Park on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights and group breakfasts and dinners each night. All required tools, trailwork training, crew leadership, and safety equipment are provided and no prior trail experience is required. To learn more about the event or to RSVP (strongly encouraged), contact Dan Geiger, STN Chapter President via email at [email protected] or visit https://www.meetup.com/chip-nct-hikers/events/310218511/. 

   The North Country Trail Association (NCTA) is a national non-profit organization dedicated to the building and maintenance of the North Country National Scenic Trail and telling its story. It has members, chapters, partners and affiliates located along the 4,800-mile length of the Trail from North Dakota to Vermont.  Its Star of the North (STN) Chapter is responsible for the NCT from Hwy 84 north of Longville to the Cass-Itasca County boundary near Hwy 6. They have volunteers from the Twin Cities and all over Minnesota. People may learn more about the Chapter at http://northcountrytrail.org/stn. The Arrowhead (ARW) Chapter is responsible for the NCT from Hwy 6 to McCarthy Beach State Park and has volunteers from the Grand Rapids area and Itasca County. People may learn more about the Chapter at http://northcountrytrail.org/arw, by contacting them at [email protected], or via their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/arrowheadhikers.

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