GRAND RAPIDS — The North Country Trail is a 4,800-mile trail that extends from North Dakota to Vermont, the longest of the country’s national scenic trails. But to Holly Rose, it’s not just a trail.
“[There’s] a whole association that goes along with it, that is a community of hikers and campers and outdoors enthusiasts and stuff like that,” she said. “So, it's a hiking trail, but it's more than that too.”
Rose is president of the Grand Rapids-based Arrowhead Chapter of the North Country Trail Association, which covers around 150 miles of Minnesota’s 850 NCT miles.
The trail was established by Congress in 1980. There’s no motorized traffic, and most sections of the trail are solely designated for hiking.
“It tends to steer itself into really beautiful, pristine places and more wilderness kind of areas,” Rose said.
In June, the Arrowhead Chapter celebrated the opening of a new 2.5-mile segment of trail in Cohasset, running from Tioga Beach southwest to True Road.
The new segment is the first phase of a multi-year project to eliminate some 18 miles of “road walk,” segments of the North Country Trail that follow roadways rather than trails, between Cohasset and Remer. Rose said replacing all road walk is the dream.
“That’s the ultimate goal,” she said. "Every year you go, ‘Oh, we eliminated, you know, such and such amount of road walk,’ and then we all, you know high five and have a beer.”
In 2019, Congress authorized an Arrowhead re-route, necessitating over 100 miles of new trail construction. Previously, the official trail route ran straight east from Grand Rapids to Cloquet, though that part of the trail was never built due to most of the route crossing wetlands.
'Hike it, build it, love it'
Rose grew up hiking on the NCT, and she didn’t even know it.
“My mom had a favorite place. It's a little bit south of Walker. It's Erin Lake loop, and it's just like a kind of an offshoot for of the North Country Trail that runs right through there,” she said. “But we would always just go there and hike around that spot for fall colors."
She always saw the sign for the trail and eventually googled it to discover what it was.
“I discovered this whole world of hikers and volunteers and trail builders and the whole trail community,” she said.
Volunteers help build new trail segments and maintain the existing ones, “adopting” parts of the route. To Rose, the community that supports the trail is a big part of its identity.
“Our newest member, I heard that she said, ‘These are my people!’ Just so many reasons to love the trail, she said. “ ... The motto is hike it, build it, love it.”
In a way, Rose also personifies the trail, viewing it as an ever-present companion, preserving the land and the spirit of its visitors.
“It just holds memories that are cherished to me, and now I can revisit the trail,” she said. “I think of it like the trail's always there for you. It's something everybody can share and everybody can be a part of it, maintaining it, preserving it, building it. ... Once you start experiencing it, it just kind of pulls you in.”
Rose encourages anyone who wants to get involved or learn more about the trail to email arw@northcountrytrail.org or visit the North Country Trail Association website.
