Our Stories

Matt Bromley: NCNST Long Distance Hiker

Matt “Three More Miles” Bromley

Central patch + 1,000-Mile and Mackinac Bridge

I’ve been interested in the idea of long distance trails ever since I encountered the North Country Trail and the Appalachian Trail while on family vacations as a kid. The idea of following a map to see new places has always felt like an adventure to me. About 15 years ago I started thinking about hiking the entire North Country Trail in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan where I live. It wasn’t until I started running long distances on trails that it really became a reality an obsession. In July 2019, I began organizing monthly runs of 25-30 miles on the trail starting at the Ohio border, and each time starting the next run where we finished the previous one. I posted these runs as events in a Facebook running group that I help admin. These group runs have become something that I look forward to every month, and as soon as we finish one run, I dive right into planning the next one. It took 23 runs to complete the Lower Peninsula. I only ran solo once and was joined by family, friends, and strangers who quickly became friends. In total, 53 different people joined and we had the pleasure of experiencing all the variety that the trail has to offer through all seasons of the year.

I finished up the Lower Peninsula in November 2021 and immediately began thinking about what was next. Once you get hooked on the trail, it’s hard to imagine not continuing on. My plan since then has been to continue the monthly runs by heading into Ohio during the winter months and working on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan from spring to summer. After two winters of Ohio runs, I’ve made it as far as Piqua, and hit mile 1,002 last weekend. I also walked across the Mackinac Bridge with family on Labor Day in 2021. My current stats (as of the end of 2023) are 792 miles in Michigan and 210 miles in Ohio. I’m super excited to be heading back up to the UP in May to kick off the summer by covering a section from the mouth of the Two Hearted River to Grand Sable Lake visitor center in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

I’m still amazed at the way the trail offers something new every time I’m on it. I have so many great memories from the trail, and these adventures have been more important to me than I can express in words during some difficult times. The trail is an incredible resource for the public and I am so appreciative of all the volunteers who work to maintain it and construct new trail. Thank you to everyone who contributes in any way! I want to make it a priority to do more volunteering myself. Here’s to many more miles of trail adventuring!

Learn more about long distance hiker recognition at explorenct.info/NoCoLo/index.htm.