Our Stories

Mike Cunningham: NCNST Long Distance Hiker

Mike “Hiker Miker” Cunningham

Central patch + Vermont and the Mackinac Bridge

So why do I want to hike the North Country Trail? I am a member of the Finger Lakes Trail Conference (FLTC) and back in 2020 (I think) I joined the NCTA. That year I got the 100-mile patch by hiking 5+ miles per day for 20 days on trails local to me. I thought it would be great to hike the longest trail in the U.S. but I would settle for New York. The trail then got extended into Vermont, so I thought that would be an easy state to pick up. I have hiked a considerable amount in New York and Pennsylvania, and will work on those in the future. I am also considering Ohio and the upper peninsula of Michigan.

I have a regular backpacking partner that was interested in hiking the Vermont NCT, but he couldn’t spend the time. Another friend was interested but she still works, so said that we could split it in two. Since half is backpackable and half has no camping spots, this seemed doable.

So, in May 2025, Jill Wilson and I met at the Appalachian Trail crossing on Vermont Route 4. We hiked in to the first shelter, some 1.5 miles away, passing Maine Junction (the official start) along the way. The next day, we hiked to Sucker Brook shelter and had a difficult time. Since the Green Mountain Club discourages people and maintainers from doing their thing before Memorial Day, there were a lot of blowdowns ang hiking over Mt. Horrid truly was. The following day (Memorial Day) we hiked from Sucker Brook Shelter to one of our cars parked at Vermont 125. This was exciting also because the previous day there had been a trail race on one section and the trail was incredibly muddy. That was the end of the first part.

For the second part, we camped at the Crown Point campground in New York, just on the west side of the bridge. This was in August. On the 8th, we met at our previous stopping point, mile 33. We then day-hiked to mile 22.5. The next day we hiked from mile 22.5 to mile 12.5. It was hot with the temperature in the 80s, and we went through several parks and part of the Trail Around Middlebury (TAM). The following day we hiked from mile 12.5 to and across the bridge. This was even hotter with the temperature going into the 90s. Since this was going to be another hot one with little shade, I rigged up an umbrella to fasten onto my pack. This worked fairly well but it was still HOT.

On Labor Day weekend I was scheduled to do a backpack on the Northville Placid Trail with the same fellow who couldn’t do the Vermont NCT. He backed out of this one too, so I contacted a friend who lives near Buffalo. He was game to do the [Mackinac] Bridge Walk, so on August 28, I drove from Connecticut to Dave’s house in Corfu, New York. The next day we drove to a campground in St. Ignace, Michigan. As we still had a couple of days to wait, we decided to drive up to Pictured Rocks [National Lakeshore] and take the boat ride and do a tiny bit of hiking. The boat ride was not cheap, but it really was a fantastic ride.

On August 31 we drove to the parking area for the Bridge Walk and hiked up the NCT to Route 75 (on map 91) and back again.

The following day, Labor Day, we got up early and joined the crowd to walk over the bridge. Joining some 33,000 other people it really was quite neat, although the swaying of the bridge was even worse than riding on the NYC subway. We finished in time to do a double crossing, but by the time we got finished using the facilities, there was no way we could make it. We walked to a ferry and took a ride to Mackinac Island where we had lunch. Continuing the journey, we got back to St. Ignace on the ferry and hiked back again along the NCT to the parking lot at Bridge View Park. I might just do this again next year.

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