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Beth McIntyre: NCNST Long Distance Hiker

Beth McIntyre

Central patch + Mackinac Bridge, 1000 Miles, and Vermont

Although I had hiked parts of the North Country in Kalamazoo and Calhoun Counties (MI) over the years, my “real” NCT hiking began after I joined the Chief Noonday Chapter in the fall of 2020. The next year, I participated in the Chapter’s “Hike the County” challenge for the first time. I finished hiking the Chapter’s three counties in June 2021. Driving home from my last hike, I remember thinking, “Well, now what am I going to do?”

I decided to hike Hillsdale County too, which would take me to the Ohio border. I was sure I would feel complete at that point. Nope! I finished Hillsdale County in September 2021 and decided to hike Kent County (the next county north from Chief Noonday’s section). I didn’t start Kent County until December 2021. Like many people, my work had become very stressful during the pandemic, and I hiked quite a lot that December for stress relief.

By the time I was halfway through Kent County, I had committed to hike to the Bridge (to complete the lower peninsula). I plugged away at it during 2022 and the spring of 2023. Once I finished the Lower Peninsula in May of 2023, I decided I needed to continue on to 1,000 miles to become an official NCT long-distance hiker. I hiked small parts of New York and Vermont when I was back east visiting family and for reunions, but I decided to focus on Ohio for the remaining miles to my 1,000-mile milestone. I reached that goal on a very soggy Christmas afternoon 2023.

I’m a solo hiker and the vast majority of my NCT hikes have been either out-and-backs (with occasional shortcuts on the “back” part when there were curves), or bike one way, or “bike around” if there were roads nearby. I did have trail angel support for 51.8 miles of my first 1,000 miles (shoutout to my trail angels Andrew, Ellen, Shari, Barb and Joe!) and I took a taxi back in Battle Creek one day when I got really carried away early on in Calhoun County.

I’ve always been an outdoors person and I love being out in nature to observe different ecosystems. The NCT goes through many beautiful areas that I likely wouldn’t have visited had I not been hiking the trail. And I have learned a lot about the history of the areas I’ve hiked. I look forward to continuing my NCT journey in 2024 and beyond.

Addition in late 2024:

I have deep family connections to Vermont, especially to my grandfather’s farm south of Bennington. I’ve hiked a bit of the Long Trail / Appalachian Trail that runs on the ridge east of his farm. In 2022, I hiked part of the NCT around Middlebury when I was visiting family. I’m not a backpacker, so wasn’t sure I could finish the Vermont NCT miles until I found the New Boston Trail that goes up to the Long Trail. With the help of a trail angel and two shuttle drivers, I was able to finish the VT miles in July 2024.  It was wonderful to be able to spend a beautiful summer week in VT hiking and visiting friends and family!

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