Our Stories

Randall Roberts: NCNST Long Distance Hiker

Randall Roberts

Mackinac Bridge and 2000 Miles
(Previously received the central patch + Ohio, Pennsylvania, and 1000 Miles.)

I reached 2,000 miles on June 30, 2024 while hiking solo on the Finger Lakes Trail in New York, a trail which I will complete, end-to-end, this September.

In November 2008, I discovered the Buckeye Trail (BT) for the first time. I set a goal to hike the entire trail over time. In August of 2009, I hiked my first hike on the NCNST near Dayton Ohio, probably without even realizing it. In October, 2010, I reached the point where the BT and NCNST merge in Zoar, Ohio. I looked at the Zoar Iron Bridge, constructed in 1883, now converted to a pedestrian bridge and thought it was pretty cool that I was looking at a trail that would go to Vermont. I had no idea at the time that in 2016, I would return to that point with a new goal, which was to hike all of the NCNST in Ohio, which I completed in 2017. After that, my goal became to complete Pennsylvania (completed in 2019). Since then, I’ve been working on completing Michigan and New York and finally walked the Mackinac Bridge on Labor Day this year with a couple fellow Buckeye Trail hikers.

For now, my goal is to complete New York, Vermont, and Lower Michigan over the next 2-3 years. Thanks to the roaming annual NCT Celebration, Wisconsin is the only state I’ve yet to hike on the NCNST. I think that’s pretty cool. 

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