Our Stories

Jay Shutt: NCNST Long Distance Hiker

Jay Shutt

Central patch + Mackinac Bridge, 1000 Miles, and Ohio

I began hiking the North Country Trail in May 2018 when I joined the Buckeye Trail Circuit Hike Group for a hike in the New Straitsville Section of the Buckeye Trail that runs concurrent with the North Country Trail. I soon became a regular with the Circuit Hike Group on their monthly Saturday and Sunday hikes. Through this experience I became aware of the North Country Trail and eventually began applying for the NCTA’s Hike 100 Challenge each year.

In the fall of 2019, the Circuit Hike Leader, Jim Gilkey, and several other hikers completed the Buckeye Trail, and I took over as the Circuit Hike Leader planning and posting monthly hikes on the Buckeye Trail/NCT on Meetup and the Buckeye Trail website. In 2022 I was awarded the NCTA;s Boots on the Trail Award for my efforts in leading the Circuit Hike Group and helping others learn about and enjoy the trail.

Eventually, on May 21, 2023, I completed the entire Buckeye Trail. However, that didn’t mean that I was done hiking the NCT in Ohio. I went on to complete the non-Buckeye Trail portions of the NCT in Ohio in July through December 2023. I again planned and posted the hikes on Meetup with postings on both a Buckeye Trail Meetup Group and the NCTA Wampum Chapter Meetup. This is how I completed the Ohio portion of the NCT.

In 2022, I also completed 100 miles of the NCT in Michigan from a point south of Petoskey to a little north of St. Ignace, including hiking across the Mackinac Bridge on Labor Day 2022.

My NCT hiking will continue in 2024. My current plans include completing the NCT in Pennsylvania in 2024 with hikes planned from March Through October. Also, in 2024 I am planning to hike 100 miles in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan picking up from where I left off just north of St. Ignace in 2022.

I continue to enjoy many things about hiking on the NCT including the people I have met and now count as friends, seeing and learning about areas the trail passes through, the beauty of nature observed at a walking pace, the sense of accomplishment that comes from a successful hike, and the sense of wellbeing that comes from a physical workout. I have hiked on beautiful spring and fall days, in the sunshine and in the rain, in the heat of summer and in the snowy cold of winter and have found that they are all enjoyable in their own ways.

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