Our Stories
Jill Wilson: NCNST Long Distance Hiker
Jill Wilson
Central patch + Vermont
NCT End-to-End Essay, Part I: The Beginning and Vermont
I began hiking the North Country Trail sort of by accident! It was really the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) that drew me in and got me to do my first long distance section hiking of a trail. I completed that over three years, getting FLT end-to-end status in September of 2024. It was after that completion that I considered continuing on the NCT through the rest of NY… and beyond! Why not? After all, with completion of the FLT, I already had a few hundred miles under my belt that count toward the NCT. Might as well keep going on this gloriously long trail!
I happened to make many hiking friends through the FLT that had similar thoughts. Suddenly, I found out about other hikers across states that had the goal of completing some, or all, of the NCT. With that, I had a new goal – with my wish being I will hike as much as the NCT as I want, until I don’t want to anymore, or I can’t, whichever comes first. Perhaps neither scenario will happen and I will hike the whole thing!
I live near Syracuse, NY so it was a no brainer to not only continue through NY but also to conquer Vermont. This leads me to my essay on my Vermont experience.
Vermont: It’s “only” 70 miles!
I’ve started to get into backpacking in the last couple years, and since the last 35 miles of Vermont share trail with the Long Trail, I decided I wanted to backpack that portion. I had another hiker, Mike Cunningham, also interested in joining me. So, we set the date for Memorial Day weekend in 2025, which worked with my work schedule (yay, holiday time!) and was also “opening weekend” for the Vermont trails after mud season.
We started off on Thursday evening in cold, pouring rain. In fact, the weather forecast all weekend was 40s with consistent rain (even snow in higher elevations!). Not great! Still, we persevered, staying the first night after a quick mile in on the Appalachian Trail (AT) at the shelter past Maine Junction, then moving onward the next day to the David Logan Shelter. Day 1 was characterized by blowdowns, which severely cramped our mojo. Every 50 feet it seemed there was some major obstacle to go over, and it really slowed us down. Oof! Day 2 was characterized by rocks and climbs, as we made our way up and over (and up and over again… and again!) Mt. Horrid, which is aptly named. In the cold rain and fog, there were no views, so we were not rewarded with anything at the end other than sore legs. We stayed at Sucker Brook that night, and headed out the next day to our car staged at Middlebury River, hiking through plenty of “Vermud” to get there – three days of VERY tough hiking with heavy packs and cold, rainy conditions.
Fast forward to August of 2025, Mike and I set out to complete our remaining 34 miles or so. We WEBO’d our way (traveled westbound) to the Champlain bridge from Middlebury River, splitting the hikes over three days. This time, we camped at Crown Point and decided to day hike this portion. We were treated by trail shared with the Trail Around Middlebury (TAM), beautiful field traverses, and roadwalks that straddled the Green Mountains behind us and the Adirondacks ahead. Now, that makes for a scenic road walk! Though, we must say, Town Line Road was the longest 5 or 6 miles we’ve had to do in a long time. Instead of cold rain, we had HOT, HOT heat, with sun blazing down on us. I opted for a sun hoodie to keep from sizzling like bacon (it worked). Getting to the Champlain Bridge and crossing the Vermont border into NY felt like a real accomplishment! I’m so glad the trail is on this bridge!
Overall, Vermont showed us its beauty and its toughness, and I enjoyed every minute of it (even if not until after the fact!) Now, on to finish NY and set my sights on PA!
Learn more about long distance hiker recognition at explorenct.info/NoCoLo/index.htm.
