Pennsylvania Tour de NCT in PA

Pennsylvania hillside on the NCT (photo by JHY)

from John Stehle

Come Join us for a series of monthly hikes on the North Country Trail in Pennsylvania. It's called the "Tour de NCT in PA". We will cover all the non-road portions of the NCT in PA, working alternately from the Ohio border and from the New York border. The typical hike will be between 7 to 12 miles. We may do some car camping and maybe some backpacking. At the end, there will be a special "Tour" patch for everyone who did all the sections during that time period. To be on the regular email for times and places, send your email address to stehles@yahoo.com.

Stages completed:
Stage 1: On Sunday March 15, 2009 we hiked the first section from the Ohio State line at State Gamelands 285 for 4.1 miles. For those of you who would want to do a make up of that section we will be doing that section again on the Butler Outdoor Club Extravaganza on the Memorial Day weekend. If you want directions and a map for doing this section on your own, let me know.

Planned stages:
Stage 2 of the Tour de NCT in PA is the section from the New York state line in Allegheny National Forest. It will be on Sunday April 19. We will meet at Tracy Ridge Campground on Route 321 at 9:00 AM. We will hike the 11 mile section from Rt's 321 & 346 to Rt 321 to the South. Some of us will be camping at the Tracy Ridge Campground the night before so that we will be ready for a solid day of hiking. There is a one mile section from Rt 321 up to the NY State line which we plan to do the day before to "get our card punched" and so as not to add 2 more miles to the 11 miles already planned for Sunday. If possible, RSVP for planning purposes. If you want to camp with us, or to back pack half way on Saturday or if you want to stay at a local motel let me know so that we can coordinate our activities.

Stage 3: We will soon be planning for the sections near Wampum for May 2009.

John Stehle
Cell 724-256-0674