NCT Memorabilia - Part 3 - Patches

current North Country Trail patch

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by JHY

These patches have been offered more recently by the North Country Trail Association. The patch above was introduced in 2000. It, and the state patches below first show up in the October 2000 North Star. That year, our annual conference was combined with the Superior Hiking Trail, in May, as they embraced the Arrowhead Reroute. It would make sense that the patches would have been available for the conference, but they don't appear in the July North Star, so I'm not sure. And although I was at that conference, I don't remember. This uses the National Park Service emblem for the NCT. If you compare the compass star in this patch to the ones in the earlier patches you will see that it is yellow and white, instead of yellow and black. This reflects the change that the NPS made officially, to make the star show up better on signage.

current North Country Trail state patches

Introduced at the same time were these small state patches. They are just 2 inches on the diagonal. It is significant that the Arrowhead route now is shown on the one for Minnesota.

2000- 2005 North Country Trail volunteer patches

In 2001, this series of patches was begun. They could be purchased by chapters to be awarded to volunteers. You can see that there were four specific designs for Hike Leaders, Volunteer Organizers, Mappers (those who provided input for the then new NCTA maps), and Trail Crew for actual trail work. Any volunteer could purchase, or be given, the volunteer year patches. These were designed by Bob Papp, Executive Director at that time, and quite an all-purpose-person.

patch awarded for recruiting members

I am not sure if this patch is still available or not. This is a patch which was awarded for a particular service to the NCTA. If a person had recruited 10 other new members, this patch was given to the recruiter. Incidentally, there was also an award for recruiting 50 members. This was a denim jacket. Bob Tait received one, but I think that before anyone else reached this level things had changed and no one remembered that award.

There is an existing patch for End-to-Enders. These were made in 1995, and the first ones presented to Ed Talone and Chet Fromm at the 1995 conference at Watson Homestead, New York. These went missing for quite a few years, but I understand from Andrea Ketchmark, the relatively new Director of Trail Development, that they have been found. I told her to save me one!

Although some chapters have created patches, and there were some made for annual conferences, to my knowledge, between yesterday and today's posts, these are all the patches which have been generally issued by the NCTA. If anyone has information which can add to this, it would be greatly appreciated if you would contact me.

See NCT Memorabilia - Part 2 - Early Patches
See North Country Trail Association to buy current patches at the Trail Shop
Contact me at jhy@t-one.net

NCT Memorabilia - Part 2 - Early Patches

first North Country Trail patch

if you like this article, click the Blip chiclet!
by JHY

Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I am a patch freak. I love embroidered patches, and have a fair collection. I don't quite have all the ones ever issued by the NCTA, but I'm close. Today, I'll feature the earliest series of patches.

To my knowledge, the patch above was the first one ever offered by the NCTA. It was available when I first got involved in 1995. All of these patches, except two, first appeared for sale in the Winter 1990-91 issue of the NCTA magazine. I speculate that they were designed to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Trail, although if so, they should have been first available in the summer of 1990. But perhaps they just didn't make it into the magazine.

first North Country Trail hiker patch

I do not know where this patch came from. It has never been offered for sale through the NCTA. I purchased it at the annual auction, I think in Marquette in 2003. I do own a couple of other never issued patches from the NCT, but I know their history. This one is a mystery, but I treasure it!

first North Country Trail Association patch

This one first shows up for sale in the August 1997 North Star, in an expanded Trail Shop, to promote not only the trail, but the supporting Association. Note that on all three of these designs the trail still heads straight across Minnesota, not yet having moved toward the Arrowhead reroute.

first North Country Trail states patch

When the very first patch was offered, state patches also were made available. As you can see, the shapes of the states are shown, but no attempt is made to indicate the route of the trail through them.

first North Country Trail volunteer patch

Also as part of the early series, a volunteer could order this strip.

first North Country Trail mileage patches

The final set which was offered in the early series were patches which could be ordered if you demonstrated (mostly honor system) that you had hiked any of these mileages in one day. There was also a patch for 25 miles and one for 35 miles. I do not own those, and would really like to add them to the collection. I wouldn't be able to wear the 35-miles-in-one-day patch! But I'd really like to be the holder of a complete set. If anyone knows of the 25 or 35 mile strips that they would be willing to give up, please contact me!

Tomorrow, we'll cover some newer patches.

See North Country Trail Association to buy current patches at the Trail Shop

See NCT Memorabilia - Part 2 - Early Patches

NCT Memorabilia - Part 1 - Mugs

by JHY

Frankly, I'm just plain jealous. The Appalachian Trail actually has a museum society, and now a building. They hope to hold their grand opening on National Trails Day, June 5, 2010. Their home will be at the Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania in a 200-year-old grist mill. The location is within a couple of miles of the mid-point of the AT.

The North Country Trail doesn't even have a definitive collection point for items of interest, or anyone even working seriously on keeping track of things that should be collected.

However, Tom Gilbert, our National Park Service Superintendent, has been working on an agency history of the trail for years. Those of you who attended the 2006 Pennsylvania conference will recall his "wall of history."There is a closet full of gear used by Peter Wolfe, one of the earliest end-to-enders. There are some tapes of interviews with Virginia Fink, an early volunteer, but no one seems to know where the tapes are.

It's killing me! But I just don't have time for another major volunteer project. Meanwhile, I've decided to start an occasional feature of memorabilia on this blog. Clearly, the items I've chosen to feature first probably aren't the most important.

As far as I know, these four drink containers are the only ones with NCT logos. I don't even know for sure what year each of them appeared on the scene. Of course they are all large enough for a good swig of beverage. Hikers need mugs, not teacups!

The white ceramic mug was first offered for sale in the January 1995 NCTA North Star. They sold well, but the logo faded after many dishwashings. This was followed in 2005 by the much nicer, and even larger blue 25th Anniversary mug.

Of the travel mugs, only the blue one was offered for sale. The white one was issued as a free gift at one of the conferences. Both of the travel mugs have the 7-state map on the opposite side.

Was this fun? From time to time, I'll post some small selection of memorabilia from the history of the North Country Trail. Although it's much shorter than that of the AT, it would be great if it could be preserved.

See The Appalachian Trail Museum Society