Threading its way across our landscape, the North Country National Scenic Trail (NST) links outstanding scenic, natural, recreational, historic, and cultural areas in seven of our northern States - New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota. The eastern end of the trail is at Crown Point State Historic Site on the Vermont-New York border. The western end of the trail is at Lake Sakakawea State Park in west-central North Dakota where it joins the route of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

From the grandeur of the Adirondack Mountains in New York, the trail meanders westward through the hardwood forests of Pennsylvania, through the countryside of Ohio and southern Michigan, along the shores of the Great Lakes, and through the glacial-carved forests, lakes, and streams of northern Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The trail ends in the vast plains of North Dakota. The diversity of landscapes, and scenic and historic features along the trail is perhaps its most appealing quality.

The trail exists as much for the enjoyment of the casual walker as it does for the challenge of hikers who travel its entire length. Whether used for an afternoon of walking, a day of cross country skiing, or a week or month(s) of backpacking, adventure is found along forested pathways, marshes and bogs, waterfalls, sand dunes, tallgrass prairies, old logging railroad grades, lighthouses, Revolutionary War forts, and small rural communities. From the Missouri River in North Dakota to the shore of Lake Champlain in New York, diverse features along the trail communicate how the land was formed, how it has been settled, and how it has been used and altered by mankind.