In the early 1970s, a young, novice hiker had an audacious idea.  Ron Strickland decided to create a 1,200-mile footpath across three national parks and seven national forests to link Glacier National Park's alpine meadows with Olympic National Park's wilderness coast.  Enchanted by all that magnificent backcountry, he enlisted volunteers, lobbied landowners, and dug dirt.  Four decades later in 2009, President Obama made the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail an official part of our national heritage.  In this book Ron reveals how he and the volunteers bucked both brush and bureaucracy to establish one of the world's most beautiful trails.

Winding through seven states, the North Country National Trail offers a rich array of cultural history and striking natural beauty along its 4,600 miles across the North Country. From a towpath along the Erie Canal to the Shoreline of Lake Superior to the vast grasslands of North Dakota, this definitive guide will appeal to first time hikers, seasoned backpackers and everyone in between. Chosen by the people who know it best - the members of the regional chapters of the NCTA - the guidebook contains detailed descriptions of forty of the NCT's best hikes, including trail highlights, tips, tables and maps, and more.

“Although conjuring up the traditional Vermont, this oral history also reminds us that it is on the way out, as many contributors are either newcomers at odds with the typical Vermonter or old-timers lamenting the passage of old ways. Strickland, author of River Pigs And Cayuses: Oral Histories From The Pacific Northwest , reveals change through his 38 subjects (there is a Socialist mayor in Burlington and a foreign-born woman governor), compassion for animals, and the independence of Vermonters. From adventurers to violinmakers, the author provides an introduction, then lets the people speak for themselves.” --Roger W. Fromm, Library Journal

Dr. Strickland is fascinated with America's regions. As early as 1964 he sought the first person, local perspective at Vermont's School For International Training where he deployed teams of foreign students to survey farmers about rural school consolidation.  Years passed and he forgot about those barnyard interviews as he worked to locate, develop, and protect the Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT).  During the 1970's he was totally focused on raising funds, recruiting volunteers, cutting brush, digging dirt, and lobbying landowners, officials, and politicians.  However, out in the backcountry he accidentally turned up many priceless narratives.  And when it became clear that people's vanishing lifestyles needed a chronicler, he collected some of those stories in River Pigs And Cayuses (1984.)  The creation of that first book inspired him to record the process of change in other regions. So far he has published and illustrated 5 such volumes and begun others about the South, Midwest, and Far West.

"Author Ron Strickland has done a remarkable job of gathering and editing these reminiscences, drawing forth the most telling information from each narrator... His quiet introductions weave the narratives together in a powerful harmony of memory, reflection, and wisdom" - The Seattle Times, November 18, 1990. 

A self-portrait of Alaska in the words of Native Alaskans, homesteaders, miners, mushers, artists, etc.

"The main strength of Strickland's book is that after the author's introductions, the portraits come from the individuals themselves. Strickland's lead-ins give readers, especially non-Alaskans, a context for understanding the speaker." - Diane Raab, Juneau Empire, November 12, 1992.

50 Lone Star folk explore the essence of Texan-ness. It is illustrated with the author's own photographs.

"All of these folks, whether you like them or not, are a cut outside the ordinary. And when you listen to these people talk to Ron Strickland about their lives and you get to know them, you are reminded again of the vitality that is all around us all the time and sometimes even in the dullest of ourselves." Francis Edward Abernathy, Dallas Morning News, December 1, 1991.