HILLSDALE, Mich. – A 23-year-old man hiking his way across North America has started exploring Michigan’s trails.
Andrew Skurka made his way Thursday to southern Michigan via the North Country Trial, part of a 7,700-mile journey that started in the Canadian province of Quebec and is expected to end in Washington state in August. Skurka, a recent graduate of Duke University, has about 4,500 miles to go.
“I’m loving the fact there are hills here,” the Rhode Island man said as he made his way from Osseo to Hillsdale. “It’s much easier to stay warm than walking on plains.”
Skurka is attempting to traverse the continent via the Sea to Sea Route, a 7,700-mile network of long-distance hiking trails that stretch almost continuously between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The only exceptions are a 700-mile gap in North Dakota and Montana along the Missouri River and a 30-mile gap in Vermont.
Steve Vear, president of the Hillsdale-area chapter of the North County Trail Association, told the Hillsdale Daily News that Skurka, if he makes it, will be the first person to hike the whole route. The association is headquartered in Lowell, near the geographic center of the trail, and is keeping tabs on Skurka’s progress.
He started his trip Aug. 6, from Quebec’s Cape Gaspe in Forillon National Park, after spending almost 10 months planning and mapping his hike. He said he wants to “increase awareness of the lesser-known trails, because they have just as much to offer as the bigger ones.”
He usually doesn’t spend nights inside, worried such luxury might soften him, but accepts the kindness that strangers offer.
“It’s been much easier than I anticipated,” Skurka told the newspaper. Rather than merely surviving, he said he’s been really enjoying himself. “It’s the people that make the difference; they take me in, offer me dinner, and let me take showers.”
In remote areas, he marvels at the scenery, though the landscape can become monotonous.
“Some sections have been fantastic,” he said. “When I walked the Appalachian Trail, the weather was great.”
Still, “Two-thousand miles of the same thing gets kind of boring. You can only handle so much forest, I mean, a tree is a tree,” he said. “It’s the diversity of each trail that makes it so enjoyable.”
His online travel log indicates plans to resume hiking north through Michigan’s lower peninsula and west through the Upper Peninsula in mid-January, after a holiday break.
“The crux of this hike is the first four months after resuming at the Michigan border in mid-January. Progress will be slow: extreme cold, few hours of daylight, deep snow, frozen water sources, buried trails and a ‘heavy’ pack will present difficult challenges,” Skurka wrote.
He hopes to arrive in Olympic National Park by the end of August 2005, and knows what he’ll do when he’s done.
“I’m going to kick my feet up for a couple days, eat a good dinner, and put my mom at ease,” he said.
On the Web
Andrew Skurka’s travel log: www.andrewskurka.com.
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