Today was a lovely day on the NCT in North Dakota. Once again, I slept pretty well in the New Rockford City Park. After stopping in at random businesses yesterday, seeing if anyone wanted to earn some cash by shuttling me today, I came up with nothing. Thankfully, this is a rare occurrence on the National Scenic Trails I’ve been hiking. But on the few times it occurs, I do out-and-backs.
To explain a bit. First, every hiker has their opinion as to what constitutes a “real” hike. Some follow the “continuous footpath” rule, where one footstep must connect with the next. Others are very permissive. For example, on both the New England Trail and Potomac Heritage Trail, there are many offshoots that dead-end and would require out-and-backs (or shuttles at the end). So some people only hike the main stem of the trail, if you will, and consider that completing the trail.
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Heading Out from the Bridge
I respect everyone’s decision as to how to hike a long-distance trail. For me, I have two rules. First, I will hike the total distance of the trail, if possible. And second, if officials (e.g., forest rangers) tell me it’s too dangerous to hike an area and I 
need to hike around it, I will follow their orders, even if it means I do NOT hike the total distance of the trail. (This only happened once, on the Arizona Trail.)
So here, I couldn’t find a shuttle for today. I was supposed to hike 19.4 miles (31.2 km) on the canal paths, so I hiked in/out on both ends to total 19.4 miles. It was sunny and warm, albeit windy heading west. Still, an enjoyable day.
Tonight I’m staying at the Cobblestone Inn and Suites in Harvey. It’s a great place. I was going to camp at the Faul Campground tomorrow, but the weather forecast is for thunderstorms from about 3-6 p.m., so I’m going to book a second night here.
Snowshoe
ND NCT miles today: 19.4 (31.2 km)
ND NCT miles to date: 308.9 (497.1 km)
Total NCT miles to date: 3,209.9 (5,165.82 km)
Total NCT miles to go: 1,390.1 (2,237.2 km)
