#18 John "Design Wizard" Schmitt
This cache is part of a series of caches placed to honor those who have completed an end to end hike on the North Country Trail.
John "Design Wizard" Schmitt was the eighteenth person to complete an end to end hike of the North Country Trail. He developed his love of hiking in the mid-70's in the Adirondacks. In 1999, he joined a trails club and finished hiking the main Finger Lakes trail thin New York that year, not knowing at the time that much of that trail was also part of the NCT. He continued to hike the NCT over the years, completing many of his miles on long weekends. Once he retired in 2018, he was able to dedicate more time to hiking and he completed his section hiking of the trail in 2019.
In addition to end to end hiking the NCT, Design Wizard has also hiked the Appalachian Trial, the Long Path, and the Taconic Crest Trail. He has also hiked Mount Kilimanjaro.
Learn more about Design Wizard and his NCT story here:
https://issuu.com/northcountrytrail/docs/e-north_star_38.2_6d3c2d285e6186
https://issuu.com/northcountrytrail/docs/e-north_star_39.2
ABOUT THIS CACHE: This cache is placed along the section of the North Country Trail (NCT: https://northcountrytrail.org/) that runs through lowerer Michigan by MIGSPMom and Indenyl. The NCT is over 4,700 miles long and runs through eight states. There is quite a bit of foot traffic along the trail so beware of muggles. Every year the NCT association hosts a challenge for you to hike 100 miles. This cache will help you reach that goal.
The Chief Noonday Chapter also hosts their own challenge to hike the 119 miles in Barry, Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties. Check out their page at https://northcountrytrail.org/trail/michigan/cnd/
Bring your own writing utensil!