PITTSBURG – Two weeks, two moose and 162 miles later, Carey Kish emerged from the woods at the Canadian border Friday afternoon, waving the New Hampshire and the American flags and was greeted by others waving the Quebec and Canadian colors.

Kish, a writer from Maine, had spent 15 days on the Cohos Trail, making the trek from Crawford Notch. At his journey's end, he met Eric Lacousiere, who had hiked about 50 miles through eastern Quebec to meet him.

It was a symbolic moment at the international boundary, the northern terminus of the Cohos Trail, which stretches from Crawford Notch to the very tip of the Granite State, and the southern end of the Sentiers Frontaliers trail system through eastern Quebec.

"We've agreed to link our trails to create an international trail system," said Kim Nilsen of Spofford, who first proposed creating a trail system through Coos County more than 30 years ago.

For about 10 years, people have been walking the Cohos Trail, which takes them from the Notchland in Crawford Notch and over the spine of New Hampshire's northernmost county, by way of everything from moose paths, old logging and carriage roads and snowmobile trails to rail beds, tote roads and skidways.

Earlier this year, it appeared that the trail would become another part of Coos County history, when Nilsen said there just weren't' enough volunteers or money to keep the trail open. But by April, a surge in interest and helping hands kept it open and maintained, for now.

Kish, who is an outdoor columnist for the Maine Sunday Telegram, had heard about the trail and made plans to make a through-hike. It turned into a fundraising project, with folks pledging money for each mile he hiked.

When Cohos Trail Association president Peter Castine of Pittsburg began putting the word out about the fundraiser and the through-hike, the Sentiers Frontaliers hiking club from Lac Megantic put its own hikers on its trail along the boundary clearing from Coburn Gore, Maine to the U.S.-Canadian border at Pittsburg and Chartierville, Que.

"This symbolizes the reality of linking these trails,'' Kish said.

About 50 to 100 people make a through-hike of Cohos Trail each year, Castine said, while others enjoy portions of it. Kish, whose feet were damp and muddy at the end of the trail but his enthusiasm unflagging, described the trail as "fantastic.'' "I saw an awful lot of beauty, had a great deal of solitude and saw just two moose," he said.

The Cohos Trail covers a wide range of geography, from 4,000-footers Mounts Eisenhower, Cabot, Isolation and Waumbek, to the grounds of two grand hotels, the Mount Washington and The Balsams. Once the trail passes through the village of Jefferson, the trail does not pass through any other settled parts.

"You can tramp 100 miles to border without coming across a video store,'' Nilsen writes in his book, "The Cohos Trail."

Nilsen first proposed the trail while he was working at the Coos County Democrat in Lancaster in the 1970s. Thirty years later, it has become a reality.

"It's a work in progress," he said. "It's still not finished." And by linking with the Canadian hiking club, Nilsen and others envision creating the second cross-border hiking trail in the eastern United States, joining the International Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Mount Katahdin to St. Anthony, Newfoundland.

Looking around the colorful gathering of Americans and Canadians on Friday afternoon, he said, "This symbolizes what can and will be done." For more information on the Cohos Trail, visit www.cohostrail.org.