What does a long-distance trail look like? The answer is that it looks like many things. Here is a sampler of what the most recent hike was like. First, I worked my way through the city of St. Ignace. A lot of that was on a lovely boardwalk. Not very wild, but sometimes towns with services can be very welcome along a trail.
As I worked my way out of town the trail follows a gravel multi-use pathway. It's not "certified" trail because it's for ATVs and snowmobiles too. But for now it's better than an actual road-walk to get under interstate 75 and reach the Hiawatha National Forest.
Ah! Here we are in the forest. Of course, this is my favorite place for trail. But think about it... if all 4600 miles of this trail were just like this it might actually be quite tedious. It's great to have open spaces, towns, etc. along the way.
It's always great for hikers when creek crossings have very nice stable bridges. Many of these are built by volunteers. This one even has a boardwalk-type approach through a wet area.
This was a bit of a surprise! There were a few sections of trail that had a lot of rocks. It provides variety, but makes the walking very difficult. Thankfully, this section was short.
Finally, it's always nice to know how close you are to reaching your goal. This sign let me know that I only had 3 1/4 miles to go. This was a lot of pictures for one post. I think tomorrow we'll go back to quality things closer to home.
Thanks for stopping by!
See Treasures North of THE Bridge
See A Day on the Trail
5 comments:
All of those different places must have been great. I don't know about walking on those rocks though. They're still nice to look at, but I'm sure you didn't look forward to it. I love boardwalks. I have what looks like a very similar picture on the short boardwalk area I just found. I had pictures of a robin standing right on the corner.
The bumpy walkway must not be a good hiking trek. Seems like you have a lot of sunlight, which is quite different from mine.
The rocky one looked like a sprained ankle just waiting to happen. ugh.
Nice variety of trail! I like that differences. Most of my great hiking experiences have been in the Rocky Mountains and you can sure see all of these trail types. I like it when the trail evolves and changes. Makes for a fun trek!
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Hi Ratty- The boardwalks are nice in parks, and puncheon in the wet areas, but there is nothing like earth beneath the feet!
rainfield and Lin- The rocks are very difficult to walk on when they make up the whole trail. I slow down a lot because I don't want to sprain an ankle.
Sven- Thanks for stopping by! I haven't hiked much in the west. It's a whole different ball game!
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