Not Quite, but Quite All Right!

 I didn't quite do a "whole thing" of several things I like. But I did enough, and it was all great.

I started writing my Mason County Press column for this month and realized I did not know enough about access places to the Little Manistee River, and I could not find the info on line. Road trip!

The leaves are coming down; the peak color is past. But the sky was blue, and there is still plenty of lovliness. This is the Little Manistee from Old Grade Campground off of M-37. This is as far upstream as you can paddle from. At that, it's going to be iffy for the first few miles. The water is mostly 5-8" deep.

This was taken from the road bridge at M-37. Love the eelgrass.

I'm not as good at fish ID as with most other wildlife, but I think this is a trout of some kind.

I found the piece of road that I had wanted to take Omer on last week. This is Little Manistee River Road. It's mostly a 2-track, but I love it.

One of the actual Forest Service campgrounds along the river is Bear Track. Here's the view upstream from the landing.

I also discovered today that the parking for 6-Mile Bridge is up and away from the actual bridge. I followed the trail that said "to parking" which seemed mysterious because it was going away from the bridge. There's a nice view at the top of the hill. Yes, the river is down there somewhere.

Enjoy some red maple leaves.

Finally, here is another view from where the river valley gets deeper, near Chicago Boy Rollway.

Oh, the things I didn't quite do? Well, I didn't follow the river all the way from source to mouth. Close. Maybe I'll finish that quest another time. I didn't even get to all the campsites along this portion of the river. I think some of them are not accessible by vehicle, and they also don't have signs as you are paddling (this info comes from two separate sources), so I'm not sure how to locate them accurately, but I tried. I also didn't finish the article. I'll do that in the morning. I wasn't planning for this to take all day, but it's OK. I had a lovely time, learned a lot, and I do need to write an article.

One thing I did do? There was a couple just taking their kayaks out at 6-Mile Bridge. They were going to roadwalk the 4+ miles back to 9-Mile Bridge where their truck was. I gave them a ride. It was already after 4 pm when they started walking.

I only managed to walk 2 miles. Most of what I needed to do was from the car with quick hops out and in. But the FS Campgrounds are already gated, so I had to walk in to those to check things out.

I do love days like this.

Miles hiked in 2024: 511.2

See Leaf Peeping Part 2