Trail Meeting/ Trail Work

 In the morning, a group of the officers and key volunteer from our North Country Trail Chapter, Spirit of the Woods, had our annual meeting with the Manistee National Forest Staff. Lots of important things were discussed and connections made. Except for a couple pieces of roadwalk, all of our miles are in the MNF, so we have to have a good working relationship with them.

After lunch, five of us went out to do some work on the Leitch Bayou reroute that we flagged a year ago (see link below). The Forest Service had signed off on their studies that had to be done, and the new parts had been mowed once last fall. But that's not all that needs to be done to establish new trail. Today we put a dent in that.

For one thing, the four guys had two chain saws. Sawyers must work in teams of two for safety, so they walked through the bayou, and on up the next bluff and removed 7 trees, most of them big. This is one of them.- Before...

And after.

Meanwhile, I began working on improving the new treadway. This area is all grassy, very different from anywhere else in our section. What you see here doesn't look like much, but I used a fire rake to peel back the brown grass duff from last fall's mowing to better define the new treadway and break down hummocks. And I blocked off the old trail. Old trail right, new trail left. It goes up just to the left of my yellow pack. The guys also put out flagging to temporarily mark the new route better, but this picture is before that was done. Once the grass starts to grow this year, and one more mowing is done, it will be obvious where the trail is. We also need to get more carsonite posts with blazes on them. Not enough trees out there to blaze.

I also cut out roots and grapevines. This is a woody root that makes a terrific tripper if left in the path.

I used a pulaski (axe on one side, grub hoe on the other) to cut the vines and remove that root. Here's what I dug out from the one above.

I filled the hole and raked over it... no more tripper. I raked MAYBE 0.1 miles altogether. It's not a fast job. We will have to have at least a couple more work days out there to get that new tread established.

All that took the entire day. I'm tired and sore, but it's all good. Big DIY project on tap for tomorrow.

Miles hiked in 2025: 116.5. Hike 100 2025: 42.5

See Planning a Reroute