Frosty Morning

I was up early (for me) to get to Onekama on time for the vendor event. Very frosty morning with thick, tight frost on the car.

It went pretty well for me. Nicely run event.

Afterwards, I wanted to try to get in a hike. So when I went looking (yesterday, online) for a convenient trail on the way home that I haven't hiked recently... surprise. I found a trail I didn't even know existed! And it's been open since at least 2016, maybe earlier.

It's called the Manistee Non-Motorized Trail (not a romantic name, but hey. A trail by any name is still a trail). It has loops for hiking, bicycling, skiing, and snowshoeing. Trailhead is on M-55, 3 miles east of the junction of M-55 and US 31, on the north side of the road.

So I got there at 3:50, and it's the end of November. Not the very shortest days of the year, but getting close. So I wanted to see if I could hike all the trails that are for foot travel.

Because these are groomed for skiing in the winter, they are wide.

This is about the most level, natural surface trail I've ever seen. It was originally purchased by the city for an airport, but then the airport was built elsewhere). But that meant I could walk fast, right?

There is one section that is created for technical mountain bike skills. It has various structures.

Did I get all the loops? I think so. I think I didn't find the east side of the snowshoe loop, but the light was fading, and it wasn't obvious. Most of the intersections were well-marked though. Anyway, I had to return to the car, so I got the full distance.

It measured on my tracker as 4.01 miles in 1 hour and 18 minutes! Not bad.

We've entered the brown season, until it turns white. So pictures aren't really pretty. But I liked the shape of this stump.

And there was one little patch of mushrooms. Maybe honey mushrooms- not sure

I'll have to go back to hike all the loopy bicycle trails another time. There are supposed to be 5.6 miles of those. They are hikeable until they winter groom them for fat bikes. In fact, this is a good time of year to walk them because it's not a season that bikers are out as much. I just make sure I give them the right-of-way when I'm on their trails.

Miles hiked in 2025: 454.6

Manistee Non-Motorized Trail. All hike/ski/snowshoe loops. 4.0 miles

See Dumaw Nature Preserve