Slightly Out of Focus?

Mentally, I was very focused today, but the foggy, misty weather made all the pictures a little bit fuzzy.

My "new" position with the Spirit of the Woods Chapter of the NCTA is Land Protection Specialist. So... I'm no specialist yet, but I'm learning a lot really fast. We didn't think there were hardly any landowners to deal with on our section of trail. So far, we've identified quite a few. The Forest Service knew about most of these, but the Chapter didn't. Some of what I did today related to a meeting with a landowner I had on October 27.

But first, the hike.

Six of us met at the north Highbridge access to the trail and hiked east along the Manistee River (which is actually trail west- because if you keep going in this direction you end up in North Dakota). They were looking for suggestions of where to hike, and I needed to get to this location before real winter sets in, so I asked if we could do this. Yup.

This is the picture everyone takes of the Manistee River in this section. Mainly because with the power line cut you can actually see the river.

I just like this because it shows how the bluff falls off pretty abruptly down to the river.

The valley was all foggy today. That's pretty too!

I'm pretty sure these are tiny yellow mushrooms and not a slime mold.

I walked part of the way with Loren and little Koa. This is on the esker, a favorite feature on this piece of trail.

So, back to my "purpose" for the hike, other than just a nice hike. We now have an agreement in writing that allows the trail to cross a small bit of private property. Because this is the end of a switchback on a steep hill, we really need this access. The owners agreed to put the agreement in writing, and we promised to get the blazing spiffed up yet this fall. We will get the correct signage up in the spring. The government shutdown meant we couldn't get the signs until just a few days ago anyway.

So, all I did was to freshly paint the non-standard arrows at the corner, touch up and add to the standard blazing near that turn. But the minimum hike in is two miles, and it's an hour from my house, so I hadn't gotten there yet. Now it's done.

This picture shows the uphill leg of the switchback. I added the "confidence marker" blaze- circled on the right- just after the turn. A confidence marker is an extra blaze soon after a turn that lets people know they have made the right choice. The circled blaze farther up on the left was already there, but I freshened it.

This shot is coming up to the turn on the lower leg. Those arrows have been there a long time. They aren't standard, and we will try to replace them in the spring. For now, I brightened them up. And the circled double blaze on the tree, I added. I also added a turn blaze coming from the other direction.

I also scouted out, by vehicle, another potential trail re-route that we just found out about. Can't say any more yet. But it was a very productive day at it relates to my new position.

Not much else happened. The morning was cold and damp, but not really raining. Hiking was a good outdoor use for a somewhat nasty day.

Miles hiked in 2025: 450.6
NCT miles hiked in 2025: 249.8

North Country Trail, Highbridge north parking to the esker and back. Total- 5 miles

A lot of these same locations in better weather are at the link below.

See A Test Along the Manistee