Seven Hot Blue Ones

 Cathy and I went out to do some North Country miles today. She's hoping to get her 100-mile patch this year. I'm telling you that mid 60s in February is hot! I was sweating in shirtsleeves. I also hoped for blue sky and thus blue water. Got my wish on our return walk. McCarthy Lake.

On the outward walk, the skies were still rather gray, but even so, the lake had a treat for me.

Can you spot it? Nice reflection and texture pic in there!

I liked how soft and green the young white pines looked. (McCarthy Creek is down the hill ahead of us)

Today, you could see the large beaver pond that is south of McCarthy Lake. However, it just doesn't show up in pictures through the trees. See the little bit of blue and light brown (old cattails) out in the distance? It's a huge wetland, about 50 acres.

And believe it or not, despite the many times I've walked this, I discovered another little mystery. There is a tiny creek south of the beaver pond, but it's big enough that the Chapter built a small bridge over it. It's not on the topo map. However, the NCT interactive map has just added some additional basemap options. One of them shows this, and labels it as McCarthy Creek. It make it looks as if the creek arises south of the beaver pond, flows north through the beaver pond, and then is joined by the outflow from McCarthy Lake (a kettle hole with no inflow), and then it continues northward to the Big Sable River. Here is the "unknown" creek today.

And here is the known crossing of McCarthy Creek, north of the lake. I've been thinking for a while that following this would make a fun bushwhacking adventure, and now I'll HAVE to check it out.

I love this section of trail, and we did seven miles.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 127.7 of which 30.7 is North Country Trail. (7 NCT for Cathy)

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI. 3-Mile Rd to Centerline and back, 7 miles

See McCarthy Lake- Day 427

McCarthy Lake - Day 427

This is the last Lower Peninsula hike that counts before my final day, Sunday, June 18. It ended up being short, because I want to save 6 miles for that day. Cathy hiked with me.

First feature was tiny McCarthy Creek. It has a little water in it this time of year. Blue flags growing- not in bloom yet.

Then past McCarthy Lake. This is a small wetland at the upper end of the lake. The main water is farther out at the back of the picture.

Here's a view of the open water. The creek actually flows out of the lake and runs north for about 2 miles until it empties into the Big Sable River. Following that just went on my to-do adventure list.

That wasn't a long enough walk, so we drove to the road that goes to the Ward Hills fire tower site, and walked up that and back to the car. That added a little over a mile to our walk for the day, but that's not NCT miles. The view from that hill is almost totally obstructed, but this is what you can see looking west, so Scottville and Ludington are out there somewhere.

On the way back we saw a pair of scarlet tanagers. All this picture does is prove we saw the male.

The picture of the female is slightly better.

In other news: my car was getting looked at while we hiked. Wheel bearing. Ouch. Fix next week, but not cheap. Then I bought groceries on the way home, and spent the afternoon getting ready for a vendor event this weekend.

Miles today: 3.4 that count. Total miles so far: 4702.9. Over 4700!

See Spencerville Sweets

McCarthy Lake and a Puzzle with Cathy

  Today was pretty wonderful! I was fairly sure that 3-Mile Road was plowed, but even if it wasn't open quite all the way to the trail, we figured we could at least walk to McCarthy Lake and back. But the road was nice and clear. The temperature was brisk, but look! Can you tell the other really exciting thing? That sun was shining again! I'm doing an amazing job of hiking on just about every sunny day we have had this month. The trail started out mostly level.

But there are some ridges to cross in this section. Of course the lake is going to be in a low spot. This is a better than usual picture that shows how the little hills are all folded together.

There is a little footbridge across McCarthy Creek. I was surprised to see the creek had water in it. Usually, it's only running in the spring.

One more good downhill, and then a small detour off the trail to get to the open area along the lake. I really like McCarthy Lake. It's another small glacial kettle hole, but there's a little more topography close to its banks than there is at Bowman Lake. However, you can drive to this lake, so it's not usually as quiet as Bowman. But today, there was no one there except us. There were snowmobile tracks on the road, though. No, those are not my tracks on the ice. I don't think we've had consistent enough cold to be going out there.

The trail swings around the west side of the lake and then follows the south shore before climbing back into the hills. Here's a view from the south side. Did I mention that I love this lake?

We walked on until we were 2.5 miles from the car, so that with the round trip we'd have 5 miles to add to the Hike 100 Challenge. But with the detour to the lake access we did 5.5 miles all together. It was enough. The walking was difficult in some places. Not a ton of snow, but it was uneven footing. Our ankles got a good workout!

Hike 100 Challenge for 2021 is at 36.5 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI. 3 Mile Road south for 2.5 miles past McCarthy Lake and return.

Then we went to Cathy's and did another jigsaw puzzle. This one is cats "helping" to do a jigsaw puzzle of cats! It was 750 pieces, but pretty easy, so we breezed right through it.

There is no other news. This was a scheduled total play day.

See All Day with Cathy

Teeny Said, "Let's Do it Again"

 
Modestine is a fine name, but it's not gonna last. Her nickname is "Teeny." But, I'm happy to be able to tell you that she likes the exact same kind of weather I do. So when I told her that today was going to be cool with bright sunshine all day, she just begged until I said, "Yes, we can go out."

Omer was helpful, and spotted me so I only had to walk in one direction. I ended at (just past it at the next road) the same place as yesterday, McCarthy Lake, but this time I came from the other direction. It never disappoints.



Spring is taking its sweet ol' time showing up here. Nothing seems to be greening up at all. However, one of the nice things about being able to see a long way through the woods is that I can feel how I'm really moving through the landscape. Instead of just walking through constant trees, I can see the ridges, and feel how the trail lies on them.



This stump covered with moss and lichen shocked me at first. When I was farther away it almost looked like some strange dried-out cactus.



A reflection in McCarthy Lake.



There is a pair of trumpeter swans on McCarthy Lake. I got one good picture of one of them.



McCarthy Creek looks like a solid little stream, but it completely dries up in late summer.



And, look who I ran into again: Kurt and Connie. This is at least the second time this year. Other than that, I saw 5 mountain bikers, a few motorcycles on the motorized trail, and a family with little kids who were taking a different trail. We all kept our distance. It was a beautiful Sunday, and I'm glad to see people getting outside.



How did we do? I put 3 more pounds in Teeny, and we both did fine with them. Not up to full weight yet, though. Miles hiked: 9.25. Call it 9. Hike 100 Challenge 2020 is at 98 miles.

In other news: I "went to church" at two different services. My camera does seem to be dead. I got out an old one that still works.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, Timber Creek to 3-Mile Rd.

See Modestine's First Hike