Loving the Green!

This was my last chance for a real conditioning hike before the Adirondacks. (I'm leading a hike on Saturday, but it's shorter).

I'll start by saying that I'm just loving the GREEN woods. Yeah, it's nice to see the topography when the leaves are down, but the greeen just makes my heart sing. Wild thing.

Four of us hiked all ten miles (Shannon, Colette, Kim, and me). Gary and Marge hiked in from the end point and back for a shorter walk. Then they took us back to our cars.

I chose this hike location because it has a fair amount of elevation change for this area. It starts at 730 feet and climbs to 1130, goes back down to 1030 up to 1100 again, and ends at 900 feet.

We started at Wingleton Rd on the NCT and hiked north to McCarthy Lake.

Just north of Wingleton is where the microburst occurred in 2018. I was totally surprised to discover that the area has been replanted. Every white tube has a baby tree in it. The tubes protect them from being eaten until they are bigger.

And what was planted? Maybe a variety of things. This has been done extremely recently. Most were still bare twigs, but this one identified itself as a red oak.

We hiked to McCarthy Lake, one of my favorite spots on the local NCT. Kim had never been there before, so she got to ooh and ahh. Actually, we all did. It was a wonderful location for an ending.

It got a little hot in the afternoon, but basically the weather was lovely. I'm not exhausted, but I confess to not doing much else today.

Miles hiked in 2025: 206.8. Hike 100 Challenge: 93 miles (and the hike Saturday has only a little NCT, so I'll get to finish my 100 in the Adirondacks!)

North Country Trail, Lake Co, MI, Wingleton Rd to McCarthy Lake. 10 miles

See 8, with Day Pack

To McCarthy Lake

 Cathy and I set out to hike 10 miles today, and we made it. I'm tired, but not as sore as I expected. We hiked to McCarthy Lake, a beautiful favorite spot on the NCT. There were bufflehead ducks, but my pictures are all poor.

We started at 5-Mile Road, crossing the Vince Smith Bridge over the Big Sable River.

It was cool, but it was also a blue sky day. Really perfect for hiking. This picture catches some of the hills of the area.

Hard to believe, but I found something I'd never noticed before. This is a perfect little bowl. Most of the depressions like this are only three-sided, with one side open. But this is a complete dimple.

Best find of the day? A red-headed woodpecker. When I see them, it's usually farther east of here. And I got a pretty nice picture. Maybe my best ever of a red-headed.

We ended up doing a fair amount of trail work- pulling smaller logs off the trail. Also got one load of laundry done. And I put the tools away from fixing the toilet, and it didn't immediately start leaking again, so I guess the fix is real.

Miles hiked in 2025: 126.5. Hike 100 for 2025: 52.5

North Country Trail, Lake Co, MI. 5 Mile Rd to past McCarthy Lake and back. 10 miles

See Seven Hot Blue Ones

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

Modestine's First Hike

 
Long day, all good. Just what I wanted to be doing.

Met with Andrea this morning, and we carefully kept our distance and even disinfected the saw before trading off turns. We cleared the spur trail from the NCT to Bear Track Campground.

Then, she headed in one direction to hike a piece she wanted to, and I went in a different direction to do ditto. In a nutshell, I hiked from the Big Sable River (from the road north of it) to McCarthy Lake and back. Total miles for the day a bit over 11.5. Yup, I'm tired. My knees are tired. But I'm still hopeful of being able to do my planned hike at the end of May. So I need to push myself a bit to get in shape.

It was Modestine's first hike. She didn't have to carry a full load, but got practice at keeping things in their correct pockets.



Here's the Big Sable River. It's always a beautiful spot. Yes, this is the river that leads to Hamlin Lake.



Some of today's goodies include this ruffled liverwort.



A not quite in focus Mourning Cloak butterfly, Nymphalis antiopa. It's usually the earliest spring butterfly. I saw quite a few of them today.



Some of the seed pods from last year's Indian Pipe, Monotropa uniflora

And what's left of a deer who provided winter food for a number of other creatures.



I thought I would only hike to 3-Mile Road, but when I got there I decided to go on to McCarthy Lake. I wanted to push myself a bit, and that did the job! It was a little farther to the lake than I realized. I ate a snack and turned around. Got back to the car at 6:30. Still quite warm. I hiked in shirt sleeves.

There were two families camped at the lake. Because there is vehicle access it's pretty popular. I've seen quite a few people out in campers. I'm thinking they are choosing to spend the shut-down in the woods. A boy at McCarthy Lake took the family boat out with a quiet electric motor. He was fishing.

There were bufflehead ducks on the lake, but I did not get any pictures of them. The really bad news is that I think my camera is dead. I'll play with it a little, but I think we are talking dead.



So, I'm tired. Going to take a shower and chill. A bit ache-y, but I don't think anything worrysome. No blisters. And Modestine? She had a very good time. She behaved herself, and is learning the ropes of this outdoor life.



I seem over-tired for 11.5 miles, but then again... I'm a little older than I used to be (wink, wink). But I'll get in shape.

NCT Hike 100 Challenge 2020- Only 9.5 of my miles today were on the main NCT. We are allowed to count all hikes in April, but I'm going to remain a purist. 89 of 100 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, 5 Mile Road to McCarthy Lake and back, plus the spur to Bear Track and back.

	See What a Glorious Day!
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