Working Our Way Home

  It's a well-known fact that I can make any 4 hour trip take 8 hours. Today I managed to make it 10 hours!

First we stopped at the one location on the NCT in the Lower Peninsula where you get a wide open view of Lake Michigan. It's at the southern edge of Wilderness State Park. The trail follows the lake for a ways in Petoskey, but that is technically Little Traverse Bay. Here you can look out to the horizon, but to the north the farthest bit of land to the left is Waugoshance Island, then Temperance Island, then Waugoshance Point. These form the point of land that dribbles out into the lake from Wilderness SP.

Then we went to the Skyline Overlook where I ended my first E2E hike (see link below).

Depending on your direction of travel it's either your first or last look at Lake Michigan. You can see a sliver of Little Traverse Bay in the distant right.

Then Marie and I walked up to see the Skyline Shelter. It's one of the nicest along the trail. Enclosed on all sides. (And not a hostel- this one is free)

There are bunks inside for eight people. There have been a couple of complaints that there is no water at the shelter, but there is a clearly marked side trail to a spring that is about 0.2 miles away. Seriously, lots of shelters are about that distace from water access at a creek.

Then we just had to pop in to Deadman's Hill. The hill and overlook itself is on the non-NCT side of the Jordan Valley Pathway, but you get this wonderful view of the whole valley (much more spectacular in fall, but one of the nicest vistas in Lower Michigan). The NCT is down at the bottom of the near valley.

Next we did a stop at the Highbanks Rollway on the Manistee River so Diane could see one of the big oxbows. You can see the water on the left as well as the right, but you'll have to squint.

Finally, we did a drive by of the Highbridge crossing of the Manistee River. Sorry, I did not take a picture there. I have a lot. You can see the Manistee River crossing in the same place by following this link.

Seems I tired out my friends. But we have new adventures planned for tomorrow.

Diane's fitbit says she walked 5 miles, so Marie and I walked a little farther. Doesn't seem like we did that much, but who am I to argue with technology? We are back at my house, and have unloaded some of the stuff. We ate an ice cream dinner, which was perfect on a hot day.

The Celebration was wonderful. Old and new friends, great momemtum for the Association, great hikes, great weather.

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 371.8. North Country Trail miles in 2024: 124.6

North Country Trail, various small pieces. The app said 5.0 miles total

See Celebration 2024- Saturday See The Party's Over But It's OK

Celebration 2024- Saturday

  Marie and I joined a long hike today. 9.5 miles from Brevort Lake Road to Worth Road.

We crossed the Brevort River.

There was a piece of brand new trail that was literally built this week as one of the elective activities at the Celebration. You can see how raw the treadway is. But it won't take long for it to look natural.

It leads to a nice overlook of Brevort Lake which is quite large.

Best find of the hike was this large, dark leopard frog.

Diane was on a different hike because she does shorter ones, but she completed her 2024 Hike 100.

Nice dinner, and games afterward for those who wanted to play. I needed to pack up books and see a few people, so we have headed back to the campground.

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 376.8. North Country Trail miles in 2024: 119.6

North Country Trail, UP of MI, Brevort Lake Road to Worth Rd, 9.5 miles

See Celebration 2024- Friday

Celebration 2024 - Friday

 Marie, Diane and I just took a little walk out to the St. Ignace Lighthouse this morning. Since my program was this afternoon, I couldn't take a chance on going on a scheduled hike and not getting back in time.

I know this is nothing but the rip-rap along the pier, but I liked the play of the light on the water.

My program went great. After mine was done, I managed to slip into the end of a geology workshop that I wanted to attend, but the time conflicted with mine. One of the places we got to see is called St. Anthony's Rock. It's a sea stack- a conglomeration of rocks from collapsed underwater caves of the last glacial lake before the current Great Lakes (Lake Nippising). If you are from Michigan, you will probably recognize the name of the most famous one, which is Castle Rock.

The evening speaker was dynamic and funny, but all my pictures are out of focus. I did get my picture with one of the remaining charter members of the NCTA. This is Ken Gackler. In fact, his membership number is #2!

That doesn't sound like a busy day, but it was... lots of talking and running around. I'm crashing for the night. See you tomorrow.

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 367.3.

various places in St. Ignace, 1.5 miles

See Celebration 2024- thursday

Celebration 2024- Thursday

 This morning, Marie, Diane and I went on the history hike through town. The tour guide (from the local historical society) had the greatest little gizmos. Everyone had an earpiece that plugged into a little box, and the guide just spoke naturally into a clip-on mic. We could all hear everything she said without struggling to stay within two feet of her.

The trail follows the Lake Huron shoreline on a boardwalk through town.

This is a mural of the Wawatam, the primary ferry that crossed the Straits before the Mackinac Bridge was built.

We ended at the state park where one gets this view of the Mackinac Bridge.

The evening program was the annual awards ceremony. There are two kinds of awards. The National Park Service tracks volunteer hours and presents awards at various levels. This year Connie Julien (she helped me on my hike in the western UP) received the highest award, for 10,000 volunteer hours. I think she is only the 7th person to reach that level.

Those of you who are local know that the Spirit of the Woods Chapter's own Pete Bennett is our very own energizer bunny, getting trail work organized and whipping our trail miles back into shape. He received Trail Maintainer of the Year!

Long, long day, but all good! Very good. Friends old and new.

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 365.8. NCT miles hiked in 2024 110.1

North Country Trail, St. Ignace, MI 3.8 miles

See Arrival in St. Ignace

Arrival in St. Ignace

 We are here! The annual North Country Trail Celebration for 2024 has begun in St. Ignace, Michigan. The whole weekend will be crazy good. Lots of hugs and back slapping from "my tribe," discussions, hikes, programs, and workshops.

The very first event was a roundtable with the National Park Service staff. Here is our superintendant Chris Loudenslager answering questions.

And the Trail Manager Ken Hendrickson, with other staff behind him, explaining more about what he does.

We got here just in time to check in and get to the NPS Roundtable. Then we went out to dinner. Diane and Marie split a wet burrito. This is memorable due to the fact that what you see here is HALF of the wet burrito!

Then we went to the state park and set up our campsite. St. Ignace is a nice small city. Their street plantings are exceptional.

And it's the one place on the trail where it follows Lake Huron. It was a beautiful day, and the whole weekend is supposed to be nice. Blue water, and a free view of one of the ferries on its way to Mackinac Island.

OK, I'm still working on the program. Glad it's not until Friday!

See The Slave Driver

Spirit of the Woods Meeting and a Surprise

Today was the annual meeting of the Spirit of the Woods Chapter of the North Country Trail Association. We were welcomed at the venue with the electronic sign just for us.

If I counted right, we had 21 people there. That's a pretty good turnout. Our membership is highly scattered, and a number of people are away. President Loren Bach conducted the meeting. The same officers got re-elected, but hopefully we'll get some new takers for next time as officers are only supposed to serve a total of 2 two-year terms.

The enticement to show up was food. Nice selection of salads, soup, and desserts. Great for a hot day.

Almost everyone chose to hike following the meal. Just another group picture, but we like to remember who came. Also, almost everyone hiked farther than I did, but I needed to get back home to finish packing.

The meeting place was really near the trail, which was perfect. And where was that? Bowman Lake, one of my favorite spots in our section.

You know I can't stop looking at plants. This is an oddly-colored wild columbine. Usually they are maroon with creamy edges. But several plants in the vicinity were only the creamy color. They didn't seem aged, and that's not how the flowers fade anyway. So perhaps they lost their color genes. Actually, this is how variegated plants appear from time to time. Or perhaps they are lacking some nutrient.

And now for the surprise. Wow! I sure did not expect this. Look what was open when I first went outside this morning. And it's one of the red-orange ones. I'm super happy, and I got to see it. That bud sure didn't look close to opening. (see yesterday's post)

So, I'm not quite packed yet. I have to move into high gear, but I needed to rest just a bit. Eight hours of driving tomorrow which I'm not looking forward to.

And here's the possibly "bad" news. It could happen, but I'll be surprised if I can blog from our campsite. So, don't worry if there is no post tomorrow, or possibly the following days. I'll try to quick put an occasional picture on Facebook when I have signal. Bill, David, and I are meeting in the UP tomorrow afternoon, and we hike on Monday.

See you!

See Last Garden Post for a While

Ohio Brush Creek - Day 58

  The place we are staying, at MoonDoggie-Liveree, is on Ohio Brush Creek. This is one of the larger tributaries of the Ohio River in western Ohio. In season, you can rent canoes and kayaks here, or rent their lodge. It's great for hikers- not too fancy, but it has the amenities like a nice shower and a kitchen.

Brush Creek passes right by the livery, of course. Nikki (center) and Jamie (left) are our hosts. And we have stayed here a long time because they are so centrally located for this portion of trail.

Nikki has arranged a number of special opportunities for us- like the private tour of Serpent Mound. Speaking of Serpent Mound- Ohio Brush Creek also flows past it. And today, we were finally far enough that we walked through there as part of the hike. The Creek almost looks bigger there although it is far upstream from Nikki's.

This evening we were treated to dinner at The Landing at Brush Creek which is right across the water from Nikki's. Of course we had to drive around on a road.

What a beautiful place!

Here we are with owners Sherry and Kirk. Today was Bill's last day with us. We've sure enjoyed having him along.

Bonus section: Gentle Hills

Today, we walked over gentle hills with the pointy peaks to our south. We have reached the area that was glaciated by the Illinois Ice Age (100 to 130,000 years ago). We didn't mind the rolling terrain at all.

Miles today: 15.1. Total miles so far: 824.7.

See Allegheny Plateau