Only Took 20+ Years

This is a monumental day for the Spirit of the Woods Chapter of the NCTA. Let me tell you why.

Approximately 20 years ago (I have to look up the exact year) our chapter started to prepare to put two register boxes out along our section of the trail. The chapter south of us has them. The chapter north of us has them. Chapters all along the entire 4800 miles of trail have them. But, until today, we did not.

I won't go into all the reasons why, but it all began with a political decision by someone higher up the food chain in the Forest Service who decided we couldn't do this. We've been negotiating ever since. Seriously, the volunteer who made the boxes has even died! Van, if you are watching, I hope you are happy to see your beautiful cedar boxes finally appear along the trail.

Pete and Bill are installing the box on the post. And Pete added the baffle to try to keep critters out (mice love to chew up the books and make nests).

This was actually the third thing we accomplished on this trail work day. The second part was getting the "Private Property" signs up on the section of the trail I talked about in the link below. The family officially has signed paperwork allowing the trail passage, and these great signs provided by the National Park Service hopefully help people to understand that they should stay on the trail and respect our privilege to pass through.

And before that... we spent a bit over 2 hours working with some Forest Service staff to remove invasive species. We are now approved to do so without their direct supervision. Dan is weilding our new and violent brush cutter. It can take out things almost up to 3" in diameter. Here, he's working on a Tatarian Honeysuckle.

We cut stuff and painted the cut stumps with herbicide. You've seen me doing a lot of this at my house.

There were 7 of us working for those two hours. Even so, it's slow going. One has to find all the trees and shrubs, big or small, cut them off really near the ground, treat the cut ends, move the branches off the trail. We tried to get everything within 10 feet of the trail. But walking back, we found even more that we missed. This is just one pile of cut brush.

I left home at 7 am, and got home just in time to shower and make it to a meeting in Ludington at 3 pm.

Nothing else happened today. This was plenty, and I'm going to go lie down very soon.

I tried to estimate the total walking and separate it from the walking on the actual NCT. We had to carry the posts and the digger a fair distance for the 2nd and 3rd projects. Dan left us after the second part and went off a different place to mow a section of trail. It takes a lot of work to keep a trail in nice shape.

Total miles walked 4.6, with 3.0 of them being NCT in various places.

Miles walked in 2026: 186.6
NCT Hike 100 Challenge: 63

See Slightly Out of Focus

Loda Lake- Spirit of the Woods Hike- June

It was a multi-purpose hike day for National Trails Day- the first Saturday in June!

The Spirit of the Woods Chapter of the NCTA started with a 3.2-mile hike, some of which was on the NCT, and some was on a spur.

The spur took us to Loda Lake.

Some of you will know that Loda Lake is a wildflower sanctuary- the only one in the entire National Forest system in the country.

We were treated to a tour by the Forest Service Botanist, Carolyn Henne. This isn't a great picture, but it does show us looking at plants beside the trail while she talks about them.

I always learn things when I'm there because the plants are always in slightly different stages of their life cycles.

One of the best pictures of the day is poison sumac. You can see the bundles of leaves and the unripe berries forming on separate stems.

The Prairie Smoke is looking great. They have planted a variety of native plants in a sort of showcase garden.

Also blooming in that garden was a lot of Hairy Beardtongue, Penstemon hirsutus. I believe the butterfly is a Pipestone Swallowtail.

Best personal find of the day was some round-leaved sundew, a carniverous plant. There were also pitcher plants on site.

After that tour, we all went to Pete and Julie's cottage where they fixed burgers and brats, and we all chipped in with a potluck. This was followed by our annual meeting.

I saw lots more plants, but these are the best pictures. Long day, but all great.

Miles walked in 2026: 180.3
NCT Hike 100 Challenge 2026: 59.8

NCT in Newaygo County 1.8 miles. Birch Grove Trail 1.4 miles, Loda Lake 1.7 miles

See Practically Perfect in Every Way

Plants Along the Trail

I met up with some members of the trail chapter this morning to meet and train a new volunteer in a low-key way. That all went well. Walked a portion of my section of trail as part of this. It's quite clean- we flipped some sticks out of the way and trimmed a few berry bushes. That's about it.

There were some plants in bloom. I was not aware that there was Bunchberry (Ground Dogwood), Cornus canadensis, in my section of trail. But here it is! Nice find.

There is always a ton of Starflower, Trientalis borealis, in the dry woods. I do think this is the best picture I've ever gotten of it though. Usually, the bright white flower just gets all blown out.

Some of you will think this is the best find. It's a pink lady's slipper orchid, Cypripedium acaule, but it's a very dark pink one. Kind of unusual.

But I'm really partial to this shrub. I know that it grows in the bottomland hardwood swamp along the railroad berm in my section. But I never get tired of finding it. It's not technically rare, but one doesn't find it too often. The leaves are large enough at this point that it was easy to spot.

It's done blooming, and it has already set seed.

The name comes from the flexibility of the wood. It's extremely bendable. See link below for more pictures of the whole bud/flower/seed cycle.

The mosquitoes were impressive. Dan and I chose to leave the deep woods and walked out along an old two-track that I'd never gotten around to exploring. Not too interesting, but now I can say I've done it.

And since I drove right past one, and near a second, garden center, I stopped and looked at plants. Yes, a couple more came home with me. You'll see them in due time.

Not all miles today counted for NCT. Miles walked in 2026: 171.2
NCT Hike 100 Challenge: 58

North Country Trail, Lake County 1.8 odd miles, and another 1.5 old road/dirt road/snowmobile trail. Total 3.2 miles.

See Leatherwood

Taking MOWA to the Trail

The Michigan Outdoor Writers Association (MOWA) is having their annual conference this weekend... just over in Baldwin! But with Confidence Camp, I'm too busy to attend. But I did offer to lead a hike. Four of us did the 3.5 mile loop at Bowman Lake. I was delighted that a few people signed up!

You know Bowman Lake is one of my favorite places in our local area.

We all had a chuckle about this. Somehow a Skunk Cabbage got itself planted in this three-trunked tree.

A happy and clean painted turtle sun-bathing on a log.

And, ta-da! The sassafras are just starting to flower and get leaves.

They took me out to lunch afterwards. A very nice morning!

Confidence Camp all afternoon. Hoping to finish the last major item this evening.

Miles walked in 2026: 162.2
Hike 100 Challenge 2026: 53.3

Bowman Lake area, Lake County, Michigan. North Country Trail 1.75 miles, Bowman Lake Trail 1.75 miles.

See Bowman Semi-Primitive Area

Spirit of the Woods Hike- May 2026

The group photo hasn't been posted yet for me to grab, but there were about 15 people and 5 dogs who hiked today. We traveled farther than usual, going north to where the Manistee River crosses US 131. The trail goes beneath the bridge.

The hike actually went the other direction, going north (trail west) along the high bluff beside the river.

We finally had another really nice day! We were all ready for this.

And some of the wildflowers were opening. Wood anemone.

Trout lily.

And some Carolina spring beauty.

Finally, just some cute little orange mushrooms on the green moss.

What with travel time, going out to eat, and the hike itself, this is really all I did today.

Miles hiked in 2026: 158.4
Hike 100 Challenge: 51.6

North Country Trail, Wexford County, MI. US 131 Roadside rest north 3 miles and back. 6.0 miles

See SPW Hike- April 2026

Loren, Loda, Hardcore Legend

Loren and I went to Loda Lake Wildflower Sanctuary this afternoon to scout out some plans for the Spriit of the Woods National Trails Day event.

It was raining most of the time, so we didn't do much walking. Probably under a mile, so I guess it doesn't count. Here's Loda Lake. It's flooded so far up the boat launch, I couldn't even get close enough to show more of the open water.

Loda is the name of the Indian Princess who was daughter of Chief Pokagon. The lake was previously just another Bass lake, but was renamed in the early 1900s.

We did walk as far as the poison sumac, Toxicodendron vernix. I wanted to get a picture of the bark and buds. Here's the bark. You can be 100% sure I didn't touch it. I've never yet tangled with that one, and my hope is to avoid doing so for the rest of my life.

We also scouted out some other roads with trail crossings, trying to plan some NCT miles in addition to the event at Loda Lake. This is the trail crossing of 7 Mile Road in Newaygo County. In the rain, even the browns look rich, and the green moss helps.

We had a blast, but that was not the end of the adventure! Coming home (still raining) there was a hiker in Baldwin. He looked like a long-distance hiker with a pack and poles, head down walking in the rain. When we passed, I said, "I think that was Chris!"

I knew he was somewhere on the trail in West Michigan, but didn't really know where. There are no towns for resupply near the trail in our entire 80 miles, but Baldwin is the closest. Also, I'd never met him in person, so I wasn't really sure. It took us a few minutes to decide to turn around and check and offer to take him back to the trail.

It was Chris! That is Chris Hillier, hiking legend. 3X for the AT, has also done the PCT, and assorted other hikes. He's hardcore! He would not let me take him to my house for the night. He had already booked an overnight room. he would not even let us take him to the motel!

But I got to meet him.

I did manage to get a fair amount done on various things before Loren and I left to go scouting.

All in all, a very fun day!

See Practically Perfect

Spirit of the Woods Hike- April 2026

The monthly hike for April had to be tweaked twice! The plan was for Silver Creek Pathway (not NCT), last week, but it's been mostly underwater for weeks. Still underwater this weekend. So we went north from Timber Creek again.

Even with all the changes, we had about 25 people and three dogs show up.

Most of the group did 6 miles or fewer (to 8th St and back). My goal was to do 8 miles again. One other hiker, Eric, wanted to go farther too, so we did! Notice the NCT emblem with black around the central star. That is a really old sticker and it still looks good. I can't even remember when that was changed to have a lighter color. Before 2005 for sure.

So, this is the section I hike ALL THE TIME, and the woods isn't turning green yet, so I struggle to get photos of anything remotely new. But Eric and I went north of 8th St, and then we decided to bushwhack over to the Ward Hills Fire Tower site. That is a favorite place of mine to visit.

Here's the foundation for the keeper's house, again.

And the view west from the top of the hill (toward Scottville and Ludington). The trees are all grown up, and the only times you get any view at all is when there are no leaves.

It warmed up nicely by mid-day, and we ended up in shirtsleeves. The sun at least made the green moss glow.

We did a total of 8.2 miles. I feel pretty good, but didn't get a lot more done this afternoon.

Miles walked in 2026: 137.2
NCT Hike 100 Challenge 2026: 39.1

North Country Trail, Lake Co. Michigan, north 3.5 miles, then bushwhack to Ward Hills Fire Tower site, back to NCT via road, back on NCT to Timber Creek. NCT 6.5 miles, other 1.7 miles. Overall elevation range 360 feet.

See Eight Miles for Spring

Eight Miles at Bowman

Got in a good hike with Cathy and here is the selfie to prove it!.

We had planned to hike in the warmer part of the day, but then I found out I had a meeting right after lunch, so we went earlier. Temperature was hovering right at 32° and it snowed on us for a while. But it did warm up a bit before we finished.

The red morning sky really didn't live up to its reputation. I don't think a few snow flurries counts for much in the way of storming. But it was very pretty.

My goal was to walk eight miles. We started at the north parking area and walked south for four miles on the NCT. I usually do the loop, half of which is not NCT, but I wanted miles that would count for Hike 100 today. This took us south of 56th St for an additional mile. Then we had a snack and turned back.

Bowman Lake is one of my favorite places on our trail. It's a glacial kettle lake. Looks a little hazy with the snow flurries.

This is a sight you don't really see in the summer. This is the ridge of hills on the northeast side of the Pere Marquette River, across the river from where we were.

Then we ran into a trail crew! Jack was out cutting downed trees, and Sue and Kathy were swamping for him. Dumb me, I didn't take a picture of them working. We had been thinking that the trail was pretty clear without too many things to step over, but now it's completely clear between 56th and 40th Streets!

We moved one of their vehicles for them so they wouldn't have to backtrack, and I made it to my meeting on time.

I'm trying to stretch my mileages. We did the full eight, and my hips and knees were a little stiff but OK. And I was tired, but I did manage to work on a few things in the afternoon. I wasn't totally done in. Elevation max and min were only 125 feet apart, but there were numerous ups and downs, so this was a good workout.

Miles walked in 2026: 129.0
Hike 100 Challenge 2026: 32.6

North Country Trail, Lake Co. Michigan, 40th St south four miles and back for 8 total.

See Bowman Lake 2024