Eight Miles for Spring

  This was a pretty perfect way to celebrate the entrance of Spring 2021. Cathy and I walked for 8 miles on the North Country Trail, and also took a little side trip. I just like the way the trail curls around the shoulder of this hill. This is the hill at the north end of Not Quite Endurance Edition, within the bubble of high land known as Ward Hills.

But very little snow today! You can see that the sky was blue, and despite a chilly start, I was hiking in shirtsleeves before we were finished. Pretty wonderful!

There were spots of white yet in low areas that don't get the sun as much. This section is fairly hilly, and you can sort of tell that in the picture

The adventure of the day was that we bushwhacked the extra little bit over to the Ward Hills Fire Tower Site. It looks like the last time I was there was three years ago. How can that be? Anyway, the views are better when the leaves are off the trees. The tower is long gone. I'm not sure when it was removed, but long before I ever hiked there. This is looking south, which is the best view. I can't quite identify the ridges, but suspect the farthest one might be a high E-W ridge near Hart, about 30 miles away. The fire tower hill is the highest point in the Ward Hills.

To be honest, my favorite thing about the location is the foundation of the caretaker's house. I love contemplating what it looked like, and how the keeper lived there.

With someone else along to snap a picture, I even went down to check out the basement. There were pieces of a broken chair, but not enough to play house.

We did all our goofing off on the way outbound, covered 4 trail miles, turned around and came part way back before stopping for lunch. There was some neat moss on a nearby log.

My NCT Miles for 2021 is at 117. Cathy is going for the Hike 100 Challenge, and her total is at 22 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, Centerline Road south for 4 miles and return, with a side trip to Ward Hills Fire Tower Site. Total miles 9.2

In other news: When I got home I hunkered down and spent some serious time on an editing job.

See Ward Hills Fire Tower Again