What a Great Day!

  I worked hard in the morning, and then headed out for an afternoon on the trail. The North Country Trail, of course. Can a shadow look happy? I think this one does.

Almost immediately there was this lovely treat growing right beside the trail. Flowering dogwood, Cornus florida. The brach is arranged so gracefully.

The flowers aren't all the way open yet. I haven't ever caught pictures of it at quite this stage.

My next call to adventure was this interesting map. I haven't yet explored this world. OK... it's just a cut birch tree. But doesn't it look like a map of some ancient land with a sheltered bay and two small pointed hills?

There were four creeks I crossed. This is Bear Creek.

And Tank Creek. I actually camped over beyond the upper left corner in 2016 when I did a short backpacking trip here.

Speaking of backpacking, I met one fellow, Loren, who is hiking the whole Lower Peninsula. It's so very, very cool to find that there are more than a handful of people who are doing longer hikes on the NCT now.

I walked until I reached the mileage I wanted, and took a short rest on this log. And look! The sloth hiking team has been there. (You know, the ones who say, "We will get there when we get there.")

Mostly just came directly home, but I did take one little mile of new back road. Talk about a dream day! The temperature was just warm enough for no long sleeves, but not too hot. Things are really getting green. The sunshine made the water blue. Pretty darn wonderful!

I walked 10 miles, collecting info for the data book. Just 5 more Newaygo County miles to go (so 10 to hike them out and back). Total North Country Trail miles for 2021 is at 276.

In other news: I edited in the morning. I'm a little tired tonight- I didn't get to sleep until about 2 am, so I'll probably fall asleep early.

North Country Trail, Newaygo County, MI. Oak Savannah to north of Tank Creek and back. 10 miles total

See So Wrong About the Dogwood See another sloth face