Bye, Bye, Bill - Day 414

Yup, it's sad, but Bill had to leave after today's hike. We celebrated our upcoming and almost joint birthdays with some ice cream (they are two days and a few years apart). Then he left. Sunny looks lonesome without the Lyme Lounge by his side. Bill may be able to be in on some of the western UP miles, but this is probably all for right now.

The biggest challenge on the trail today was a number of large wet areas.

I've been watching the trailing arbutus carefully, and I finally found a few blooming.

On Canada Goose Pond, we found the Canada geese doing a minuet with a pair of common mergansers.

I guess I was feeling a little artsy. I liked this reflection of the dead grass.

And I'm always a sucker for these curled rushes.

Best view of the day? There is one place, other than at the Mackinac Bridge, where the NCT comes out to Lake Michigan. And, even so, you have to walk a couple hundred feet off the trail. But here it is. I took pictures both morning and later, but the day was overcast, and there wasn't a lot of difference. It's a very pastel scene. This was morning.

We thought we were going to at least be drizzled on. Instead, we didn't get wet at all. There was a bit of harder rain after we finished, but we were in the cars by then.

Miles today: 10.4. Total miles so far: 4589.5.

See French Farm Lake