Feels Like Home - Day 418

The section I hiked today is not within my chapter's range, but it's really close. I've hiked this piece often enough that it's quite familiar, and it really feels like I am approaching home. I often knew what was just around the next bend. The links below are not to yesterday's post this time, but to the last time I hiked this same section.

This is all along the Manistee River.

I was spotted again by Patty. I can't believe I didn't take a picture, but her husband Dave made me a delicious breakfast sandwich that fueled me for the morning. I guess I was so eager to eat it that I didn't think about photos.

The first section of this is very hilly, but then you get to Highbanks Rollways (where logs used to be rolled down to the river), and after that you are mostly level-ish, but with dips to creeks and gullies. The dips and climbs are mostly under 100 feet, but there are a lot of them. This is the sandy rollway bank beyond the foreground trees.

The Manistee wanders through the landscape like a drunken snake. There are over 30 oxbows on this section.

I'm a lot farther south than I was yesterday. You can actually see that the deciduous trees are greening up.

One photo I wanted, but the camera couldn't see it, was a mate to yesterday's with the "Christmas lights" in the trees. Today, the lights were green where the small beech trees were just leafing out. Maybe if it had been sunny the light would have caught the bright green. But it wasn't sunny. And it wasn't 50 degrees. In fact, it kept trying to snow! I think tomorrow is actually going to be warm. I won't complain about that.

This is one of my favorite markers along the NCT. It's one of 33 markers that have been placed along the route of the Cadillac to Traverse City Indian Trail. There is some evidence this was in use as early as 700 BC. You can't hike the trail (most is now on private property), but you can visit the markers, almost all of them have been placed where there is vehicle access, and read interpretive info about the sites. I hope to do this one of these days.

And I can finally say that I've seen a bear on the NCT in Michigan. Granted, it was on a road walk, but I think the two babies should count for points. Mama saw me, but they were pretty far away. She just continued across the road while I waited so as not to alarm her.

The day ended with a chat with an enthusiastic young man who was hoping to catch some suckers for his dinner. He said the DNR had just released 62,000 baby brown trout in the river.

Despite the long miles and the hills, my joints are surprisingly OK.

Miles today: 12.8. Total miles so far: 4632.6. Miles to go- under 200!

See How Many Oxbows? See Still Along the Manistee