Found My Peeps - Day 419

I found some of my peeps! Actually, this was planned in advance, but that didn't make it any less fun.

Most of these hikers are in my chapter, Spirit of the Woods. This wasn't an official chapter hike, but members of this group go out hiking once or twice a week. Today was going to be a short day for me on the trail, and this was a good length of hike for them too, so we combined our goals. We started at Harvey Bridge.

Once again, we were high above the Manistee River.

She wasn't on the hike, but friend and chapter president, Loren, sent a birthday card and gift. The card is more photogenic, but the gift was a couple of beautiful embroidered towels with little camper trailers on them.

One more day, and I'll be in the Spirit of the Woods (SPW) trail miles!

Here's how the rest of my hike will be organized. I'll be hiking two more days, then I'm going home. I will randomly hike most of the SPW miles during May.

On June 3, National Trails Day, the chapter is having their annual meeting, and I'll be at that. Then, June 4, I leave for the Upper Peninsula. Although they are supposed to get some more serious snow this weekend, the UP has 5 weeks to get its act together and decide that it's spring. David and Bill are both going to join me as I fill in the missing 106 miles up there.

Barring unexpected emergencies (Good Lord willin' and the crick don't rise), on June 18 (a Sunday), in the early afternoon, I will hike the final miles into Timber Creek (where US 10 crosses the trail at Michigan mile 854.3). There will be some kind of celebration. The chapter is putting that together, so I don't know all the details.

Anyone who wants to hike the final miles with me is welcome to do so, but the issue is going to be parking. If I hike from Centerline Road (6 miles), that's a nice hiking distance, but there is almost nowhere to park on that road. If I hike from 8th Street (3 miles), there is a lot more parking, but the distance is short and the road can be marginal. Perhaps some people will park at Timber Creek and hike out to 8th St to meet me and turn around to walk back with me. Or perhaps groups can carpool from Timber Creek to 8th St.

I think I should say that I'll aim to be at Timber Creek at 2 pm. I don't want to assume that there will be a mob, but perhaps if you are wanting to hike the final miles with me it would be good to contact me and I can keep you in the detail loop. That might also give me an idea of how many cars are going to be involved.

Miles today: 5.2. Total miles so far: 4637.8.

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