Today was a short mileage day for hiking. I just had to fill in one gap, and now 207 miles of the Lower Peninsula are hiked with no gaps. (Of course, I've already done everything from Timber Creek south - trail east.)
It was a hilly stretch, but the grades were mostly gentle. It doesn't show in the picture very much, but in person you can just catch a bit of green fuzz on the trees.
The morning's weather alternated between rain, snow, and sunshine. The result was that all the small branches in the understory looked as if they were decorated with Christmas lights when the sun came out.
I said goodbye to my friends Pam and Doug. They are currently watching their oldest grandson for a few days. He's three and the world is one big playground. He's a sweetie, and he wasn't afraid of me (some little kids are), so it was fun. He also has really good language skills, so I didn't have to guess what he was saying. That helps.
I drove 90 minutes south from Petoskey and am all settled in. Here, the green on the trees is easy to see. It won't break my heart to be hiking in 50 degrees instead of 40.
Today's miles were short, but tomorrow's are long.
I am pretty much locked in to the schedule for the western UP in June. Soon I'll commit to my final hiking day for those who want to come celebrate with me at Timber Creek (where the NCT crosses US 10, mile MI-854. Of course, there could always be accidents or something totally unexpected, but assuming that things don't go wrong, "it" will be the date. Stay tuned.
Miles today: 6.6. Total miles so far: 4619.8.
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Lulu: "I see the green fuzz ― I just wish I could smell it, too! Happy hiking!"
ReplyDeleteLulu- when I reached my car, just for a minute the world smelled green and springy instead of cold and wintery
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