Not Quite, but Quite All Right!

 I didn't quite do a "whole thing" of several things I like. But I did enough, and it was all great.

I started writing my Mason County Press column for this month and realized I did not know enough about access places to the Little Manistee River, and I could not find the info on line. Road trip!

The leaves are coming down; the peak color is past. But the sky was blue, and there is still plenty of lovliness. This is the Little Manistee from Old Grade Campground off of M-37. This is as far upstream as you can paddle from. At that, it's going to be iffy for the first few miles. The water is mostly 5-8" deep.

This was taken from the road bridge at M-37. Love the eelgrass.

I'm not as good at fish ID as with most other wildlife, but I think this is a trout of some kind.

I found the piece of road that I had wanted to take Omer on last week. This is Little Manistee River Road. It's mostly a 2-track, but I love it.

One of the actual Forest Service campgrounds along the river is Bear Track. Here's the view upstream from the landing.

I also discovered today that the parking for 6-Mile Bridge is up and away from the actual bridge. I followed the trail that said "to parking" which seemed mysterious because it was going away from the bridge. There's a nice view at the top of the hill. Yes, the river is down there somewhere.

Enjoy some red maple leaves.

Finally, here is another view from where the river valley gets deeper, near Chicago Boy Rollway.

Oh, the things I didn't quite do? Well, I didn't follow the river all the way from source to mouth. Close. Maybe I'll finish that quest another time. I didn't even get to all the campsites along this portion of the river. I think some of them are not accessible by vehicle, and they also don't have signs as you are paddling (this info comes from two separate sources), so I'm not sure how to locate them accurately, but I tried. I also didn't finish the article. I'll do that in the morning. I wasn't planning for this to take all day, but it's OK. I had a lovely time, learned a lot, and I do need to write an article.

One thing I did do? There was a couple just taking their kayaks out at 6-Mile Bridge. They were going to roadwalk the 4+ miles back to 9-Mile Bridge where their truck was. I gave them a ride. It was already after 4 pm when they started walking.

I only managed to walk 2 miles. Most of what I needed to do was from the car with quick hops out and in. But the FS Campgrounds are already gated, so I had to walk in to those to check things out.

I do love days like this.

Miles hiked in 2024: 511.2

See Leaf Peeping Part 2

Leaf Peeping 2024- Part 2

  Today was a good day to hunker down inside, and I mostly did. Bell choir practice in the afternoon, but I worked on projects a lot. No worries. I have more nice pictures from yesterday.

Love a good dirt road in any season, but this is spectacular. Six-Mile Bridge Road.

There is only one bridge across the Little Manistee River between Stronach and Nine-Mile Bridge where the North Country Trail crosses the river. And it's on a seasonal road. This is a nice picturesque crossing of the Little Manistee at 6-Mile Bridge.

I actually wasn't aware that portions of the Little Manistee are in a fairly deep valley. Here's one such place.

Bright spots of color against a green background are always fun. Maple leaves are pretty good at that.

We made a point to drive through the tunnel of black willows at Eastlake. But they were not showing off nicely at all. I expected the leaves to be yellow. Maybe it was too dry earlier this year. These trees are getting very old. I'm not sure how much longer this view will be available. See other seasons in a link below.

Tomorrow I think there will be an event to share, but I do still have some more worthy autumn leaf pictures.

See Leaf Peeping 2024- Part 1 See Entering the Tunnel

Little Manistee - Day 424

Cathy and I did some miles that count for THE hike. She hiked with me the very first day, and then a few miles in Marquette, and she hopes to do the final day with me. We might manage to squeeze in one of the few remaining days I have in the Manistee NF, too.

Some of you may recognize the sign board behind us. We did the section that goes through Big M, the Udell Hills. This is the intersection with the Sky Pilot Trail. Yes, we know the NCT blazing is bad here in particular and all through this section. I think it's on the priority to-do list for this summer. One of the great things about Big M is there are so many trails, you can do all sorts of interesting loops. Here's one I did a couple of years ago. We are contemplating some interesting loop for next week.

And we ended at the Little Manistee River. The trail has left the course of the Manistee, but we're not yet away from its tributaries.

In other news: I paid money to get a phone that isn't going to be dead as soon as I buy it. Of course, it looks as if some of the apps aren't going to transfer correctly. I also bought groceries. That's a shocker right there. I may have to get a "real" job to be able to eat.

Miles today: 6.7. Total miles so far: 4681.6.

See A New Direction

Manistee National Forest Challenge Hike #10

 
Twelve of us hiked today. We did 9.5 miles on the section that was, for a long time, mine to maintain. It was fun to see it again.



The section begins with a stroll down an old rail bed that goes through a bottomland hardwood swamp. It's a beautiful place, often terrible with mosquitoes, but the water was pretty much gone today, and no bugs.



The first hints of fall are showing up.



We stopped to take a break at the deck on the end of the boardwalk. This was one of the first projects our chapter did.



While we all sat there we were semi-aggressively charged by this insect- over an inch long. We were all a bit wary. It kept facing off with us and would then just hover in place or sort of dance around. This brought on a round of bee sting stories.

Imagine my surprise when bugguide.net identified this as a hover fly. Looks and acts aggressive, but totally harmless. Called the Yellowjacket Hover Fly, Milesia virginiensis. In fact, it's sometimes called the Good News Bee because of how it approaches and faces off... supposedly bringing good news. In folk lore it will bring good luck if you can get it to perch on a finger.



This is an area that had a terrible blowdown about 10 years ago. It's grown up so much that it no longer looks open. Amazing how the forest can recover. Those are almost all oaks that have resprouted from the old stumps.



The hike ended just north of the Little Manistee River.



Nice weather and a great all-round day.

North Country Trail, Lake, Mason and Manistee Counties, Michigan, Freesoil TH north to Skocelas Road. 9.5 miles

	See Challenge Hike #9
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