Slightly Out of Focus?

Mentally, I was very focused today, but the foggy, misty weather made all the pictures a little bit fuzzy.

My "new" position with the Spirit of the Woods Chapter of the NCTA is Land Protection Specialist. So... I'm no specialist yet, but I'm learning a lot really fast. We didn't think there were hardly any landowners to deal with on our section of trail. So far, we've identified quite a few. The Forest Service knew about most of these, but the Chapter didn't. Some of what I did today related to a meeting with a landowner I had on October 27.

But first, the hike.

Six of us met at the north Highbridge access to the trail and hiked east along the Manistee River (which is actually trail west- because if you keep going in this direction you end up in North Dakota). They were looking for suggestions of where to hike, and I needed to get to this location before real winter sets in, so I asked if we could do this. Yup.

This is the picture everyone takes of the Manistee River in this section. Mainly because with the power line cut you can actually see the river.

I just like this because it shows how the bluff falls off pretty abruptly down to the river.

The valley was all foggy today. That's pretty too!

I'm pretty sure these are tiny yellow mushrooms and not a slime mold.

I walked part of the way with Loren and little Koa. This is on the esker, a favorite feature on this piece of trail.

So, back to my "purpose" for the hike, other than just a nice hike. We now have an agreement in writing that allows the trail to cross a small bit of private property. Because this is the end of a switchback on a steep hill, we really need this access. The owners agreed to put the agreement in writing, and we promised to get the blazing spiffed up yet this fall. We will get the correct signage up in the spring. The government shutdown meant we couldn't get the signs until just a few days ago anyway.

So, all I did was to freshly paint the non-standard arrows at the corner, touch up and add to the standard blazing near that turn. But the minimum hike in is two miles, and it's an hour from my house, so I hadn't gotten there yet. Now it's done.

This picture shows the uphill leg of the switchback. I added the "confidence marker" blaze- circled on the right- just after the turn. A confidence marker is an extra blaze soon after a turn that lets people know they have made the right choice. The circled blaze farther up on the left was already there, but I freshened it.

This shot is coming up to the turn on the lower leg. Those arrows have been there a long time. They aren't standard, and we will try to replace them in the spring. For now, I brightened them up. And the circled double blaze on the tree, I added. I also added a turn blaze coming from the other direction.

I also scouted out, by vehicle, another potential trail re-route that we just found out about. Can't say any more yet. But it was a very productive day at it relates to my new position.

Not much else happened. The morning was cold and damp, but not really raining. Hiking was a good outdoor use for a somewhat nasty day.

Miles hiked in 2025: 450.6
NCT miles hiked in 2025: 249.8

North Country Trail, Highbridge north parking to the esker and back. Total- 5 miles

A lot of these same locations in better weather are at the link below.

See A Test Along the Manistee

Seidman Park

 Loren and I were on our way to the Quiet Adventure Symposium, and we stopped to hike a piece of North Country Trail less familiar to us. This is Seidman Park, just east of Grand Rapdis (MI).

You can see that the day was sunny. Always a plus!

There is a little puddle of water near the middle, but I think it's ephemeral. However, it was attractive in the sun.

At the southern end, the trail crosses Honey Creek.

OK, it's technically March now, but it still seems pretty early for things like skunk cabbage to be coming up.

This sentiment was on a bench, and I like it. Don't count the days, make the days count."

We hiked from the north end of the park to the south and back. 5.2 miles.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 132.9 of which 35.9 is North Country Trail.

North Country Trail through Seidman Park, Grand Rapids, MI. out and back 5.2 miles

See Lydia and Otto

Loren Gets Her 100 Miles

It turned out to be a really beautiful day for a hike. Loren completed her Hike 100 Challenge 2023 (to hike 100 miles on the North Country Trail in a calendar year). She wasn't sure she was going to be able to this year because of plantar fasciaitis, but she got some treatments that helped, and here she is! (With Koa jumping up to help celebrate.)

She wanted to do the hike here because she says this is her favorite local place on the trail, along this esker. And I zoomed out, so you can see that she actually is on the esker.

There were 10 of us and two dogs who hiked to celebrate with her.

We started at Sawdust Hole and went down into Leitch Bayou to hike along the Manistee River.

There is an eagle nest along there which we didn't see even though we know about where it is. However, we did see the eagle.

I just like this section of the trail because at the west end of the bayou, the trail climbs back to the top of the bluff. Before we were even a chapter (before 1998) the Forest Service had built these great switchbacks. I think there are a total of 8 legs (in two groups of four) to get all the way to the top. They show up a lot better when there are people on them.

Now we have a couple of people who are close to 200 miles for the year, and they want to do that. (There is no official reward for getting to 200, it would just be a personal goal.) I'm not sure what my total is. Let's see. There were 437 to complete my End-to-end. Then I've done about 40 more (haven't tracked it very precisely) on the NCT since then. so that would be about 477. Will I make it to 500 for the year? Doubtful. I have things to do that really don't leave me with the time to do another 23 miles. I'm not interested in doing any 15 mile days now!

However, this was not all the fun for today. Cathy and I spent the day together after the hike. I'll show you about that tomorrow because I have to buckle down and get things done tomorrow, so I won't be out tracking down interesting pictures.

North Country Trail. Sawdust Hole to the esker and back, 5.3 miles

See Two Hikers Hit 100

Shout Out to the Pre-Hike Supporters

  There are three people who have been on my local pre-hike support team for many months. They've helped me more than they probably realize just by being, well... supportive.

You know that Sue came and helped with food two days. She's also going to be on the road with me for more time than probably anyone else. So, you'll hear lots more about her.

However, these three people are not going along on the trip, but each of them committed to keeping me motivated with the hiking earlier (actual preparation sort of overwhelmed that), and helping in various ways. Not in any particular order:

Loren hired me to do all that painting for her in the spring. She was in on the "secret" plan, even then, and she paid me full price to do that job. This financed a lot of the preparations. Her husband, Dave, is also in the picture.

Cathy also learned of my plan in the spring. She can't really take off to go along with me, but you know we've done a lot of hiking together this year. She's helped with a lot of work on the trailer, and added an extra brain to sorting out planning issues when two heads were definitely better than one. She's going to hike with me on day one, and she and her husband will deliver Sunny to the first spot where I am staying in the trailer.

Monica came into the loop later than those two, because I didn't meet her until this summer. But we quickly hit it off big time. We've hiked together, and she's helped with food and sewing and the trailer. She's also helped me figure out solutions to remaining issues. She'll hike with me on day 2 and 3. See, I've got insurance that I won't be quitting right out of the starting block. And, she JUST NOW brought me something that will provide a solution for yet another storage issue. We may be a similar kind of crazy... kinda scary!

I also want to say a big-time thanks to Omer. He really doesn't like the house to be a mess, and the poor guy married the Queen Mess-Maker. I'm not kidding when I say that I've outdone myself in trashing the place this time. With two days to go, I'm entering clean-up and put-away modes, but with ONLY two days to go, it's not going to be great when I leave. Also, he has run to the store when I needed some stray item, and he is going to be my support person for one month. That's definitely out of his comfort zone, so I really appreciate it. Here we were on Veteran's Day. It's a nice picture, so I'll use it.

Of course, I have to mention Marie, because we talked on the phone often, working out trailer details, since she has more trailer time than anyone except me. And she's my 100%, wind-beneath-my-wings, support person.

And there are a number of people who have prayed with me as I am getting ready to leave, and some who have committed to pray for me every single day. This means an awful lot to me, and I know it will help keep me going on the days that are less fun- there are bound to be some.

In other news: I finished everything I can do for now on the 2021 tax accounts. BIG ITEM. I finished the trailer cushions. BIG ITEM. I made one more pair of hiking pants for me. BIG ITEM. All the plants are gone. The trailer table is re-installed, and I'm getting things put away in their spaces and packing.

8 BIG ITEMS to complete, with almost certainly 5 of them to be dropped (54 done). 2 small items done that were on the list; tons more small ones to do, but some can be done after we are on the road- I just don't want to forget about them (71 done). 2 days to go. It's getting real.

See Letting the Secret Out of the Bag

Full Summer Hike

  Loren (and Koa) and I took a hike today. We went through Dead Horse Marsh, now looking green for summer, although as I noted before, those jackpines in the distance by the boardwalk are dying. This is all part of the natural cycle there after last year's flooding.

Evidence of another cycle. The oak trees are trying to refoliate after the gypsy moth invasion. It's very weird to see some trees looking like full summer and some like early spring. Interestingly, we also saw some sassafras that had been chewed. Maybe the caterpillars would settle for that after they decimated the oaks.

The woods looks so different in full summer. I loved how lush this stump terrarium is.

It sure looks like a bear has been using the trail too. Maybe it was checking for blueberries, as were we. We didn't find many though. I think the drought came at the wrong time to have a good crop.

One perky mushroom on a log. No clue what it is. I'd have to pick it and check the gills and spores, and I'd rather leave it.

Before we hiked, we did just a tiny bit of trail work. I did buy a post, and we put it in just north of the Freesoil Trailhead.

I added the necessary turn blaze, and now no one should get misplaced trying to find the trail in the area of the new snowmobile trail. Sure, it's only a small project, but it feels good to have one small thing finished!

In other news: Uh-oh. There was supposed to be other news. I had high hopes for accomplishments for the afternoon. But I picked up a book I've been reading with my lunches, and it suddenly got a lot more interesting. I also went outside to do a couple of things and discovered it had gotten very windy, making my planned tasks unpleasant. Of course, I had plenty of other choices. But I was a very bad girl and went back to my book.

North Country Trail, Mason County, MI. Tyndall Road to Taylor Road and back. 6 miles

See Dead Horse Marsh Dry

"Old" Trail Section, New Season

  Loren and I met up this morning to look at a section of trail where the Eco-Seeds volunteer crew had done some work a couple of weeks ago. One of the things they did was to replace the supports on this small bridge. You can see the new lumber.

They also installed some steps on a couple of steeper slopes. It's always good to have some enthusiastic younger muscles to work on some of the construction projects.

The white birch are just beginning to get leaves.

This piece of trail follows the south shore of the Manistee River for a short distance. It's certainly wonderful to see the trees greening up!

But the big surprise was the wildflowers. I've mentioned before that most of our chapter's trail is in dry sandy hills. There aren't a lot of wildflowers in those areas. But here, down along the river, and climbing to the top of the bluff, there were lots! I'll have to remember this. It was quite interesting that there was still some bloodroot in bloom. It's mostly done by now.

Lots of toothwort, but the sun hadn't really hit the flowers yet for the day, so they were closed up and a little droopy. The flowers don't open flat, but a little more than this.

Miterwort was a welcome sight. It really likes damp places. It was growing at the base of a tree. The roots probably create a little cup of moisture.

And there were quite a few trilliums, too. Also saw trout lily, and woodland horsetail.

I liked this one- it's just a Solomon's seal opening its leaves, but the curls are so perfect!

I had to take a new picture of the pups. They've had haircuts, and you'd hardly know they were the same dogs. I don't think I've ever seen Corky (the white one) shaved.

Anyway, it was only 4 miles, but it was a great hike- learning new things about a familiar section. We put out some new stickers on posts too.

North Country Trail miles in 2021 is at 280.

In other news: Did shopping and errands, and I'm getting ready to leave in the morning for more errands in Grand Rapids and then a vendor event on Saturday. I hope to squeeze in a little hike tomorrow. We'll see.

North Country Trail, Manistee County, MI, Highbridge to Chicago Avenue and back. 4 miles

See More NCT Hike Fun

Not Quite Spring, but No Snow

  Today, Loren and I did the same hike we did at the beginning of January (link below). However, it was much easier today with almost no snow on the trail. We started at 5 Mile Road and went south to cross the Big Sable River on the Vince Smith bridge. The boardwalk is the approach to the bridge through the floodplain wetland. You can see the bridge in the distance.

There is always a beautiful picture to be had of the Big Sable River.

The river and bridge are the best features of this stretch. From the river you climb about 100 feet to the top of a wide ridge and then drop back down again to 3 Mile Road, and just past that McCarthy Creek and Lake (beyond where we walked). So this section should also be remembered as one with a big climb and downhill no matter which direction you hike. Here is Loren starting down the slope in a valley toward 3 Mile Road.

I was trying hard to find things that weren't just brown and gray. You may recall that March is my least favorite month of the year. Well, I found a puddle of bright yellow-green moss on a stump.

The symmetric pattern of the bark flowing around the roots of this tree is intriguing.

Moss and lichen in a repeating pattern. I found this oddly appealing.

And a true hint of spring- also good with comparison to a year ago- Trailing Arbutus. Tiny tight buds. I compared them with the picture from a year ago, and they are just a little bit tighter than those. However, this is also 15 miles farther north, and spring "travels" about 15 miles a day. And we are still 4 days earlier than my pictures from last year. So, perhaps, everything is about on a par with 2020.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, 5 Mile Rd to 3 Mile Rd and back 7.5 miles total

North Country Trail miles in 2021 = 109

In other news: When I got home, I settled in and did some more editing, and also started reading a good book.

See 5 Mile to 3 Mile