A Tour of the NCT North of 76th St

A group of people met today to hike on the NCT. Quite a group showed up- 15 people. This wasn't an official SPW hike, so I didn't feel constrained to try to connect with others. What I wanted to do was hike fast, and I did so. This meant I didn't spend much time with hardly anyone. If you were there and felt I wasn't friendly, I apologize.

It started out at freezing, but was up to 44° before I finished.

I thought I'd just give you a little tour of the trail because there's not much green stuff yet. Very soon after you leave the trailhead on 76th St (Lake County), you join an old railroad bed for just over a half mile. That is the former Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad that was completed to Ludington in 1874.

In about another mile, you enter a fenced corridor that people mostly hate and do not understand. Actually, it's a good thing. The trail passes through about a quarter mile of property belonging to the Pere Marquette Rod and Gun Club. The pathway is fenced because, as a hunt club, there is the possibility of shooting there at any time of year. Keeping hikers on the path is a real safety issue. And the trail needs a way to connect two sections of National Forest. We are thankful for the safe passage. Even though the fence is broken down in quite a few places, please stay in the corridor.

In another 3/4 mile, you'll come to a small creek that has no name. There are two wooden bridges across this. There's also a fair amount of corduroy turnpike that was installed at least 15 years ago made from cedar logs. It could use some work, but it's held up pretty well. That creek flows down the bluff to the Pere Marquette River.

Just a short walk farther, you'll see an old road bench angling down toward the river. This is indeed part of an old road that connected with Gleason's Landing Campground. Now, there is no bridge. You'd have to swim the river to get there from the trail! (Or have someone with a watercraft to transport you.) This is a good landmark because it's just about 2 miles from the trailhead.

But I was going farther today. In another 3/4 mile the trail crosses a "ditch" on a small plank bridge. On Avenza, this shows as a significant creek. Ha! I have never, ever, in 28 years seen any water in it.

Several of the hikers had set a goal of 7 miles total, and that sounded good to me too. That meant our turnaround point was the north end of the turnpike our chapter built two years ago. I last hiked there from the other direction with Monica (link below).

After a little snack, I headed back and passed the hikers who were still outbound. I caught up with Miki and Eamon and stayed with them a little while. Miki is doing great! She hiked 6 miles today. And it's Eamon's third birthday.

This is the longest hike I've done this season yet. I'm not too sore or stiff, but I am tired. I got some other things done today, but not a lot.

Miles walked in 2026: 115.9
NCT Hike 100 Challenge 2026:24.6

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI. 76th St TH north for 3.5 miles and back.

See 100 Miles for Monica

A Golden Morning on a Gray Afternoon

Remember, I told you that I also have two puzzles that Diane sent for Miki and me to do together?

Miki is pretty much back to normal, which is not to say she's at full strength. But she's leading a pretty much normal (if not her desired normal) life.

Today, she drove to my place and we tackled the puzzle with more pieces- 550. That's not a huge number, but it was a little harder than it looked. We are both intense and good puzzle workers. It took us about 4 1/2 hours. But neither of us was willing to stop.

It's not really blizzardy today, but gray and snowing. A good day for a puzzle. And it was fun to have someone to do it with.

Title of it is "A Golden Morning." A little goldfinch on a fencepost with golden sunflowers.

I did edit and write in the morning. Finished my Mason County Press column.

See A Puzzling Christmas

Look Who's Feeling Better

 
I stopped this morning to visit with Miki who has finally been released from the hospital. (She should have been out quite a while ago, but finding a facility that will take a rehab patient is not as simple as it should be.)

She can't even try walking for many weeks, but she can sit up, and she's pretty mobile in a wheelchair.

If you know Miki, you know the inactivity is really hard for her. But I learned that she also likes jigsaw puzzles, so I took a 300-piece one that we could probably safely finish in the time we were going to have.

Well, not only does she like them, she's very good at them, so we finished this, no problem! Had a fun time.

The facility she's in is interesting. She's only going to be there a few days and then has a place at a real rehab center. But this is a respite facility. It is set up very similar to the place my cousin Jean is involved with. It's more like several small apartments than a hospital. (Jean's is much more homey though)

In case you don't know, Miki was in a terrible motorcycle accident about a month ago. She's very fortunate to even be alive, She broke an arm and smashed her pelvis, but everything should heal given time and care.

I'll tell you about my dental experience tomorrow. For now, I'll just say that I'm home and in good shape without too much pain. I'll probably go to bed early. I was out all day long.

And now I'm having computer troubles, and can't do anything about that till Monday. Blogging on the old computer, which fortunately still works to do basic stuff.

See Solace House

Couldn't Stay Inside!

 I was going to hunker down and work a lot today, but the forecast was for 53 degrees! Nope. Have to go out.

I met Miki at the Freesoil Trailhead to walk my adopted section of trail.

Pretty much, when Miki hikes, so does Eamon. He is a young ferret, so he has lots of energy. He walked over half of the way, and got a ride in "mom's" coat the rest of the time.

The bottomland hardwood swamp along the section of trail that was Manistee and Luther Railroad is very dry. This often has a couple of feet of standing water in it.

Remember the bridges I helped replace in August? (Link below) Here is one of them completed. There are five little ones. So nice to have sturdy passage.

Once again, I contemplated following the unknown rail berm that crosses the trail here. See more in link below. Today, you could really see the berm heading north (yellow). The trail is the blue line. This would be a good time to try to follow it. We'll see!

Finally, just a nice trail picture. At least, as nice as they get in the brown and gray months. My thermometer said it made it to 55 degrees!

I did get quite a bit of editing done, and some writing before I hiked.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 113.3 of which 23.7 is North Country Trail.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, Freesoil Rd to Tyndall Rd and back. 5 miles

See Trail Work Day See Railroad or Road