Rain, Plan, Rain, Plan, EAT, etc - Day 345

  It rained and thundered and rained all day. I worked hard on planning the next few days. I am going to jump ahead to do a section closer to Marquette that concerns me if the serious snow starts. This has been logistically challenging, but I think we've got it covered.

Just for the sake of having a pretty picture, this is a tree root I saw a couple of days ago. I did play with the color a bit to bump the contrast.

We've been generously hosted once again. This time by Bethany (far right). She took us out to dinner tonight, and trail volunteer Joe came along too. Nice people, nice times. Yummy food.

To make this all happen, we have to leave early in the morning.

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Misty - Day 344

  Instead of raining all day, it sort of cleared up after daybreak. I thought I'd try to backfill some of the miles I skipped to do the Porkies. Since a lot of this was road, Sue could snatch me from the rain if it got too bad. But it never really rained- it was just misty all day. Sue and the puppers even walked out to meet me before lunch.

The best part of the road walk was going past Copper Peak Ski Jump. The joke is that I could see it better from 10+ miles away yesterday, because it was so foggy today.

This is looking straight up the ski run. You can barely see the tower up there. If you don't know what kind of skiing this is all about, just look on You Tube for Copper Peak ski flying. It will make you glad you stick to safe things like ice skating and cross-country skiing!

Now let's switch to botany. I know! Botany in November! This one is easily recognized when it first comes up in early summer because the stem curls over and looks wilted for a long time before it stands up straight. It's a wild orchid, but don't get too excited. It's alien. However, it's become so naturalized, it is now considered the most common orchid in Michigan. Epipactis helleborine. This is the first time I've seen the seed pods so nicely preserved.

There was also a large area of this, which is dwarf scouring rush, actually a horsetail. Equisetum scirpoides. I love how it's tiny and curly. I think it would be great in a rock garden.

The last few miles of the day were back on trail. This is another truly lovely section of the NCT as it closely follows the Black River. And the water really does look quite black.

Another fantasy epic moment here. The water is slipping smoothly around that big rock ahead.

What's happening on the other side of the rock? Great Conglomerate Falls!

Beyond that, the river rushes away to hurry on to the next waterfall.

Another attempt at being artsy. Willow leaves look like an Oriental painting- I suppose they should be bamboo to be accurate, but I liked it anyway.

Miles today: 17.2. Total miles so far: 4026.3. With the extra miles added by new trail re-routes, plus a closure I already know about due to beaver flooding, I STILL have over 800 miles to go. I keep walking, but I don't seem to be getting closer to home. Tomorrow is almost guaranteed to be a rain day. It's already raining pretty hard.

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Escarpment Trail - Day 343

  I badly underestimated the total miles of the re-route through the Porkies. I was planning to finish today, but it would have meant a 20 mile day. Not happening, especially with limited daylight hours. So I still have a few miles to do another day, but I did complete the Escarpment Trail section. I can't say enough good words about this new addition to the NCT. The trail continues above Lake of the Clouds. Now we can see the east end of the lake and the Big Carp River feeding the lake.

The river upstream of the lake is very short. The headwaters are in that wetland you can see at the end of the shining river. I've also learned that the lake is only about 15 feet deep! The red plants are staghorn sumac that are so stunted by the wind that they look dwarf-sized.

Finally, I made it to the east end of the lake and am looking back to the west.

While I was up on this trail, I realized I was seeing something that I thought pretty amazing. Far to the west (picture is zoomed way in) is the Copper Peak ski flying tower.

Far to the east is the smokestack at the White Pine Mine (also zoomed in). I measured between these two places as the crow flies and they are about 27 miles apart.

Next, there is a missing piece I'll have to do another day. But I walked the section of new trail that was built outside the state park to connect back to the existing NCT route. The biggest news (and the biggest item) on this section is a beautiful, huge suspension bridge over the Little Iron River. This is within the Ottawa National Forest. This was paid for by a grant from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (an amazing constitutional amendment the voters got right a number of years ago). It was then built by an independent contractor.

And here's my artsy picture for today. This is looking down from the Escarpment Trail.

There is supposed to be significant rain for the next two days. I'll play it by ear, but I don't think I'm hiking tomorrow.

Miles today: 14.3. Total miles so far: 4009.1 Over 4000 miles! But the number yet to go is not under 800 yet. This trail just keeps stretching.

See Jumping Porcupine

Jumping Porcupine - Day 342

  I hate to do it, but I'm going to have to jump around in the UP to do the sections that are going to be more difficult on better weather days, or before the real snow shows up. There are a lot of roads that won't be driveable after the real snow starts, which would force me to winter backpack. I can if I must, but I'd rather not.

So today, I jumped ahead a couple of days to the Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park. This was one of the places I was really looking forward to, because the trail has recently been re-routed through the park. Most of the new route is on existing state park trails, but will take in better scenery than the old route.

The early parts of what I did today are the same as the NCT route has always been. I started at Manabezho Falls on the Presque Isle River. I'm not sure if this is the actual falls, or just part of the river flow.

There was a huge suspensed footbridge to get across this river. Very picture-worthy, but I can't show you everything. One of the most fun things about the Presque Isle River is that unless the water is very high, it makes a bend and leaves this layered overflow channel dry. The trail crosses this. It's weird to be crossing rocks that are lower than the water.

Then you walk very close to Lake Superior for a while. This was some small stream, but look at the lake! The wind was just piling the waves in to the shore. It was also making that stretch of trail a chilly walk!

Speaking of bridges or no bridges, there were a LOT of unbridged small creeks in the morning. I knew there were also going to be a couple of larger creeks that had to be forded. I took my sandals. However, by 10 am, I had dipped both feet in a small creek when a rock shifted. It really made the rest of the day easier. No fussing about whether to try to stay dry or changing the footwear. I just waded through everything. There turned out to be three serious fords- nothing dangerous, but one was knee deep.

At Big Carp River, the NCT now takes the Big Carp River trail instead of the Little Carp River trail. I'd never seen this piece before. Although I knew the final destination was going to be wonderful, I'm here to tell you that this re-route is a really nice choice. The trail follows the Big Carp River for a long, long way.

Incidentally, there are no carp in these rivers. The name is corrupted from French, Riviere L'Escarpe, which is River of the Escarpment.

I could have taken 100 pictures walking beside that river. But the day remained cloudy, so the light wasn't very good. But this one came out nice.

Now let's talk about that escarpment. Just a short distance inland from Lake Superior there is a ridge that is almost 1000 feet higher than the lake. On the south side, this is broken into sheer cliffs rising 500 feet above the valley. The interp sign says they have persisted because there is a layer of volcanic basalt on top of sedimentary sandstone. I haven't figured that out yet, except I think it's a continuation of the rock in the Keewenaw Peninsula and all part of the Mid-Continent Rift system. Anyway, on the far side of the valley is another high ridge. The Carp River flows at the bottom of the escarpment. The trail passes at the foot of one peak on the ridge, called LaFayette Peak. You can see the bare rocks at the top of it, and the fallen stones that are scattered down its slope.

This is looking across the valley.

The next peak is Miscowabic Peak. The trail climbs right up, almost to the top of that. But then you are up on the escarpment, and you stay up. Very soon, you begin to see the primary feature of this re-route, Lake of the Clouds. I wish it would have been a blue sky- blue water day, but silver will have to do.

It was a long hiking day, so it was getting toward dusk as I got nearer the lake. Here's the picture everyone takes, but you can't deny what a beautiful place this is.

It was a long day on my feet, and I forgot to put the orthotics in my shoes this morning, so the tootsies are sore. Ugh. This is only the 2nd time I've ever forgotten them. It's sure a reminder of why I need them.

Miles today: 17.2. Total miles so far: 3994.8.

See November Blues

November Blues - Day 341

  It's not what you think! Today was chilly, but it was blue-sky gorgeous. Any November day that looks like this is A-OK with me. In fact, except that it was a bit windy, it was my favorite with cool air and warm sun. No emotional "blues."

It was all road walking today, but sometimes those are fine because you can quickly pound out the miles. At one place we were right on Lake Superior. Now, that's BLUE.

This blue was a much bigger surprise. We saw several lupine in bloom. This is pretty odd since lupine's usual bloom time is in June.

This picture doesn't follow the theme of blue, but I have to show you. I really like it. It's just blackberry leaves and aspen trunks.

Dan Geiger walked with me today. He's in the area for an upcoming Rovers Crew work week.

BONUS SECTION: Superior Falls

I'm not sure why Bill and I didn't go here the other day when we went to the western point of Michigan. This is another trail from the same parking lot. Superior Falls is where the Montreal River falls down the last cliff to reach Lake Superior. You can see a dam and power station in the distance in the photo. This dams the area spanned by the bridge where I'm standing on Thursday. I don't know if eventually the trail will be able to wander down past the falls.

One really intersting thing about this is that Sue went there in the morning after dropping me off. It rained all afternoon and part of the night here yesterday. But apparently all that water had not yet drained down through the watershed. Her pictures clearly show much less water going over the falls. But by mid-afternoon, the falls was roaring. That's quite a time lag.

Miles today: 15.3. Total miles so far: 3977.6.

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