2013-03-16, 08:46 PM
To kick start, I'll talk about the first backpacking trip I went on. [Edit: Chew too fast]
Back in early October, I did the 18 mile Jordan River Pathway loop. It was a gorgeous, very beginner-friendly trail about a half hour west of Gaylord, MI. I nailed color season. I mean, damn. The trees were out of control. Only problem was that is was raining for 75% of the weekend. Had to buy a decent rain coat from plantain's when I started driving to the trail on Saturday morning. Turned out to be an awesome purchase. On the plus side, I never broke a sweat in the 40ish degree weather and there were only 3 or 4 other groups doing the trail that weekend.
Day one was 8 miles down in the Jordan River valley. Rather muddy on account of the rain. This trail would be miserable in spring and early summer between the flooding and mosquitos. Definitely something to do after Labor day. Criss-crossed the river a few times and get plenty of time along the water. I describe this as being a beginner-friendly backpacking trail because there's a state-maintained walk-in campground at roughly the half way point. Fifteen sites with clean water, an outhouse, and lantern poles that most people hung their food on to keep the raccoons off. Since it had been raining, I couldn't get a fire going (probably only the 2nd or 3rd time I'd tried to start a fire since my cub scout days) and ended up hanging out with these brothers who were just camping there for the weekend. The campsite was reachable by dirt road and a short walk of a few hundred feet, so they'd walked in with a few bundles of dry firewood. One of them ended up getting high and the other got drunk, and I have a few more stories about them, if anyone's interested. Trailfolk are weird. There was a great overlook no more than a quarter mile before hiking into the campground that would've made for a great sunrise, but it was cloudy and I can't be bothered to wake up that early.
Day 2 was 10 miles of the trail and an extra 1.5 miles to get down to and back out of a trout hatchery. You cross the Jordan River for the last time almost immediately after leaving the campground, and I stopped to watch for a while while finishing my nutritious Pop-Tart breakfast and managed to spot some rather large fish chilling out. This was the more challenging stretch, bringing you up to the valley edge and going up and down all day. Michigan doesn't have very challenging elevation, but it is hilly up north and it was definitely a workout for my shifty ass. This part of the trail was totally off the river, but instead there were at least a half dozen stream crossings over the course of the day which are extremely pleasant in their own way. The highlight of the day was definitely the trout hatchery. It was a hike down the side of a road back into the valley (which made it kinda rough to hike back out of) and some football field size buildings where they raise trout to release into the Great Lakes. They just let you wander around. There weren't any baby fish in October, but it turns out they had an abnormally high number of albino trout that season in the adolescent tanks. Good spot for lunch, roughly 7-8 miles into the hike. You know you're about done when you start running into people again near Deadman's Hill.
It was a great color season weekend hike and my 2nd favorite hike that I've done in Michigan. If, for some reason, I end up getting my next job in Michigan I can see myself coming here on a regular basis.
Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=...a89403ffff
Lemme know if the link doesn't work or you suddenly know more about me than I want you to know. Don't feel like resizing all my pictures to work on imgur. First pic was my food for the weekend before I repackaged it. I don't have a decent backpacking stove yet, so I took food that didn't need heating. I had about 2 pounds of trail mix, a even combination of dark chocolate M&Ms, Craisins, peanuts, and Almonds. Turns out I don't like very many dried fruits and that bag of Sun-Maid stuff was mostly wasted. I was well satiated for one weekend between the trail mix, the turkey jerky sticks, and if I remember right, two packs of Pop-tarts and two bagels with peanut butter. Probably gained weight over the weekend. Pictures are in chronological order, so the picture of my tent and the picture of the bridge shortly after mark the day 1/day 2 boundary. The trail is part of the North Country Trail, an incomplete (some sections still require hiking along a road) megatrail that covers a 4600 mile path and will, perhaps, one day be the Midwestern equivalent of the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail. The NCT starts in New York and works its way down to Ohio and up through Michigan, ending in North Dakota. I've been on some of the other stretches in Michigan in the Manistee National Forest and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Some day, I'd like to do the Appalachian or NCT or Pacific Crest. Or all three. Who knows.
Back in early October, I did the 18 mile Jordan River Pathway loop. It was a gorgeous, very beginner-friendly trail about a half hour west of Gaylord, MI. I nailed color season. I mean, damn. The trees were out of control. Only problem was that is was raining for 75% of the weekend. Had to buy a decent rain coat from plantain's when I started driving to the trail on Saturday morning. Turned out to be an awesome purchase. On the plus side, I never broke a sweat in the 40ish degree weather and there were only 3 or 4 other groups doing the trail that weekend.
Day one was 8 miles down in the Jordan River valley. Rather muddy on account of the rain. This trail would be miserable in spring and early summer between the flooding and mosquitos. Definitely something to do after Labor day. Criss-crossed the river a few times and get plenty of time along the water. I describe this as being a beginner-friendly backpacking trail because there's a state-maintained walk-in campground at roughly the half way point. Fifteen sites with clean water, an outhouse, and lantern poles that most people hung their food on to keep the raccoons off. Since it had been raining, I couldn't get a fire going (probably only the 2nd or 3rd time I'd tried to start a fire since my cub scout days) and ended up hanging out with these brothers who were just camping there for the weekend. The campsite was reachable by dirt road and a short walk of a few hundred feet, so they'd walked in with a few bundles of dry firewood. One of them ended up getting high and the other got drunk, and I have a few more stories about them, if anyone's interested. Trailfolk are weird. There was a great overlook no more than a quarter mile before hiking into the campground that would've made for a great sunrise, but it was cloudy and I can't be bothered to wake up that early.
Day 2 was 10 miles of the trail and an extra 1.5 miles to get down to and back out of a trout hatchery. You cross the Jordan River for the last time almost immediately after leaving the campground, and I stopped to watch for a while while finishing my nutritious Pop-Tart breakfast and managed to spot some rather large fish chilling out. This was the more challenging stretch, bringing you up to the valley edge and going up and down all day. Michigan doesn't have very challenging elevation, but it is hilly up north and it was definitely a workout for my shifty ass. This part of the trail was totally off the river, but instead there were at least a half dozen stream crossings over the course of the day which are extremely pleasant in their own way. The highlight of the day was definitely the trout hatchery. It was a hike down the side of a road back into the valley (which made it kinda rough to hike back out of) and some football field size buildings where they raise trout to release into the Great Lakes. They just let you wander around. There weren't any baby fish in October, but it turns out they had an abnormally high number of albino trout that season in the adolescent tanks. Good spot for lunch, roughly 7-8 miles into the hike. You know you're about done when you start running into people again near Deadman's Hill.
It was a great color season weekend hike and my 2nd favorite hike that I've done in Michigan. If, for some reason, I end up getting my next job in Michigan I can see myself coming here on a regular basis.
Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=...a89403ffff
Lemme know if the link doesn't work or you suddenly know more about me than I want you to know. Don't feel like resizing all my pictures to work on imgur. First pic was my food for the weekend before I repackaged it. I don't have a decent backpacking stove yet, so I took food that didn't need heating. I had about 2 pounds of trail mix, a even combination of dark chocolate M&Ms, Craisins, peanuts, and Almonds. Turns out I don't like very many dried fruits and that bag of Sun-Maid stuff was mostly wasted. I was well satiated for one weekend between the trail mix, the turkey jerky sticks, and if I remember right, two packs of Pop-tarts and two bagels with peanut butter. Probably gained weight over the weekend. Pictures are in chronological order, so the picture of my tent and the picture of the bridge shortly after mark the day 1/day 2 boundary. The trail is part of the North Country Trail, an incomplete (some sections still require hiking along a road) megatrail that covers a 4600 mile path and will, perhaps, one day be the Midwestern equivalent of the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail. The NCT starts in New York and works its way down to Ohio and up through Michigan, ending in North Dakota. I've been on some of the other stretches in Michigan in the Manistee National Forest and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Some day, I'd like to do the Appalachian or NCT or Pacific Crest. Or all three. Who knows.