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Manistee River Trail / North Country Trail Loop
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2004-07-26 06:16:00.0 /
With a weekend full of beautiful vistas of the Michigan country side filled with tall lush trees that seemed to sweep on endlessly topped with amazing views of the bending Manistee River... oh what a weekend it was.
I headed out last Friday (July 23, 2004) with some friends from town on a three day trek on the Manistee River Trail / North Country Trail Loop [pdf] in the North Eastern part of lower Michigan. What an amazing time.
To start, this was my first overnight / multi-day backpacking trip. I have done some nice day hikes before but there is nothing like camping in the middle of no where and enjoying the wonder of God's creation. I spent a few days before packing what I 'thought' I needed and preparing meals/snacks for the trail. After all was packed (including 4 liters of water) the pack as at 35 lbs. Not bad, but now I understand what triming a few pounds can do to the overall hike.
Day 1:
We headed out late on Friday from the Seaton Creek Campground and headed from North to South on the NCT. After a 8 mile trek we made camp for the night around 21:00 (still an amazing amount of daylight). Mmmm... the joys of freeze dried meals from a pouch. Had to carry extra water this section of the hike since we won't have access to water until tomorrow mid-day.
Day 2:
Up early the next morning (08:00) for a breakfast of instant oatmeal and coffee... so I carried a little extra weight to bring along the French Press and grounds but I like coffee. Off down the back side of the NCT to the Red Bridge access point and cross over on the connector trail to the Manistee River Trail. Lunch time around 11:00 with a few handfuls of GORP and some beef jerky. Time to fill up on some water, no need to carry extra now since we have access to water sources where we can filter what we need. Back on the trail for a three hour trek into a camp site somewhere between sites 7 and 6, we called it 6.5. That bring us up to 9 miles for the day and it is only 15:00. What a site, right on the bend in a river w/ a low point so we had access to the water for a dip and some fishing. We all sat around and did a little relaxing, fishing, wading, napping, and playing Eucher. Scott and I won the best two out of three rounds, thanks Scott. The late evening came with a little campfire and some frisbee (okay, maybe this was some extra weight that was not needed). They day was filled with wonderful view of the hardwoods and pines on the decent from the ridge followed by sweeping views of the river the second half of the day... it was a good day.
Day 3:
Up late today (08:30) and time for breakfast and packing up the site. Off on the trail for a short hike (5 miles) back to the Jeep and the on to home. This short hike was when we encountered the majority of the people, a mix of day hikers on the short side of the loop and some heading in the opposite direction as us. I would like to add that I feel if you are going to do this loop, make the NCT side your first day(s), it has the harder terrain so it nice to have fresher legs on that side. More sweeping view of the Manistee river as it would bend in and out of the trail. Right as I hit the end of my water supply I was 1.3 miles from the end so I just kept up the trek w/ the knowledge that there was some wonderful ice cold well water waiting at the end for me... I figure I finished up the last 1.3 miles at a pace of about 4 miles and hour.
Victory
Well we all made it back successfully w/ a couple blisters here and there and some sore muscles... but were all ready to do it again. Time to find another free weekend and this time bring along my wife and dog. As I described the views to my wife when I got back she asked if I had taken a camera with... of course I had not. I mean come on, my extra weight was in the java press and the frisbee :)
Well until my next adventure, trek safe and if you are coming to Mid-Michigan let me know and we will see if we can trek together.
For what it's worth.
P.S. Special thanks to Dave, Dan, and Scott for a wonderful weekend of treking.
Links to other sites about the Manistee River Trail / North Country Trail Loop:
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