Manistee River 2009

Hiked the Manistee River Trail Loop this past weekend, Thursday through Saturday. Perfect weather on Thursday and Friday and a nice cool wet hike out on Saturday. Ran into one group of young hikers on Thursday who had gathered a grocery bag full of mushrooms. They stopped and asked us if they were morel mushrooms. We had to disappoint them and inform them that they might die if they ate the mushrooms. They were not morels. They were the only people we saw on the first day. But on Friday we ran into at least four different groups of backpackers. The trails were in excellent shape, both the Manistee River Trail and the NCT.

This is by far the best hiking in the Lower Peninsula and one of the best in all of Michigan.

Borgess Run

Ran my first 5k yesterday, the Borgess Run for the Health of it 5k. finished 28th in my age group out of 78 with a time of 25:18 which is way better than I expected. I am not a runner by nature, so I was quite happy with that time. It also leaves a lot of room for improvement. Next weekend is the Triple Creek dash 5k. My goal will be to at least do as well as the Borgess Run.

counting down

Starting the planning phase for the first overnight of the year. It will be sometime in first two weeks of May. I will be hiking the Manistee River Trail Loop. Technically it is probably a two day one night hike but we will make it a three day two night ordeal. I will try to update as the hike draws nearer.

STOP SNOWING!!!

I can't believe how much snow we got overnight. We went from no snow on Thursday to a couple of inches by Saturday and then to this by Sunday morning.
Now there is only two weeks to get rid of the snow by the Marchmadness sprint adventure race.

Marchmadness Sprint Adventure Race

I lied "Death March on the NCT" has been put on hold. I am currently getting ready for my first adventure race. It is a 4-6 hour sprint race at the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, near Waterford, MI, on March 7th 2009. I will be racing with a guy (Tony) I went to high school with, and have seen only about 3 times in the last 14 years. But the last time I saw him the subject of adventure racing somehow came up, and it turned out we both had been following sport. The race is being put on by Infiterra Sports, so check them out. As of the last time I checked there are 64 teams participating. If all goes well at this race my hope is to start doing more throughout the summer. I will try to update before the race, or at least after to post my experience.

A Brief Explanation

A brief explanation about my backpacking experience. My plans for backpacking began in high school but didn't materialize until the end of my freshman year in college about 13 years ago, it think. I continued to backpack for a few more years until I took my girlfriend (now wife) on her first and only backpacking experience. She swears she will never go again. After that trip with work and a family there just wasn't time or money to do much on my own. Then in 2003 I decided I needed to get back to the woods, so I planned a solo trip to North Carolina to climb Cold Mountain before the movie came out and ruined the are with too many people. In the process of planning the trip a colleague at work volunteered himself to join me on the trip. Ever since that first trip and since my wife and family have no interest in joining me (with the recent exception of my son, but those are still limited short trips) this colleague (his name is Gustavo who is from Guatemala) has been a part of all but one of my misadventures. All of my trips to date have been either in Michigan or North Carolina, mostly for reasons of convenience, which I will detail later. I am hoping to expand my geographical horizons eventually but as I said it is usually a matter of convenience.

Coming next: Labor Day Death March on the NCT

Top Hiking Trails in Michigan According to Me

These are my top hiking trials or places to hike in Michigan. Of course they are the places I have hiked in Michigan. I will be more elaborate in my descriptions as I write on each trail or place individually.

1. Isle Royale - So far my all time favorite place to Backpack, falling asleep hearing the loons and maybe a wolf howl is just my idea of a perfect place. The campsites are fantastic with great scenery whether you are in the interior of the island or on the coast. For being one of the least visited national parks in the country, the size of the island can make it seem rather crowded at the wrong time of the year. By crowded I mean you will probably run into a half a dozen people throughout the day maybe a few more the closer you are to Rock Harbor or Windigo.
   
2. Porcupine Mountains - Haven't been there in a while but was the place of my first successful trip, and first and only encounter with a black bear.
3. Manistee River Trail Loop (NCT) - I rank this loop rather high because it was a nice relaxing trail, supprisingly not very crowded, a great fly fishing river and a supposed waterfall, which if what I saw was the waterfall my definition of a waterfall is way off. all I saw was a trickle coming out of the side of the river bank, but I guess in the L.P. that qualifies as a waterfall.
   
4. NCT U.P. - Parts of this trail was not very well maintained, really had the feeling of being out in the wilderness. At times the trail disappeared underneath the thick underbrush, Lots of wild blueberries along trail Labor day weekend. Hiked North to South from where trial leaves Lake Superior headed toward St. Ignace but didn't make it that far.
   
5. High Country Pathway - Nice easy hiking spot, Chance to see wild Elk
   
6. North Manitou Island - This was my second ever backpacking trip and my second unsuccessful backpacking trip. Definitely worth a second chance, probably would rank higher if I were to go back again. Which I will do some day
   
7. Wateroo-Pinckney State Park - This is a nice easy hike, terrain is fairly easy, there is a sign on the trail in one sections warning backpackers to stay on trail entering prison area. Could hear prisoners do exercises or something. No backcountry camping here, must stay at one of I think 3 large campgrounds, oh well.