MRT Trip

“Hi,

I took my daughter on her first backpacking trip a few weeks ago. I chose the MRT because of its beauty, easy access, and minimal difficulty. I wanted her first experience to be a fun one so she would consider going on other trips with me.

We started out at the Red Bridge TH and hiked north on the east side of the river. We took our time and enjoyed the views. We hiked only 6 miles the first day stopping periodically to look at wildlife and the views. We made camp early afternoon and just lounged around soaking up the sun. Soon after dinner as we watched the sunset a Bald Eagle few towards us as it follow the river. It came within 25 yards of us. What a beautiful sight. It was my daughter's first Bald Eagle sighting in the wild. She thought it was great.

The next morning we hiked to the falls and back to where we camped the night before. We had originally planned on staying a second night but after we had lunch and I could tell she was starting to get a little bored. So I told her if she wanted we could hike out that day and make it back home in time to catch the last showing of the new Harry Potter movie. Needless to say she perked right up and we made it back home in time to catch the 9 PM movie.

On our way home, she thanked me for taking her and said she'd like to go on another trip.

For pictures, see the link below.

http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=viewall&albumID=158523959”

“your link doesn't work, TS.”

“here you go!

Nice pictures Tripleshot. How old is your daughter? Very cool that you're getting her out there.”

“nice pics TS. what kinda pack does your daughter have?”

“nice, where is MTR? state?”

“Sass...thanks for fixing the link. My daughter is thirteen turning fourteen later this summer.

Helinka...she has an older model Osprey. I got it from a lady who said she no longer had time to backpack. Can you imagine that, no longer wanting to take the time to backpack?

Sorry ice tea...the MRT (Manistee River Trail) is in Michigan about mid-way up on the lower pennisula's west side.”

“Where are you in Michigan TS? There's lots of us from your area.

Welcome!”

“I bet its a great feeling to have a son/daughter want to camp with you. Glad it worked for you.”

“Cool! I take my kids along a lot too, the boy 12 takes to it better than the girl, but she's 10 adn starting to come around more and more each trip.”

“where was that bridge located ? - I don't remember it from a couple years ago when I did the NCT/MRT loop between Red Bridge and the Little Mac bridge.”

“Red Bridge is just off the dirt road HOI. As you cross over to the NCT. Lots of paddlers put in there. I'm not sure we actually went by it on that trip. It's been a while”

“dirt road ??? Red Bridge is where Coates Highway crosses the Manistee with a good sized parking area on the west side but Coates Highway is paved and not dirt. Looking at the maps I can see where the bridge in the pictures is located but for the life of me I don't remember crossing it or seeing any water fall for that matter - there was a sort of bog bridge in the general area that I do remember however. There is a dirt road (Slagle Rd. ???) that appears to come close to this log bridge.

Oh well I guess I just don't remember it - sigh.”

“You're right, it's paved. ooops”

“Hog On Ice...the bridge is located just north of the S. Slagle Rd parking area and the water falls are about 3 miles south of the Seaton Creek TH”