Michigan Hikers

“It's a nice hike but not a lot of distance. The beauty of nordhouse is camping on the dunes right off of Lake MI. You can hike in on a Friday evening about 3 miles, camp Sat and Sun on the dunes (or there's a campsite on a small lake if you feel the need to move) and Hike out Sunday leaving plenty of time to beat wknd traffic. The loop is only about 6.5-7.5 miles if I remember correctly.

My first trip was at Nordhouse. Wear gaitors for the sand!”

“I would guess two or three hours from K-zoo.

Ludington SP allows for additional hiking distance. I'd guess that there are 10 or 15 miles of trail in Ludington. You could create a route up to the wilderness through the SP.

It's beautiful.”

“great info. anyone up for a trip on the weekend of sept 10??”

“Won't be around. :-(
It should be a good weekend for it though, being after labor day and all.”

“You might want to concider that it is Labor Day weekend....the place could be packed and the experiance affected. Just IMHO....”

“You're absolutely right about labor day weekend Q. I was there for one a couple years ago and it was crawling with people. But the 10th is the weekend following the holiday. Kids will be back in school. Should be ok.”

“Thought I'd bring this thread back up and see what others are doing around Michigan in the next month or so... :-)”

“Pink - a trip up to the UP in Oct. email me for details....”

“Going on a photo trip with my class. I think its Picture Rocks, its in the up sounds really fun”

“laqtis... I'll see if I can send you a note! It will depend upon when it is... (just started back work after 3 months off--not much vacation time!)

Photoguy--when are you going to pictured rocks?”

“way to bring it back! i kinda gave up on this thread. I am going to Sleeping Bear dunes on Oct 8th. should be a schweet trip.”

“Now Sleeping bear-- that might be doable! :-)

Where are you hiking? I love that area!”

“Pink - there are a few of us from the "other side" doing the MRT/NCT loop the weekend of 10/16-17....shoot me an email if you're interested :)”

“UP - I just did this trail this past weekend and it was fannnnntasstticccc! Beeee U Tee Full weather! Found some new spots to stay at, too! I love that system. It's a real goot time!”

“I think I'm spending more time up nort' than down here in Ohio. I'm headin' up there like 3-4 times in the next month or two.

BRING ON THE COLD!”

“"Pink - there are a few of us from the "other side" doing the MRT/NCT loop the weekend of 10/16-17....shoot me an email if you're interested :)"

Pardon my ignorance, what is "MRT/NCT"? and where is the trail located?”

“Manistee River Trail ans North Country Trail. The MRT, a section of the NCT, and a connector trail make a nice 20 mile weekend loop. Near Mesick, Mi.”

“Its a nice hike, in the fall it would be beautiful!”

“You have mail”

“pink - scroll down on TT. There's a Manistee River trip report that I posted this morning. It includes pics. Nice place.”

“UPLover,can i get in on that trip?

and pink, I am not sure exactly where we're hiking but i can let you know when i find out.”

“Hey masher, check out the below address.

http://forums.backpacker.com/thread.jspa?threadID=48192&tstart=0

That will get you to the forum for the trip UP is talking about.”

“WK - Email right back at ya.”

“Q - Back at ya dude!”

“I emailed you a note :-P

BTW-- do you think this is a good trail for relative "newbies"? :-)
Do you have to get a "dispersed camping" (i.e. back country) permit for the camping?”

“PB - I hike this trail my very first time out bping. Granted,I was really over loaded, but I thought it sucked. I would suggest that if you do this trail, try and hike it from the *top, down*. Start off at either the damn or Seaton Creek CP and head south on the NCT side first then up the MRT sie second. Reason - well, the elevation isn't as *bad* going this way. Heading south first, you are starting *high and working low*, if that makes sence. The first time i hiked it, I went from Red Bridge north on the NCT side first and it about killed me. Reason - well, there isn't any water up on that side until you get to Eddington Creek, which is about 3/4 of the way up the NCT side, if not a little more, so if you plan on staying on this side, and you'll porrly will, you have to load up on water at Red Bridge and carry it all the way to the campsite. Also, the connector heading from Red Bridge gives you a little false impression, because at first, you think *no problem* as it is real flat. Then, as you near cloaser to the NCT, the trail does get pretty steep. Then once on the NCT, it's up and up, with very little down, all the way to about the Fire Tower.

If this is your first time and you hike from Red Bridge north up the NCT side first, I would make sure you pack light, take breaks and most importantly, take yer time. Check out the Wes Boyd Trail description on the NCTA website for more details. Note that he talks about it hiking from top to bottom, so you'll have to reverse his info if you go from Red Bridge north.

http://www.northcountrytrail.org/explore/guide/e4.htm”

“Sounds like there is a lot of elevation gain?

Well, 1 thing for sure, we won't do what we did in Alaska and carry 4-1/2 gallons (plus 6 liters in our hydration packs) of water with us... That nearly did us in! :-P

We weighed our backpacks over the weekend. I think I hiked with about 40 lbs of stuff, and my hubby had maybe 45-50 lbs of stuff (PLUS we had our gallons of water--so actually, much more weight on top of the initial 40!)
He carried the food, bear can and most of the water... :-)

Of course, I can probably lighten my load by about 10 lbs by leaving some of the clothing and my big camera lens at home (only bring my small 50mm lens & camera) Drawback to that is that I can't get my "wildlife shots" but then again, I won't feel like a pack mule either.

We are doing some very short dayhikes (walks, really--about 3-5 miles on relatively flat terrain) with about 20-25 lbs in our packs to help us get more adjusted to carrying a load on our backs. Plan to do that a few times a week to strengthen our legs and build up our aerobic capacity.

If we decide to go on this hike, I'll post and see if we can get an idea of what other people bring along to see what we can trim off of our pack weight!”

“Pink - you start off at Red Bridge at around 630 something and end up at Red Bridge Overlook at about 1,200/1,300 or so. Granted, that elevation measure is at the peak of the over look (and the trail actually goes in fornt of it about 30 feet down from it). On paper, it's not that bad, it's juswt a little bummer when ya climb up the connector and you see the trail still tailing upwards. You'll make it as long as you take yer time. You know, you could always go up there, camp/stay at Seaton Creek and day hike that part (and the rest of it) to see what it's like. That way you could judge for yerself and make a first hand decision!”

“Well, when we were in Alaska, we made a 7mile hike with a 2400' elevation gain-- Boy was that tough!!! plus lots of rocks and stuff... But that was only a day hike, so we left most of our stuff in our tent--I also gave in and left my big camera lens behind...just brought our day packs, some snacks and 3 liters of water and my hiking stick. The other places we hiked were up and down hills, don't know what the elevation gains for those areas were--I do know, however that going uphill really sucked with our big backpacks! :-)
We're trying to learn to lighten our loads a bit--it is sounding more and more like we won't make it to the TC4, so I'm thinking this might be a great hike to meet some of the local TTers and to learn some new things!”

“I'm Leaving for Picture Rocks this thursday. :)”

“Have a blast, photo! Please give us a report when you return. I'm excited to hear what stage the colors might be at.

Pink - have you used trekking poles? I have found them to be very handy with a big load.”

“You are so lucky-- Pictured rocks is a beautiful place to be! We'll look forward to your pix!

Laqtis--I have a single trekking pole. Was very helpful, as I had injured my knee earlier this summer. Might look into the double poles down the road... :-)”

“What, you guys aren't planning the 126.2 miles NCT thru-hike over a weekend? LOL!

(Thanks for the NCT link, laqtis!)

The AK hike pink mentioned was Exit Glacier to Harding Icefield: every time we approached a ridge I thought "this is it!", only to come to the top and see the trail continue up up up the entire 3.5 miles (one-way). At least on the way down we were entertained by some goats not far (50 ft) off-trail.

As Samwise Gamgee would say, we need to "lighten the load" of our packs. (As pink mentioned, she's picking up tips on other threads.) My contribution to "share the burden" is to carry the One Trowel!

Looking forward to NCT/MRT and meeting people that know what they're doing! Yay!

And the true test of any trail (from my newbievision) is not the steepness, not the lack of water, but just how difficult it is to go off-trail and dig a 6-inch hole in the ground in record time! (Any trouble with poison ivy on NCT/MRT?)”

“You shouldn't have any trouble with poison ivy on the trail. The trail is well used so there is very little vegetation encroaching on the path. Off trail you are as likely as anywhere else in Michigan to find the evil weed(but none was noted).

Have a good hike you will enjoy the trail”

“bumping this back up--
I was wondering if there were any good books on Michigan Hiking that anyone could recommend-- looked at a few at REI & EMS....
We found a really big blue book (about an inch thick) on hiking trails in Michigan. Was wondering if anyone has used this book or if there are others that would be more useful.

Also, does anyone have the National Geographic Topo maps software? If so, what do you think of it? Does it seem very useful and do you have the U.S. or Michigan Version?

Thanks!

We're looking forward to next weekend's hike!”

“Hey, Pink! Yes, the Trail Atlas is a great book. That is the really big blue book. It has some great info in it.”

“I have the Michigan - National Geographic Topo which is nice for finding back roads or plotting out your route and getting an elevation profile. But I wouldn’t rely on it for finding trails or anything like that. If you have a good trail map then you could draw your own route into the software and print out your own pretty maps but other then that it is just another play toy.
And I second the Trail Atlas(Big Blue Book) coment is is a good book for use with a variety of sports and is very popular.”

“Cool-- I saw another one (Hike Michigan or 50 Hikes in Michigan-- I don't remember exactly)... was wondering if they were any good?

The trail atlas looked like a good resource....

disappointed to hear that you don't like the Nat'l Geographic Topo... we were thinking of buying it (especially since I just scored a good find on the waterproof papers for making the maps... Why don't you like it? is it not detailed enought? Do you know of other good software to check out?”

“The Trail Atlas is fairly good, depending on the trail, IMHO. Some of them are too small scale to see any good drop off points, two tracks, etc. I like to use it as a general reference book, but rememeber, all maps are biased (imperfect). Always double check information against other maps if you can. The NCT has decent maps you can get from them for thier trail. Sometimes it takes a little hunting to get the good maps.

Don't worry, by this time next year, you will have a "map area". LOL!”

“?? Map Area? :-)

I hope that by this time next year, Think & I will have logged many miles with our hiking boots! :-)

We are trying to get out at least once a week for a day hike or 2, and hopefully more. We'd like to be ready and fit to go to Glacier next year for another adventure.... We also have yet to hike Isle Royale... that looks like a cool place to go (if I can stand the boat ride over.)”

“Pink, the trail atlas is the best resource for mIchigan trails. It generally has phone numbers listed for each trail that will get you a ranger who can mail you better maps, driving directions, info on camping and trail difficulty.
The National Geographic program is cool, there is a site that has trails you can download to go over the topo maps. FYI, if the waterproof paper gets rumpled or ripped a bit it loses it's water proofness and the ink runs. I'd use a mapcase still.
The fifty hikes in MI book is okay, nothing great really.”

“Do you have a link to the site with the trails?

Sorry Think & I missed you and Birch... hopefully, we can get together soon! Think's supposed to write up the TR, I'm still working on the pix... :-)”

“An awesome book on the UP is Mary Hunt's Guide to the Upper Peninsula. If your bookstore doesn't have it in stock, they probably will not be able to get it for a while. From what I understand, the publisher has run out, but a new version will be released in December. It covers everything in the UP: parks, trails, places of interest, restaurants, etc. I found a copy at my library and kept renewing it over and over until they finally made me bring it back.”

“Pinkbubelz, Sorry I gave you the wrong impression on the National Geographic Topo Software. I love the software and think that it is great software to play with. But from a practical standpoint it just isn't as useful from a backpacking prospective(assuming you want to hike marked trails) just because it isn't garneted to list current or new Hiking trails which is a limitation of all this type software. That doesn't mean that you can't update it yourself and plot out new route or verify old routes as you find them and make notes of good camping location etc. The topography will still stay the same even it the trails change.
Don't let me talk you out of buying any new toys!!!”

“aha! :-)
Thanks for the update... We wanted to check it out for the topography aspect. If we can actually figure out how to update and plot new routes, that would be a bonus. :-)”

“The mountain bikers have a great trail review page that covers many southern Michigan trails.

www.mtbr.com/trails/

The DNR has online maps of all state game and wildlife areas.

www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370-31657--,00.html

"Natural Michigan" is a good book by Tom Powers that covers local parks and nature preserves. It doesn't have maps, but it does have contact info and direction.

The Michigan Travel Bureau has a good site for local parks.

www.michigan.gov/emi/0,1303,7-102-113_124_134---CI,00.html

Jim DuFresne and Tom Powers both have good state park books. DuFresne also has written the definitive books on the Porcupine Mountains and Isle Royale.

There is a good site for area kayaking.

www.kayakplace.com

The Delorme atlas is the standard because it uses the same quad system as the Trail Atlas. The Trail atlas is the bible.

Also, local plat books always have weird and wild hiking opportunities.”

“Adding new routes is surprisingly easy, you just need a steady mouse hand so that your route doesn’t go all over the map!! The Topography is quite accurate, so enjoy.”

“Just a little more on that last point. Two years ago, Ypsilanti Township purchased a place called Hewen's Creek Park. It's only about 200 acres, but there is a proposed trail system of 10 to 15 miles planned. It's a place that will not show up in the books, but it will make for a great day hike when it's done.

The great thing is that these kinds of projects have been multiplying at a great rate lately. There are many great dayhikes that you'll just have to keep you eyes out for.”

“very cool!

how many of you are going up to the NCT next weekend?”

“if it weren't for the long hunting season starting - I wouldn't mind getting lost in the woods of Michigan again. Such fond memories of the small stocked lakes. I've been gone 10 years, alas, I don't even know if Houghton and Higgins are commercialized? Can you still rent a rowboat and fish for blue-gill? Please tell me my youth place is still intact! I would love to go cross-country skiing and ice fishing for walleye again.”