Our hike started off on Friday evening. We parked at the Old 131 campground/trail head. The map says there is a fee but I did not see anything to indicate a fee was needed to park at the trail head. The campground does require a fee. We quickly departed to the east along the river. Almost immediately we were treated to some spectacular views of the river. Fresh paint on the blazes and benches for sitting to admire the views were nicely positioned. 20140613_181143.jpg
The trail takes you underneath 131 which for some reason I got a real kick out of. I have driven this road numerous times and had no idea the path was there. The signs for the trail are helpful and amusing if you read all the way down them.
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We walked through the 131 roadside park and I was pleased to find the path very well marked along the sidewalk around the parking lot. The entirety of the trail is well marked and the only directional issue we had was finding the water pump at spring lake campground. I asked a nice couple that were hanging out by their RV if they knew where the pump was and they directed us in the right direction.
Back to night one! Finding a camp was a bit hard. The brush is pretty thick and me and my buddy brandon and I don't like to wreck the forest to make a camp. We had already made it to fife lake creek and the elevation was a bit high to get down to the creek. As normal for Michigan this time of year the skeeters were abundant and in your face. Finding a tent / hammock friendly spot is usually easy but as I said the bush was thick either side of the trail. Luckily there are plenty of Off Road Vehicle (ORV)trails around. If you check them out some are abandoned I think or only used in the winter for snowmobiles. This was my first overnight with my new super fly and I took a bit of time with it. The ferns fought me every step of the way for control of my guy lines.20140613_203712.jpg
I was ok with the pitch abut I had a bit of a struggle with the tato connectors. I like laser tight lines and with the tato connectors you have to leave a bit of slack to get them onto the ridge line. These will require more experimentation before I give them the OK.The dutch wasp/hook worked as advertised and I am very happy with them. The temp dropped down to 36 degrees and drove off all the skeeters. The super moon was pretty cool to look at but we had to walk a way from the fire to check it out. A bit too cold to hang out and stand still looking at the moon. I slept ok but the local deer population were not happy or maybe they were ecstatic, either way they made all kinds of noise. Whatever buck that was out there snorted and crashed around for a while. I did enjoy the super moon making a light display on my tarp though. Instant taters and a awesome bread for dinner made for a nice meal.
Saturday we had awesome weather and beautiful scenery. If you are not familiar with Michigan the variety of tree species, ferns, lichen, moss, all kinds of stuff is pretty astounding.
We stopped quite a few times just to take in the wonderful scenery. I did not know that grouse made a hissing noise and charged at you but now I do. Next time I won't yell as loud or jump as high. We did find some bear scat but no sightings. The trail hits a few roads but is always well marked and easy to find the next part. We found a nice bridge along ramsey road (I think)and took a nice break.
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In the future I would plan to explore fuller lake/headquarters lake a lot more. I am pretty sure the camping around there would be awesome. A fisherlady I spoke with said she was there regularly and pulled out all kinds of fish.
From the lakes northward to Spring lake was pleasant terrain and a easy hike. Spring lake was a bit brackish near the shore but fun to wade in. I tried out the 15 minute max dry time for my pants and the parts in the sun were indeed dry before the time limit.
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I suggest you fill up every water bag you have as you will not find tasty water again till you get all the way back south. To find the pump (seasonal) if you are facing the map board with the no camping beyond this point sign on it the pump is down the road to your right.
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From the beach its a bit north of the beach and in towards the campground. People with lots of music and generators (sigh) were to be had aplenty at the campground. A kid wanted to know if we were hitchhikers or homeless or … he had lots of questions. He could not fathom why someone would strap on a pack and walk 20+ miles in the woods for fun.
The path is not 100% done as the lack of a bridge shows but the walk around was quick and easy.
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We made the transition off of the NCT to the Fife lake loop without incident. Once again, excellent markings. We stopped early enough and camped on a hill overlooking the little pond that could.
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After looking at our water situation and me dropping and killing my sawyer bag we decided to get some pond water and use that. We boiled for 10 minutes and filtered it. It still tasted like you were licking the side of a fish tank. It worked for cooking but not so tasty. It did keep us alive till we found the awesome creek just north of the old 131 campground. The view was awesome and the weather was much warmer so I went porch mode for the first time with the new tarp. Not too hard to do and I had less ferns to deal with. I tried a new pitch on the bridge hammock and I did not like it.
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I was too sleepy to get up and move the lines though. The deer again stopped by to say hi and something that sounded like Godzilla in Tokyo was messing around underneath my hammock. I threatened to eat every deer in a 12 mile radius and shooed off whatever was underneath me and finally got a few hours of rest. The birds thought that 5:30 was a very reasonable time to have a jam session and everyone is invited. The sunrise was wonderful but I would have preferred more sleep.
I love the Cherokee Cinnamon Rice. I may have eaten a bag or two while camped out at home. If oatmeal messes with you try this out instead, just filling enough and goes great with coffee. Speaking of which due to the influence of a Mr. Sean Emery I am a Medaglia D'oro convert.
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Sunday was beautiful weather again and we enjoyed the diversity of scenery that Michigan offers. The straight lines on the map are amazingly straight. Like laser straight.
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Lots of clear cutting going on but it made the path interesting. Traveling with a good buddy and just enjoying nature is a wonderful balm for the soul. I was very relaxed and having a great time and kept ignoring my hurting left foot. Well on a break I discovered my left pinky toe was getting beat to hell by my shoe and I had a huge blister going up on the inner part of my big toe. I taped up and wore my sandals for the rest of the day and had no further issues.
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I think we missed some water south of the county road but north of the road was dry or just mud. Just north of the old 131 campground are a few wonderful streams that are cold clear, and delicious. Yes that water is as amazing as it looks. We hung out here for about an hour just soaking our feet and rinsing off the best we could.
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There are camp sites there and one looked to be marked and established.
In summary this is a great loop trail and I will be back. Hats off to all of the volunteers that worked so hard to open this new trail. Brandon and I saw no other hikers on the trail the entire weekend.
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Originally Posted by adventuregirl
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