I’m not entirely sure how it happened, but I ended up with an unhiked 4.5 mile long section of the North Country Trail in the Manistee National Forest, between Nichols Lake and Pierce Drive. I think I went on two separate backpacking trips in different years, planned by different people, and this little section just happened to not be included in either trip. I really like seeing the lines connect on my Gaia recording, and this stretch would connect from Brevort Lake in the U.P. to Croton Dam near Newaygo in the Lower Peninsula, almost 400 miles of contiguous trail hiked. So with that in mind, I’ve been looking for an opportunity to fill that gap, since it’s about a two and a half hour drive from my house, which violates my “time on trail must be greater than time spent in car” rule.
The gap between the red line and the orange is the section we skied.
Two of my high school girlfriends suggested a December weekend get together, and proposed that Muskegon would be a good meeting place since I’m in northern lower Michigan, one is in Chicago, and the other is in the middle. The drive down would practically pass right by where I needed to hike, so that would be convenient. There were two factors I had to figure out, though: weather, and spotting a car. I figured that since our weekend was in early December, there probably wouldn’t be much snow (spoiler alert: a Thanksgiving weekend blizzard made a joke of that assumption), and I could probably find a friend to hike with me to keep me company and help with car staging.
My buddy David responded positively to my invitation to hike this section, and as the date grew near, we discussed logistics. Since David had an appointment in Newaygo the day before our hike, he scouted out our trailhead and reported back that the trail looked like it had a good six inches of snow, and since it was a relatively flat section, suggested that crosscountry skis might be an efficient option. I hadn’t gotten my skis out yet this year, but decided to be brave and go for it. Given that David has done ski patrol for the Birkie crosscountry ski race in Hayward, Wisconsin for more than 30 years, I figured I’d be in good hands.
When we arrived at our destination we found the parking area for the Nichols Lake campground gated for the winter, and investigated the boat launch as a potential parking area. But it was not plowed, and since we did not want to block the launch or get stuck in the snow outside of the tracks on the road, we decided to park up by the gate to the campground, which left my car about a ¼ mile from where my previous hike had ended. After loading my skis and gear into David’s Subaru, we headed off to Pierce Drive to begin our hike.
As I clipped into my ski bindings and looked down the trail, I could see snow dolloped on the tree branches, especially the pines, bending the branches low. Down the path, it looked a bit like a tunnel. An ATV had been down the path, so the snow was packed and the going was easy. It was about 20 degrees out, and the snow was crisp. Ideal conditions.
Less than a quarter mile down the trail, the ATV tracks veered away, and David was left breaking trail, although the deer and other creatures had packed it down a little. We encountered our first tree blocking the trail shortly after. It was bent down by the weight of the snow to the degree that its trunk had bent into a C-shape, and its top was frozen to the ground. David tapped it with his ski poles and it popped back up enough that we could pass underneath. A little further down the trail, a clump of trees were frozen over, blocking the trail, forming enough of an obstacle that the easier option was to ski around it, finding a trail through the brush. Not too long after that, we came upon our first bridge. There was a short, steep hill down to the bridge, and a couple stairs leading up to it, so I decided to take off my skis and walk it. We enjoyed the view of the snow-laden trees forming an arc over the river, and the rocks in the stream wearing giant caps of snow. Shortly after putting our skis back on, we encountered another obstacle of knocked over trees–this was beginning to be a trend.
After finding our way around this particular obstacle, we encountered a half mile or so of unobstructed trail–maybe a small sapling or something to knock out of the way, but no major barriers. We picked up our pace, and it felt like we were making good time. It felt good to be back on my skis, but I also wondered if I was crazy to attempt this when I normally ski shorter loops at my local nature preserve, and usually just go a couple of miles.
Our afternoon continued with stretches of unencumbered trail followed by brushy sections where the branches and trunks of white pines blocked the trail, and large shrubs that David later identified as witch hazel bent all over the trail. It was a very gray day, and it felt like darkness was encroaching even though it was only early afternoon. We saw many animal tracks, but the only wildlife we saw were a few crows and ravens. I tried not to think about our pace–we were only skiing 4.5 miles, and since we’d begun well before noon, I knew we’d finish before dark even if we were traveling at a snail’s pace (which we weren’t, but it felt like it sometimes when battling the shrubs and trees.)
A while after we had crossed the third bridge that was on our path, I began to hear road noise, and I knew we must be nearing 11 Mile Road, which was close to where my car was parked. It was encouraging to know that we had accomplished most of our goal, even though I knew I needed to follow the NCT beyond where my car was parked, down closer to the boat launch, in order to connect my previously recorded tracks to today’s hike. Feeling a hotspot on his foot, David opted to head to my car for the last tiny bit, and that was when I encountered my first other humans on the trail, a couple of guys out snowshoeing. After chatting with them for a few seconds, I continued on my way, relishing the packed down snow on the path they had trodden. Before long, the spur trail the boat launch was visible. I checked my recording, and I had indeed connected my previous hikes to what we had skied today, so I skied to the boat launch, took a few quick pictures, and headed up the road to my car, which was nice and warm by the time I arrived.
On our way back to his car, David and I discussed whether the skis had been a help or a hindrance, compared to wearing snow shoes or just hiking in boots. The snow was definitely deep enough that hiking would have been a real workout. Snowshoes would have worked well, too, but the trees in the way still would have presented a challenge. We felt like there were enough areas where we could move freely on the skis that we probably made better time on them than we would have without them, even though bushwhacking around the obstacles was challenging with skis on. Overall, it was another good adventure, and it made me feel more confident in taking on longer paths the next time I set out for the nature preserve with my skis!
Exploring Michigan and other cool places 