NCT Saturday hike

With moderate weather and no rain forecasted on Saturday, my pack headed out to hike a section just east of ours on Gardner RD.  A hiker we met a few weeks ago (two posts earlier) had said many trees had fallen across it so we thought we'd check that out, plus we'd not seen this section before anyway. Maybe they do need to hike more, while doing less trail work?

We parked on FR 1100.

Let's go!

There were several nice creeks on this stretch.

Oh dear, this path was mowed but
kinda narrow...I was engulfed!

There were some nice stretches of cedar and hemlock.

Ahhh, another cooling stop.

Here you can see the bank washed out a tree with an NCT marker.

Lunch!

We checked out FR 884. Today, it is actually the
trail, not a bypass, until the re-route on
 this side of the river is completed.

Someone mowed the road - THANKS!

And we seen someone along the trail! 
Oh and he was friendly too!!

Turns out Brett does contract work for the
Ottawa and knows many of our friends. 
I romped with his friendly pup some

We put up some markers on our way out, to
give hikers confidence they are on the right trail.

We did spy some trees across the trail, but not all that many.

The fungus among us.

We saw just a few paint blazes, but the
trail was very well marked with
plastic blazes of various vintage.
All in all, a great day on the trail!

cool weather = NCT clearing

Oh ya.   On Friday after Sandy got home from work....

...we packed up and headed to our favorite Gardner Rd camping spot!

It rained some over night.

We don't mind the weather if we have Nueske's bacon.

I didn't get any pancakes, but I did
get to sample some bacon.

Let's go! We hiked out on the grassy 2-track
to finish up the blazing we started last week.

Lookin' good!

I love a picnic. Arly says he remembers
 these from when he was a kid.

Hunting was good, as usual.

I picked up lots of weed seeds again.

Arly wants to make sure hikers know what trail they are on.

Finally, we relax in camp.

Adventures like this, do wear trail mutts out.

The sun peeked out in the evening, and we
had a starry sky. We didn't stay up to view any meteors.

MMM, fire roasted steak and veggies.

I'm ready to go to bed.

The next morning, we headed to the same spot, but
this time walked in on "Pattison's Road."

We saw fresh wolf scat, and this big fella's print.

This is just off the 2 track where you'd hike west
to the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon.

Who should we meet here, but Laura and Blaze. 
They were from Duluth MN, and on an
8 day adventure here.  Maybe we'll see you later!

This is looking much better,

We found a family of birds nesting right on the trail.

Could they be oven birds?

All done!  Or, at least, the gas was all gone...

We met up with Laura and Blaze again!
They'd got off the trail and wasted 1/2 the day so we gave
them a ride east a ways. But seeing them again is a cause for celebration -
a trip to The Legendary Rousseau Bar.

I've been here a few times before.
This place is trail mutt approved.

 

Have a great trip! Wish we could come too.

NCT trail clearing adventures

Over the weekend we headed west for a weekend of trail clearing adventures on the North Country Trail.
Our section is just south of Mass City.

First thing, the parking lot was whacked down to help reduce
the bug count.

Ya, I just love camping here.

Then we checked out Tank creek.
This was Friday evening, right after we got here.

This is the NCT parking lot.

We woke to a beautiful, cool, dry, sunny day.

The had blue berry pancakes. And bacon! I love bacon.

We took a new route out to the section we wanted to do today.
It was great!

Now we're on it.

Our goal was to reblaze it and check out the trail's condition.

Oh gee, Arly's getting silly with the paint.

8 hours later we're out!
This is a another logging RD we took back.

Sandy says I made a mess of my coat today.  I like getting brushed.

Why are we getting more water from the creek??

Showering!

That evening we meet a hiker!   This is Jo.  I love her.

Those guys are having salads again. Don't you even eat meat?!

Oh yes, I did smell that.

They had another nice meal with wine.

The next morning they are whacking near by Tank creek.

They reblazed it as well

 

The chipmunks here have no idea of my hunting prowess.

Did Larry leave his hatchet out here?
 I'd love to see you along to help.