Friday's wood shuffle to the NCT

On Friday a crew gathered to shuttle wood the last mile to the meadow where a board walk is needed.

The crew gathers at the parking lot on S. Laird road, at FR 1360.

Dean brought the much needed ATV and trailer to move
materials out with.  I've worked with him on the NCT before!

Smart talk before we start in, heading down the 2-track in
towards the dam.

This was after the 1st load was in.
Wood was strapped to wheelbarrows for the last 300ft trip to the meadow.

Scott hauls 8ft lumber in.
We decided the wheelbarrow wasn't needed for the long boards.

The job site.
Me and my crew were here a month ago and whacked the weeds down.

Another load arrives!  Dean did about 5 trips in over the last mile.

Taking the straps off.

Our foreman, Doug, kept us organized.

Some friendly hikers came by!  I love them!  They are from down state.

The are day-hiking our chapter's sections.

We got things ready to be assembled together into a grand board walk.

In the afternoon, Dean and Scott headed back.  Thanks guys!!

The rest of the crew finished up organizing the materials.

Lunch time.  What a lovely day to be working in the woods.

Jim, those snacks smell awfully tasty.

Hopefully we'll be back next weekend or soon after that,
to build the board walk.

We hike out.
This is another RR logging trail made for a narrow grade RR.

Lock trouble!  We can't get it properly lined up and relocked.

Plus, it's drizzling again.

What a fantastic day!
We hope you can join us for the grand adventure of building the board walk!
We'll send out announcements, so you can mark your calendar.

Church and CR hikes.

It got warm out today and us winter mutts sure don't appreciate the heat.  Good news is we did make it to church and in the afternoon, we did a hike in Churning Rapids.  On a sad note, I heard that one of my followers who lives downstate was in town.  Gee, I can't believe Gregg didn't stop by to see me!

You know I love to go to church!

Oh, good - right off I got Danielle to rub me.

Hey! Aren't those kids going to come over and say hi to me??!!

Oh ya Scarlett.  I do love you.

That looks fun Max. I do love to chase balloons!

Oh, me and Vanessa are good friends. I love her!
Can you believe she used to be afraid of me!  I was afraid that she'd not rub me some.
Do you know I don't get any affection in my life?

Later, we parked on High Point Rd and hiked in on the Villi Maki trail.

I'm so glad we cleared this!

They thought it would be fun to try and set up their new rain tarp
down by the creek.

We all lounged in the shade.

It was almost 90 today so we needed the shade.

I spied some interesting fungus.

 

And some tree fairies!  Are they kids?

As always, I recommend Spring Creek for all your drinking and cooling needs.

I'm so glad it's fall, even if it didn't feel like it today.

NCT Sunday adventures

Me and my pack hadn't done a serious hike since getting home, so on Sunday, we got out for three little ones. We visited Silver Mountain for the first time in 8 years, and then an area of the North Country Trail which we were on last summer.

First stop was Silver Mountain, just west of Baraga.
This is not part of the NCT.

Says, the fire tower was placed by the CCC in the 1930's, and taken
down in 1971. Silver mining was attempted here in the 1840's.

This was short hike that circumnavigated the mountain,
then went over its top.

Ya, some big old hemlocks found here.

On its top we found these scratches.  Who made them, a BIG dog?
Maybe some thick ice going past.

Good views up here.

Next stop - the NCT, going west off of FR 2270.

 

Ya, sure is a big, green, mossy one we found here.

The seasonal streams still have water.

Maybe we can come back with the whackers!

This is Silver River. We couldn't cross this last summer.

Hey! Maybe there is a goodie in there for me.

The slugs were feasting on this mushroom.

Boulder Creek...we crossed this over a fallen tree last year.

Peek-a-boo!   I'm in the thimbleberries at the bottom.

Starting to look like fall.

Hey!
We found an old potty at the parking area at the bend in S. Laird Rd.

This was our western turn-around point.

They stopped for tea on the way back.

I hunted for something more interesting.

The handy-dandy pop can stove does it again.

We noticed the water flow under the fallen tree. Artsy!

Since I recommended Silver River water, Sandy thought she'd filter some.

I wonder if she needs help? I love to help!

I shook off, to share some of the river. You're welcome!

Just like being in the rain forest.

Such a pretty trail.

Let's go a little farther.

We headed down to the Sturgeon.

Down at the road, near the river.
We had such a nice hike here today!