Memorial weekend hikes and camp.

We celebrated Memorial weekend by camping and hiking some of the North Country Trail we'd not been on before.

Wally!  Can't you see the camper is being loaded?
You best get your butt down here, or puppies be left behind!

We went to a location in the Trap Hills we'd not been to before,
near White Pine MI.
The parking lot was so overgrown, we could hardly get into it.

So the saw came out and branches came down.

An hour later, it was cleaned up some so we could back in.

It was a nice cozy spot.
The NFS road was a dead-end and just one car went by.

Not a nice large spot like we have on Gardner RD,
but nice just the same.

 

We even had a stream right next to us.

Supper was our usual camp treat - steak over the open fire.
The two legged types eat lots of salads and vegetables.

Yes supper was late...it gets dark at around 9:30 these days.

MMM camp breakfast.
We still have our bug gear on as you can see.

Camp was nestled between two peaks of the Trap Hills.

Hey! Some friendly back packers stopped in, just to see us.

Turns out they are also from Houghton.
They are on the last leg of a 4-day trip.

C'mon! Let's go already.

We headed for the junction with the Gogebic Ridge Trail, first.

Maple and thimbleberry whips are doing well in this stretch.

Oh ya Wally, we can cool down here.

Here's where the NCT meets the end of the Gogebic Ridge Trail.

More cooling stops were found.

After we crossed a stream that passed through a large culvert,
we spied this "bridge to nowhere".
Must have been moved for the culvert/road construction???

Here's where the trail meets Old M-64.

We didn't hike the Gogebic Ridge Trail here.
We took the road back to the NCT.

Trilliums are in full bloom!

Ferns are coming out as well.
Here, we're back on the NCT as you can tell by the blue blaze.

At the top of Bergland Hill, we can see the light coming through.
There are towers here.

Seems this pebble we found along the trail, fell off the hill.  It's rhyolite.

Someone has been dining on bugs, in the old log.
We had a nice 9 mile hike today.

On the drive out, we spied a stop sign with a tasty post.
Bears aren't the smartest sticks in da woods.

Gardner Road and NCT work, day II

OK here's the rest of our weekend adventures!

The sun comes up on the Gander RD camp.  It was about 37 out.

So a little fire was made.  No wind whatsoever.

Of course some good coffee was made! 
The towel is to help keep the heat in.

What a glorious morning to be out camping in.

Sandy's going to make blueberry pancakes.  hummmmmmm

Meanwhile, the puppy wanders about, smelling many things
for the 1st time.

We moseyed down to the Tank Creek bridge.
Not seen was the all the corduroy that was added here yesterday,
to help hikers get across this muddy spot.

The down stream beavers have brought the water level back up some.

Puppies who can get into trouble, need to be watched.

Wally found the most fun stick ever!

Hummmm good bacon.  No kidding, it's the stuff with flavor.

Then we went for another hike! 

This is the old trail and we'd not hiked it in a few years.
Seems it's an old logging RR grade. 
This was narrow gauge track, put in for logging.

We found a nice cooling spot!

And another. It was marsh marigold madness!

We cross a wet spot.

These poor old rotten boards are on their last leg.

This is where the NCT meets the old RR grade.

I'll get in one last roll before we leave! I recommend it.

Gardner road camp and NCT blazing.

This weekend, we headed back to Gardner road to camp and do more blazing on our section of the North Country trail.   This post will be the 1st day and night there.

Hey!  I see the camper is being loaded.
That's a good sign for trail mutts like us Wally.

If you don't stay close by Wally, you'll be left behind!

We set up camp. This such a wonderful spot.

Pretty soon it will be buggy out and camping will be less often.

See the NCT decal?

Oh no, while unloading the truck, we noted that we forgot the blazing kit!
Oh well.

Lets go for a little hike.  The blue paint, is a trail blaze.

We headed east on a rerouted section we'd not been on since it
was moved.

Now we're going along the east branch of the Ontonagon river.

A few muddy spots were crossed.

This blaze seems to be spray painted on.  Ha!

The Marsh marigolds are in there prime.

We made it about 2 miles before we turned back . 

Lots of water can be found this time of year.
Trails mutts do appreciate that!

Back at camp, we got a nice fire going right off.

We even had some "camp" wine.

Then they cooked steak.  You DO know that we like that, don't you?

After everyone had ate, then we had sprinting time around camp.

Puppy's think they are so fast! Its getting rather dark and
photos are difficult to capture.
After years of using a portable metal fire ring here,
we finally got smart and brought in some rocks.
These came from the Lake Mine poor rock pile, near Mass City.

And the sun goes down.

It was cool and little breeze blowing. The fire was sooooo nice.