O-Kun-de-Kun falls to the Middle Branch.

On the way home from Ely, we stopped to hike from the North Country trailhead at Hwy 45 east to the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon River.  Our pack had cleared this section some years ago, and we wanted to see its current condition.  This will be a large post with many, many photos.

We stayed at a motel in Ironwood and met many, many friendly
people there.

Now at O-Kun-de-Kun falls parking lot, we finally get out!

Arly says the sign here is nearly obscured by weeds.

Oh this is nice.  New signage was recently installed here.

We head east in some wonderfully cool, fall weather. 

We met friendly people from Saginaw MI along the way.
The portion to the bridge was quite brushy.

On top of the falls, the old dog says "this sure makes me nervous!"

It's time for lunch, so why not dine here,
at the prettiest place anywhere in the UP.

After that, we head east across the Baltimore river.

Soon, we find much lop-N-drop trail clearing was done here.

And the trail very hard to follow. 

We'll need to get out here and lend a hand.

Today we found many newer nails in trees, with some ribbon tied to it.

Lotsa brush, and many down trees.

Oh dear, there's also some new wind falls.

We stepped over 30 or more, logs across the trail.

Nothing a few work bees can't fix!

We lost the trail here.

We found it on the other side of this brush.

Puppies like to leap over obstacles!

The weed whacker will restore the corridor here.

The pole saw will come in awfully handy.

Ya! We made it to the Middle Branch.

Look at those fall colors!

We hiked about 5 miles in, and now it's time to go back.

We found much, much blue tape on the ground today.
 Maybe a whole roll of it.

We made it back to the Baltimore.
We did get rained on which does not bother trail mutts.

 

What a perfect day for a hike. We'll be back for trail clearing later!