HIKES
A Biathlon Adventure on the North Country Trail By “Trail Dale” Painter
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ost of us certainly lay claim to a favorite stretch of the North Country Trail. I’ve hiked mine numerous times over the past 20+ years. In early June, as I was contemplating yet another foray onto that very familiar, 48-mile section, I wondered how I might spice up or add a new dimension to my routine trek up the impressive Manistee River Valley in Michigan’s west-central lower peninsula. Interestingly, I recalled reading a blog of two hikers who made a detour on their NCT hike along the Border Route Trail in northern Minnesota when they encountered an impassable stretch of dense underbrush and blow-downs. To salvage their hike, they spontaneously opted to rent a canoe from an outfitter at their nearby resupply stop and successfully by-passed about 30 miles of the problematic trail segment via a Boundary Waters canoe route. A light bulb suddenly flicked on in my normally landlubber-prone hiker brain: why not add a canoe leg to my early season hiking agenda? Two days later, I found myself backpacking my favorite 48 miles of Trail up-river from Red Bridge as the NCT traverses, in roller-coaster fashion, the banks and high bluffs and bottomlands along the heavily forested Manistee River. However, instead of heading back home at my normal end-point near the Old M-131 Campground, I exchanged my hiking boots and trekking poles for water shoes and a canoe paddle in order to ride my (secretly stashed) canoe back downriver for the 65-river-mile return trip to my starting point and parked vehicle. The venture offered a distinctly “bi-polar” approach for experiencing the beauty of both the Trail and the river but from two totally different visual and experiential perspectives… 22 hours of hiking followed immediately by 18 hours of canoeing. Ahhh, “variety is indeed the spice of life,” even on the NCT! By adding the canoetrail leg, I discovered a whole new realm of planning logistics, magical moments, and, yes, a few “trade-offs” unfolding before me. New Sets of Logistics: Selecting the appropriate trail/river segment to be tackled requires a bit of study and research, especially related to the river leg of the “hike.” Of course, the NCT map sets give the exact mileage and terrain for the hiking leg but I needed to check out a whole different set of maps and guides to plan and navigate the river leg. This includes factors such as river access points, on-water
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The North Star
distances and float times, potential camping spots, degree of difficulty (rapids/white water) and assessing whether I had the requisite canoeing skills to meet the river’s challenges. Fortunately, the upper Manistee River involves only strong currents and hidden snags, but no real white water, although all of the river’s twists and meanderings present real challenges knowing exactly where you are and how far you have to go! Further downstream, paddling across the expansive seven-mile-long open backwaters of Hodenpyl Dam necessitates additional decisions aimed at reducing effort and fatigue. Ideally, the long crossing needs to be carefully timed (early morning or evening is best) to avoid the usual head winds that can set up exhausting battles with the whitecaps and waves. Below the dam, the logistical challenges continue as a whole different character of the river emerges as the now-quickly flowing river stirs up exhilarating sets of rapids requiring modest river-reading and paddling skills.
