Fife Lake Story II Story and pictures by Josh Vissers
W
hen my brother Sam and I headed north from Grand Rapids to hike the newly opened Fife Lake Loop Trail, we intended to arrive Saturday, start the loop on Sunday, and head home Monday afternoon, but almost immediately after getting there, our plans started to change. At the ribbon cutting for the new leg of the North Country Trail along Fife Lake Creek, I started talking to Dick Naperala, who was involved in the reroute from the beginning, and he told me about some nice campsites that were just a couple miles up the trail. After talking with Sam, we figured we could handle a little hike in the afternoon so we wouldn’t have to cover so many miles on Saturday to get to Spring Lake Campground. Before hitting the trail around 1 p.m., we enjoyed a National Trails Day hike on the new trail along the Manistee River and a picnic with “Chosen Hiker” Gail Josh on left, brother Sam on the right, and Marcella’s family in Lowe, who is trying to hike the whole NCT this season, Fife Lake. National Park Service Trail Manager Jeff McCusker, Arlen Matson, and around 60 other hikers and After crossing the county line, we reached the Cadillac Spur members of the Grand Traverse Hiking Club at the Old US-131 of the Shore-to-Shore trail. The clearing here allowed a bit of a State Forest Campground. breeze to give us a break from the bugs. This was about as far as Just as we left the picnic, a Fife Lake village resident named Sam and I had planned on going for the day, but we didn’t want Marcella who was at the picnic stopped to talk with us. She had to camp on the Shore-to-Shore trail, and Headquarters Lake was been hiking in Europe before and remembered how great it was just another mile or so down the trail, so once again, we kept when people there opened their homes to her. Wanting to give the hiking. same kind of experience to people hiking the NCT, she offered Headquarters Lake was the first place we got a real break from the same for us when we made it to Fife Lake. If we wanted a the bugs. Both where the trail first meets it, and on the land shower, a beer or a place to sleep safe from mosquitoes, we only bridge between Headquarters and Fuller lakes, the breeze and needed to send her a text when we got close to the village. clearing allowed us to take a break and look around. It was early We retraced our steps along the day hike and headed north and evening by this time, and Sam and I needed to make a decision east toward Fife Lake. The new section of trail along the Manistee about how far we would go today. River sometimes dips low to run along the bank, and other times We decided to go at least as far as the Spring Lake climbs the bluffs to scenic overlooks right above the river. There Campground, but not before letting Marcella know that we’d are three brand new benches at a couple of these overlooks. actually be fairly close to Fife Lake that night. She cheerily After a couple miles keeping the river in sight, the trail turns responded with a picture of the Fife Lake beach and encouraged north. As we left the Manistee to follow Fife Lake Creek, we also us to hike right into town. We said maybe, but we both knew left behind the breeze that was keeping the mosquitoes down. the temptation of a shower, after all the sweat, dirt and repeated In the 85 degree weather carrying our 20-pound packs, we kept applications of bug spray during the day, would be almost sweating off our bugspray. The only way we had to keep away impossible to resist. from the mosquitoes was to walk faster than they could fly. We reached Spring Lake Campground around 7 p.m., and Despite our brisk pace through this section of trail, it was easy while the campground looked nice, (fire rings, outhouses, picnic to see why this reroute was so popular. Fife Lake Creek flows tables and a small beach) and the bugs let up a bit, we hardly through some beautiful stands of evergreens, and in June, with stopped before hiking onward toward the village. Marcella picked the ferns almost finished unfurling their leaves and the water us up on her way back from the beach and drove us the last mile flowing briskly, the threat of blood-drinking insects was barely or so into Fife Lake. After meeting Marcella’s kids, having a meal enough to keep us moving. of cheeseburgers and potato salad, and taking a hot shower, Sam We did find the campsite that Dick told us about at the picnic and I were tired, relaxed and ready to hit the hay. in a nice little clearing about three miles from the roadside park, The next morning, Sam and I woke up before everybody else along a two-track that leads right down to the creek. It would’ve and walked about a half-mile down the road to The Loon’s Nest, been a nice spot to stay the night, but it was still early in the a little restaurant and bakery right in the heart of Fife Lake. afternoon and the bugs were still biting, so Sam and I decided to There we enjoyed a breakfast of hash browns, bacon, eggs and press onward a bit farther. toast while looking at old pictures of the historic ice harvesting industry. Ice for iceboxes was harvested out of Fife Lake and www.northcountrytrail.org
July-September 2014
The North Star 25