Hiking – Page 3 – Ramble Afoot

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore – Day 3

May 27, 2019

My journey continues with my second hike of the year. I am hiking on the North Country Trail in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, along Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

In his masterpiece “Appalachian Trials”, Zach Davis titles Chapter 6 “When Shit Hits The Fan” and he defines Thru-Hiker Fact #1 as: “there will come a time during your thru-hike when shit hits the fan”. He continues to describe a time, when on trail, you will hit a mental road-block, paired with physical, environmental, and logistical obstacles. He concludes his chapter opening paragraph by stating “the trail (just) has a way of testing a person”.

Not a 2200 mile 6-month thru-hike, rather a 70 mile 6-day hike out and back, and the North Country Trail found a way to test me!

I was fortunate enough to be able to spend Day 3 of my planned 6-day trek, ‘Zeroing’ at the ROAM Inn in Munising, MI – allowing myself and my body to recover from the epic post-holing event and hike out, back to the Munising Falls Visitor Center on Day 2 – all while the weather turned for the worse, temperatures dropped to the low 40’s and it rained for the entire day.

I took advantage of my downtime and revisited every single item in my pack, removing anything and everything I felt was not absolutely necessary, with the biggest weight reduction coming from removing additional camera and photography items that were more ‘nice-to-have’ as opposed to ‘must-have’.

I also revised my itinerary – changing the remainder of my 6-day trek into three individual section-hikes instead of trying to catch-up to my original planned hike and miles. This also allowed me to change the amount of food I was required to carry (basically a pound for each day on the trail), lightening my pack an additional 2-3 lbs.

Hike Data – Day 3

North Country Trail 0 miles

– Kelly

blog: Ramble Afoot vlog: YouTube Channel
fb: Facebook ig: Instagram tw: Twitter
Appalachian Trail Conservancy Member #22027626
Pacific Crest Trail Association Member #98397
North Country Trail Association Member since 11-28-2018

[Video] Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Day 2

My journey continues with my second hike of the year …
May 26, 2019, Day 2 on the North Country Trail in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

After a great first day on trail and deciding to get back in my sleeping bag for awhile, I change my plan and hike back to the Munising Falls Visitor Center from the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Cliff’s Backcountry Camp Site, all to lighten my pack and leap-frog the vehicle forward along the trail. Two hours into the trek back, I pass back by a hidden waterfall, and then things got interesting (You’ll have view Day 3 to find out what happens!)

– Kelly

[Video] Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Day 1

My journey continues with my second hike of the year …

May 25, 2019, Day 1 on the North Country Trail in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

After a small detour and road-walk, I hike from the Munising Falls Visitor Center to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Cliff’s Backcountry Camp Site, set up camp for the night, and then day-hike to the North Country Trail Headquarters picnic area for dinner and to take in the view from Miners Castle Scenic Overlook.

– Kelly

Music Used:

“Gymnopedie No. 1″ |”Relaxing Piano Music” |Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) By Attribution 3.0 License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…