North Country Trail : THE PLAN

_DSC8004

 

I researched for hours. I spent days thinking through all of the different scenarios. I made lists to check, and double check. I tested and verified that I would be able to communicate and send messages without cellular phone service or coverage.  I gathered and documented contact information for local emergency personnel, just in case. I created a spreadsheet documenting dates, estimated miles to be hiked, daily starting, ending locations, and water sources – each with its respective latitude and longitude.

The estimated drive-time from my home in Troy to the designated trail head parking area located on Norwich Rd in Ontonagon was a mere eight and half hours, would take me through the center of Michigan’s lower peninsula, across the Mackinac Bridge into the UP (Upper Peninsula), through Marquette, and then West on MI 28 to Norwich Road. I would set off on my adventure at 3:00 PM on Friday June 29th – after my appointment with Dr. Muller at the Huntington Group to have the titanium dental implant in slot #30 uncovered in preparation for a new crown, to replace the tooth that had to be extracted back in January. (That’s an entirely different story that perhaps I’ll share on a rainy day, but suffice it to say, it was Obi-Juan’s fault!)

I would arrive at the designated trail head parking area located on Norwich Rd in Ontonagon around midnight, sleep as best as I could in the back seat of the Grand Caravan, and wake to begin hiking the morning of Saturday June 30th.

The start of my hike on the North Country Trail would begin at the trail entrance on Norwich Road, I would hike East from Norwich Road for 3.5 miles to the NCT Mile 100 Waypoint programmed in my Garmin inReach Explorer, turn around, and then hike the 3.5 miles West back to Norwich Road. The idea being, if needed I could make any weight adjustments to my pack, place those items in the Caravan, and then continue onward.

NCT-Start

 

Over the next 2-3 days, I would continue hiking along the North Country Trail – stopping along the way to filter water and eat as needed, and to camp overnight – making my way to the half-way point, a back-pack campsite located just past the NCT Mile 50 marker and very near the Presque Isle State Campground.

NCT-End

 

Depending on how I felt, I would spend the following day or two relaxing a bit, exploring Presque Isle, the Porcupine Mountains, and the shores of Lake Superior.

Then I would set my sites eastward, hike the required 46.5 miles back along the North Country Trail returning to my origin, exit the NCT, walk back to the designated trail head parking area located on Norwich Rd in Ontonagon, place my pack and gear in the Grand Caravan, and begin the eight and half hour drive back home.

My plan was perfect!

 

– Kelly

blog: Ramble Afoot
vlog: YouTube Channel
fb: Facebook
ig: Instagram
tw: Twitter

#Hike100NCT #FindYourTrail

In case you were wondering …

An introduction to the gear in my pack and worn for my 100 Mile Shake-Down Hike on the North Country Trail can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/GIILXKZTIN8

You can also view my entire NCT Gear List here: https://lighterpack.com/r/1jooj6

NCT-Image-1

 

See ya on the Trail!

– Kelly

blog: Ramble Afoot
vlog: YouTube Channel
fb: Facebook
ig: Instagram
tw: Twitter

#Hike100NCT #FindYourTrail

Why would you … ?

Why would you want to live life vicariously through a series of blog entries, Tweets, Instagrams, Facebook posts, or YouTube videos portraying the journey and adventures of a middle-aged man, as he prepares for and attempts to “Thru-Hike” three of the most challenging long-distance hikes in the contiguous United States?

35236916_10216228938615559_2198849751758143488_n (1)

 

I suppose one would have to stop and ask themselves why anyone would want to attempt such an arduous challenge?

 35067601_10216228943535682_1909702924074745856_o

 

For me I guess it all goes back some 45 years to that summer vacation when my family traveled to the Smokey Mountains for the first time. It was so different then compared to today’s modern version.

I can still remember it all as if it were just yesterday – the mountainside hotel in Gatlinburg, TN, painted pale blue, complete with heated-pool and arcade game-room, the fresh smell of the mountains that just seemed to reach out beckoning you onward into the woods, day-hiking along the Pigeon River and that moment when I stepped into a small crystal-clear pool to only find myself utterly surprised, neck-deep in water, or the incredible moment when we stopped the car at a mountainside overlook, located somewhere in the National Park, and as we stood there looking over the mountain ledge at the valley below, a single Monarch butterfly just flew in from nowhere and landed on my mother’s shoulder.

 

There was just something incredibly stirring in the absolute newness of it all, the surreal moments of nature and beauty, even if captured and only now are memories, and how blindly easy it was to be a kid and just take it all in.

 

35143714_10216228945055720_6567463264299515904_o

 

In many ways I feel as if a small part of me was left in the mountains, which at times has felt unsettled, left undone, waiting for my return. In other ways I feel an even bigger part of the mountains was left inside me, for this moment, for now, beckoning me onward, to return to the woods, to be one again not just with the Pigeon River, or the many overlooks and landscapes from my past, but with more, so much more, more of the paths and trails, the streams and rivers, the mountains and valleys – the many wonders just waiting for me to go and explore.

 

35132854_10216228944335702_6999499285939093504_o

 

Many of those who have done so before me will tell you “Hike Your Hike”. For me, it’s time. It’s time for me to “Hike My Hike”, and I invite you to come along with me, to be a part of all, to virtually leave a part of yourself in the mountains, and take a part of the mountains with you.

 

As I paraphrased in my last post, “I (am) ready to hike. … I (want) to see what (is) out there. All over America … people (will) be dragging themselves to work, stuck in traffic jams, wreath(ing) in exhaust smoke. I (will be) going for a walk in the woods. I (am so) ready for this.”

Are you?

 

See ya on the trail!

– Kelly

 

Note: This blog entry is “Kathyrn approved”

 

blog: Ramble Afoot
vlog: YouTube Channel
fb: Facebook
ig: Instagram
tw: Twitter