Manistee River – North Country Trail Loop

Pre-Trip:

In February of 2010 I was in a horrific car accident that I was fortunate enough to survive.  However, I still managed to break both legs, upper jaw and my lower jaw in two places.  The single break in my left femur was fairly straight forward but the three breaks in my right leg were severe and recovery has been slow and painful.  The MRT-NCT loop is 21 miles in length.  The two common starting points are Seaton Creek Campground and Red Bridge Access site on Coates Highway Road.  My original plan was to make this a three-day trip. Arrive 9/6 around 2 PM, hike approximately 3.5 miles, then on 9/7 hike approximately 7 miles, then on 9/8 hike approximately 7 miles, then on 9/9 hike approximately 3.5 miles and leave for home by 12 PM.  This would be the most walking or hiking I had done since my accident and I felt that this pace was something that I’d be able to safely accomplish.  While visiting my parents for Labor Day I discovered that my father wanted to join me for part of the trip.  We decided to spot his car at Seaton Creek Campground (this is 1.2 miles from the suspension bridge which is on the northern end of the MRT) and then take my car to Red Bridge Access and begin our hike there.  We would spend that night on the trail and then part ways when we got to the trail junction at the suspension bridge which would lead back to my father’s car.  A goal of this trip was to keep my pack weight low.  I managed to get my base weight down to 7.5 pounds and that included carrying a GPS and cell phone (about 1 pound). I packed 5 pounds of food and 2.2 pounds of water for a total starting weight of 14.7 pounds.

September 6, 2011

My father and I met at Seaton Creek campground at 2 PM. The campground was empty of campers.  It appeared to have about 8 – 10 campsites with picnic tables and fire pits.  There was a decent sized parking lot right at the junction of the 1.2 mile trail which leads to the MRT. It was a $4 charge to leave my father’s car for a night.  We drove to Red Bridge Access site on Coates Highway and discovered that hikers of the MRT were required to park about ½ mile west of the river.  There is no charge to park in this lot.  We started hiking about 3 PM.  From this lot there is a trail that heads north and shortly hits the connecting trail between the NCT and the MRT.  At this junction we turned east, hiked to the road bridge over the Manistee River (the Red Bridge Access site we first pulled into) and after crossing the bridge found the beginning of the MRT.  This was about one mile of hiking from the car to this point.

Because of the broken bones in my legs from the previous year, I had originally planned to take it very slow and just see how it went.  In addtion, I decided to not take my camera (DSLR) to save weight and all of the photos I took were unfortunately with my cell phone.  Hiking with my father, threw the “take it easy” plan out the window.  I’m sure he would have been fine with whatever pace I picked but nonetheless I felt pressure to keep a decent clip.  Also, I was pretty certain he wanted to camp at an established campsite.  Originally, I had only planned on hiking about 3.5 miles and then just back country camping.  I knew there was an established camp a bit over four miles from what I thought would be our starting point.  But since we had parked in a different lot than I had expected I knew we would now have to travel at least 5 miles before arriving at the first established camp site.  The trail was nice with a few excellent views over that first 5.25 miles.

The ups and downs could be steep but I don’t think there were any climbs or descents much over a 100’.  My ankle was pretty sore when we arrived at the first camp.  I felt like I was near my limit.  I knew from previous walking experience that if I went less than 5 miles I would be able to use the ankle the next day after a night’s rest.

We arrived at the first two established camp sites (Camp #8 and Camp #9).  These two sites are right on the water’s edge on the top of a 50’ overlook.  There is a very nice view of the river.  One of the drawbacks to these two sites is that they are at the dead-end of a two-track road which makes them accessible to car campers.  When we arrived there was a guy playing acoustic guitar and drinking whiskey.  His truck was parked nearby.  Much to our surprise he turned out to be a pretty nice guy and told us that this was his last day here.  He planned to continue playing guitar while he sobered up, take a swim to clean up and then drive home.  He played song after song and was actually quite a good singer.  He stuck to his plan and ended up leaving at dark.  We choose the campsite that had the most shade.  Another notable feature of these two sites is that they were literally picked cleaned of anything and everything.  Both had a fire pit but that was it.

We pitched our tents and I cooked dinner.  I had a FBC with ramen, a tuna pack and some spices which was excellent.  Afterwards, I hung my cook set and food with a bunch of difficulty.  I eventually got it done though.  While I was making dinner my father completed the fairly difficult chore of collecting a good amount of firewood.  We were both able to use our cell phones (just barely to send some texts) from this spot.  Once it started getting dark we started a fire.  My father went to bed about 9:30 and I went around 10 PM. The forecast had called for the low 40’s and we actually hit 36F.  I had packed well and I remained comfortable throughout the night.

Because I had used all my collected water to pour over the fire coals the previous night, I ate my planned no cook lunch for breakfast.  I just planned to cook my breakfast for lunch that day.  We broke camp and started hiking by 8 AM.  The next 5 miles were very similar to the previous days hike.

We hiked past campsites #7 through #3.  Campsite #7 was absolutely beautiful and I will definitely try to stay there if I ever revisit this trail.  At Campsite #3 there were two hammock campers who appeared to be either taking their time about getting going for the day or were planning to spend the entire day at the site.  They remarked how cold the previous night had been.  Shortly after seeing the hammock campers we passed a small waterfall and took the mandatory photographs.  Water was readily available during this entire 10 mile stretch.  I was carrying one liter of drinking water and letting another liter treat while hiking.  I’m sure I could have changed to carrying 1/2L and letting a 1/2L treat but I would have to stop more often to collect and fill my drinking bottle.

We arrived at the suspension bridge just after 11 AM. Just north of the suspension bridge on the east side of the river is a large open camping area. This is also the trail junction for the connection path that leads to Seaton Creek Campground.  After exploring the open area, the suspension bridge and taking pictures, my father and I said our good byes.  He took the 1.2 mile connection path back to his car at Seaton Creek Campground and I headed west over the bridge to find the NCT.

Quickly after crossing the suspension bridge the trail leads to a boat access site for the west side of the Manistee River.  Here I took a long (1 hour) lunch.  I cooked up my breakfast, filled up my water, relaxed and dipped my bandana in a feeder stream.  The trail path here is a bit quirky.  After crossing the suspension bridge, it heads along the river to the access parking lot, then a short road walk, back on the trail and then it visits the river one final time and makes a complete U-turn.  After that it crosses back over the road and continues west to finally find the south-north running NCT.

As soon as I started south on the NCT the trail was very nice and an easy gradual climb with the trail being wide enough for a four-wheeler.  I think it was this wide for at least a mile or two and then it went back to “typical” trail width.  This section of the NCT was quite different from the MRT.  During the entire section I didn’t see the Manistee River once.  Towards the end of this section of the NCT there is a short off-shoot trail which leads to an overlook.  However, I didn’t take advantage of it because of time constraints which I will describe below.  There is one significant climb and descent that happens about 2/3’s of the way into this section when heading south bound.  It was a joy going up but brutal coming down. One thing this trip taught me is that coming down hill is very uncomfortable on my right ankle in comparison to any other forms of walking.  Also, after leaving the Manistee River and the feeder creek at the boat access site, I found only one easy spot to acquire water in this section.

After my long break for lunch I still felt pretty good even though I had done over 5 miles that day.  At the suspension bridge I had already decided that I would leave the next day.  I figured if I could just do 3 more miles today it would leave me only 7 miles the next day and from there I could drive home.  At the very top of that significant ascent I stopped to take a break and was able to get fantastic cell phone coverage.  I took a decent break, reading emails, making a few phone calls and I even texted out a picture of myself to my wife.  Somewhere around this point I decided I would try to finish the entire hike on this day.  Why I did this I’m not even sure.  I did notice in the beginning of this section of the NCT that it would be difficult to find a campsite because you are basically walking along a ridge with a steep upward slope to your right and a steep downward slope to your left.  I didn’t see a single established campsite on this section of the NCT but I’m sure I could have stopped without any problem.  For whatever reason I just kept pushing and I set a goal to be back at my car by 7 PM.  I even skipped stopping for dinner but did eat some snacks along the way.  Unbelievably, I made it to the car just after 7 PM and had done 15.75 miles that day! The NCT is pretty uneventful but still a nice trail nonetheless.  There are a few interesting sections and the ascents and descents definitely make for some fun.

I learned that doing 15.75 miles was way too much for my right ankle.  After driving for one hour and stopping for coffee, I discovered I was basically unable to walk on my right ankle.  The next day it was even worse and except for hobbling around the house I was unable to walk the entire day.  The following day it improved but it was still not good enough to do any significant walking.  Finally on the third day I was able to do a decent amount of walking on it.

Overall, it was a great trip and everything I took performed wonderfully.  Naturally, I had way too much food because I did the entire loop in 1 ½ days and didn’t eat a dinner on the final day.  I would definitely like to hike this loop again!