Back on the Trail

Today was our first day back doing trail work with the North Country Trail Association Western Michigan Chapter. Along with Larry Meyer, I help lead work crews in the Manistee National Forest. Today's work was on a 8-10 mile loop trail we are building that will link the Chapter's Schoolhouse, the Loda Lake Wildflower Sanctuary, and the North Country Trail.

In less than five hours of work, we built nearly a mile of new trail. The volunteers that turned out today were certainly the hardest working crew we've seen in quite some time. Of course the cool temperatures and overcast skies kept folks working.

While most of the forest is still quite brown and dry, it's obvious by the smells and birdsong that spring is not too far away. After we were done putting in the new trail tread, we drove around to remove a few trees that had blown down across the trail and I spied a few marsh marigolds blooming along the side of a woods road.