Backpacking the Peninsulas: Manistee River Trail

My boots thump along the ground in a hypnotic rythm. Sweat starts to bead on my forehead as I begin another short but steep climb. A soft breeze rustles through the leaves and cools me off. In the distance, a bird sends out its call through the forest. As I near the top of the hill, my legs begin to feel the burn. But my efforts are quickly rewarded by another of the sweeping vistas the are common along this trail. I look out across the landscape and soak in the view. Puffy white clouds dot the blue sky above; below the river meanders its way through the thick green forest. The only thing that could make this moment better would be if Jamie, Jonah, and Sadie were here.

Still, this is close to paradise.

This is the Manistee River Trail.

A few months back, one of the Pastors from our church announced that he wanted to do a weekend Father/Son backpacking trip to the Manistee River Trail. While Jonah was too young to go along, I still wanted to go, especially since I hadn't gone backpacking yet this year. I worked it out with Pastor Ed that I would go along to help coordinate the trip (bring key pieces of gear, help cook meals, etc...) It also worked out that I could take one of our friend's son Peyton on the trip.

So last Friday, after busting my butt all week to get my period close stuff done, I managed to leave work by noon. I went home, quick ate some lunch, gathered up my gear, loaded the car and headed off to pick up Peyton. We were out of Holland by a little before three. We hit a tiny bit of construction, traffic, and an accident, which slowed us down. Nevertheless we still made good time, and before we knew it we were taking our exit off the highway. A quick trip down the road, we made a stop at the gas station to pick up some snacks and some bug spray. The guy at the register was friendly and chatted while he rang us up about all the deer he had seen recently. Just a few more minutes down the road, and we arrived at our destination, which was the Red Bridge River Access Trailhead along the Manistee River.



We were the second group to arrive. Pastor Ed and his grandson arrived just a few minutes before us. We quickly scouted out the campsites around and found that there was only one left. We claimed it as our own, though there were doubts as to how we were going to fit 20 guys on one campsite. We set up our gear and waited for the others to arrive. After about an hour or so, others started to trickle in. With most of the group at camp, we built a fire and cooked our dinner of roasted hotdogs and s'mores.  After dinner, another guy and myself brought a car down to end of the trail so we would have a way to get back to Red Bridge at the end of our hike. As we made the drive back to Red Bridge, the sun began to set and the sky turned a brilliant orange and pink. By the time we got back to camp, the sun was mostly set, but I was able to catch the tail end of it.

With the sun down, most decided it was time to turn in for the night. Though a few of the boys decided that they wanted to stay up for basically most of the night. As well, there were a few late arrivals, and the headlights on their cars kept waking me up. It wasn't the most restful night.

It was my job to take care of breakfast. So I set my alarm for 6am so I could get my gear packed and get everything prepped to start cooking. I was sure I was going to be the first one up. I was shocked to be woken up at 5:15am by a group of boys goofing around in front of the fire pit. Since I was awake any way, I started packing up my gear. With that taken care of, I could focus on breakfast.

I had never cooked eggs for that many people before, and I wasn't even sure how to go about it. We had five dozen eggs to cook, sausage links, and pancakes as well. Things were going pretty well, cooking the eggs one giant pan at a time, until one of our gas canisters ran out. Down to only one camp stove, the cooking slowed down, and people were lining up for the next batch of eggs or pancakes. But we made it work, and pretty much all the food was eaten.

Once done with breakfast, we cleaned up all our cooking gear, loaded it in the car, and packed the rest of our hiking gear. We gathered around as a group for instructions for the day. Each Father/Son or Older Man/Younger Man group would head off into the woods one at a time separated by a 5 to 10 minute gap. Peyton and I were to be the first to head off into the woods. But before we could leave, we all had to try to do a chin up on the food pole in camp with our packs on. I, shamefully, could not. My excuse though is the I had about 40 pounds on my back.

With that done, Peyton and I headed down the road and up a hill to where the trail ducks into the woods. I was going at what I thought was a comfortable pace, until I turned around and saw Peyton huffing and puffing up the hill about 50 feet behind me. "Oh boy!" I thought, "We're not even into the woods yet and he's already falling behind." Thinking back to what I learned about the Theory of Constraint by reading "The Goal" in college, I decided to let Peyton take the lead.

Peyton saying goodbye to the road

With Peyton in the lead, we found a pace that worked for both of us. From red bridge, it doesn't take long for the trail to open up to some great views. Just a few minutes into our hike, and I already had to stop to take out my camera.

But after just a quick stop, we headed back down the trail.

When hiking with young kids, it is important to remember that they don't have the fat stores that an adult has. So it is necessary to stop more often and let them eat snacks to refuel. So after a little more than an hour or so of hiking, we stopped at another vista for a break to let Peyton have a snack. On our break, one of the groups that started behind us caught up.

After our break, we hiked along with the group that caught up to us for a little while. Hiking as a group helped all the kids stay motivated while hiking. They had fun telling goofy stories and pointing out things that they saw along the trail. But after a long and grueling climb, we started to fall behind. Eventually, we got separated from them. We took another quick snack break, then kept hiking. After another hour or so, we made it to where we all agreed to stop and join up for lunch. Slagle Creek. We took a longer break, which gave everyone enough time to rest and fuel up.

After a nice long break, we headed down the trail. This time, we sent the fastest group on ahead to scout out and reserve a campsite along the trail, since the campsites are first come first serve. Not far down the trail, the path opens up again to another beautiful bluff above the river. Obviously, pictures were taken.

At the vista, we met up with a few more of our group. For the rest of the day, we would end up hiking with one of the dads and his two sons. It was fun listening to the conversations of 8 and 10 year olds as they hiked down the trail. As well, I enjoyed talking with the dad, as this was the first time I had met him.

Bend in the River

By the end of the day, the boys were starting to get worn out. We were taking breaks more and more frequently. It was a happy sight when we stumbled upon the campsite that our group members had chosen. Surprising enough, it ended up being the same area where I had camped when I hiked the trail two years prior.

We set up our gear, got some water filtered to rehydrate, and relaxed in the ENO. As I was laying in the hammock, a few of the guys decided to take a dip in the river. After thinking about it for a few seconds, I decided I wanted to as well. The water wasn't as cold as I had feared, even with the mild summer we've been having. But the current was extremely strong. I tried to fight my way to the center of the river, but the current kept sweeping my feet out from under me. So I decided to go with the flow and float down river for a bit. It was so much fun that I ran up river and did it again.

Once dried off, the rest of the night was spent around the fire, eating and telling camp stories. As everyone was tired, no one ended up staying up too late that night. Compared to the night before, the camp was dead quiet. I slept much better and woke up well rested. Peyton slept well too. It was hard to wake him up. I had already packed my air mattress and sleeping bag and taken the rain fly off of the tent, and Peyton had hardly stirred. I started shaken the tent violently, but still he slept. I got a few other kids over to start yelling his name. Finally after much yelling and tent shaking, Peyton finally got up. With the gear packed up, we ate a quick breakfast.

That day, we were to be the last the leave camp. As the other guys left, I scoured the camp to make sure that it was all clean and that we left no trace. I ended up finding a pair of socks, a t-shirt, and a few random cords. Good thing I checked. With the camp all clean, we left, hiking with the same dad and boys we hiked with at the end of the previous day. We had fewer miles to go that day, so we were hoping to be done by around noon.

A ways down the trail from where we camped, we heard the sound of rushing water in the distance. We came down a small ravine and saw a small waterfall. In this section of the trail, there are a few small spring fed streams that cascade down the bluffs into the river.

We could tell that the boys were much more tired today. We had to take breaks frequently. When Peyton started to complain that his shoulders were hurting, I decided to take the rest of the gear out of his backpack. At this point, there wasn't much left in his pack. The dad we were hiking with ended up strapping both his boys packs to his own. Oh the lengths that a dad will go to for his sons.

                     

 

Farther down the trail, we came up to a wooden suspension bridge that crosses the river. At this point, you can cross and join up with the North Country Trail.

From the bridge we had less than a mile and a half left. But Peyton was spent in terms of energy. At this point, we started getting the "Are we there yet?" and "How much farther?" My favorite was "So when we get there we can be done hiking, like for forever!" The last mile was definitely a struggle. Eventually we emerged from the trail at the Seaton Creek trailhead.

Somehow, we had passed a few other groups on the trail. They had taken a wrong turn on to a side trail and didn't realize it for a little ways. We waited for them to finish. Then with all the groups done, the drivers went off to pick up the cars, and the boys stayed back to play and rest.

Once I got back to Seaton Creek, I didn't have much time to stay. I had to rush home to get back in time for a very special boys birthday party. Probably more to come on that later.

Overall, it was a good weekend. You could not ask for better weather, and the bugs were very manageable. The water was comfortable, and the views were great. We had some difficult times trying to stay motivated hiking. But I learned some things that I can use when I take Jonah on his first trip

It was definitely a great weekend on the peninsulas!