Double Dose of the North Country Trail

The weather was awesome this past weekend during the day as it bookended thunderstorms early on Saturday evening. We took advantage of the great conditions to put a meaningful 10% dent in our 2024 #hike100NCT!

After checking in our Airbnb guests who were on their way to Houghton and Calumet, we headed down to Baraga County to hike two miles eastward on the North Country Trail from the Humpback Bridge and then back again. You will recognize this segment from past hikes as one of our favorites as it winds along the Sturgeon River. The thermometer on the truck was reading 80 degrees when we arrived, so we expected that the bugs might be a challenge. Much to our surprise, the hike would be free of mosquitoes and black flies. Gnats would be only an occasional annoyance.

We came across wildflowers throughout the hike with trillium, trout lilies, and marsh marigolds being the three most common.

This stretch along the river includes some very large white cedars including a four-pronged giant that has been the subject of past photographs, but the tree below is particularly striking in its width!

At the midway point in our hike, we took time to take in the bright sunshine on some large rocks in the river!

After returning to the truck, we drove a short distance to hike to nearby Bocco Creek Falls. We made a rather quick stop here as the gnats here were quite thick near the stream!

You can see my GoPro video from these two hikes on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:

On Sunday we met up with our hiking group to do a six-mile hike on the Peter Wolfe Chapter’s segment 28 of the North Country Trail heading eastward from the East Branch of the Ontonagon River. Our friend John Diebel who adopts this segment of the trail led the hike which started at the Gardner Road Bridge over the East Branch of the Ontonagon.

Eighteen of us participated on the hike which involved considerably more bugs than our hike the day before. A head net was definitely in order!

Spring Beauty and Marsh Marigolds were the common wildflowers on this hike which also included two very impressive beaver dams!

You can check out my GoPro video from the hike on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:

On our way home from the hike we made a stop for the outstanding pasties at Krupp’s in Twin Lakes!

Do you embrace winter and have the ability to work remotely? Consider locating in the Keweenaw where you will find ubiquitous natural beauty, no congestion, and lower crime! Not sure? Come UP for a workcation to check it out! Learn how at Visit Keweenaw at https://www.visitkeweenaw.com/plan/trip-ideas-itineraries/workcations/ Visit Remote Workforce Keweenaw at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com. Learn about those making the decision to locate here by following the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw.