NCT Hike to a River Source
With our goal of 100 miles well within our reach, we wrapped up August with a blitz of North Country Trail hikes. Having just hiked the Wiggle Creek segment from South Laird Road to the source of the West Branch of the Sturgeon River on Thursday, we headed back out that way again on Friday to hike to the same destination from the west starting at FR-1500. On this hike we were joined by our friends Mark and Jennifer.
This portion of the trail is in the Ottawa National Forest where select logging has taken place in a few different locations. The forest still has a good deal of character even though it is considerably thinner than it was a few years ago. This segment includes some nice rolling hills which appear to be glacial moraine.
There are a number of ponds and small lakes which drain into what becomes the West Branch of the Sturgeon River. While we did not see either on this hike, we have seen trumpeter swans and moose droppings in this portion of the segment on previous hikes. One thing we saw a lot of on this day was mushrooms and other assorted fungi!
We took a break for lunch at the West Branch of the Sturgeon River which was trickling through back-to-back beaver dams. We welcomed the presence of the dragon flies feasting on the mosquitoes that had hatched after the recent rain.
The clouds were reflecting beautifully off of the large beaver pond at this location!
We made the turnaround at this point and headed back to FR-1500. This ended up being a 6.6 mile hike in hot and steamy conditions bringing our year-to-date mileage up to just over 85 miles.
After the hike we stopped at a nearby lake to enjoy a swim and cold beer.
You can see the GoPro video from this hiking adventure on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
Saturday I squeezed in a 4-mile run on the rail-trail ahead of our going to a potluck at a friend’s home with other friends and new acquaintances. The evening included a lot of great conversation and an after dinner slide show on Cape Cod architecture.
Do you embrace winter and have the ability to work remotely? Would you value living in a place with ubiquitous natural beauty that has NO congestion and lower crime? Consider locating in the Keweenaw where you will be surrounded by amazing places! Learn more by visiting Remote Workforce Keweenaw at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com and learn about those making the decision to locate here by following the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw.