To the top of the 'Mitten' and the North Country Trail

Red pine forest with fern in Wilderness State Park

 

 

Wilderness State Park located west of Mackinaw City, is truly on the tip of Michigan’ mitten.  We spent 3 nights and hiked 2 days in this beautiful park, our last stop before crossing the Mackinac Bridge into the wilds of the Michigan Upper Peninsula (U.P.).

Lady Slipper Orchid
Many wildflowers were in bloom

 

Besides wanting to spend a little more time on Lake Michigan, one of the main reasons for visiting Wilderness State Park was the chance to hike on the 4,600-mile North Country National Scenic Trail.  Unlike the Appalachian, Pacific Crest (both we have hiked in the last two years) and the Continental Divide National Scenic Trails, the North Country National Scenic Trail does not follow major mountain ranges extending north to south.  Instead the North Country Trail (NCT) journeys mainly east to west following a variety of environments from New York’s Adirondack Mountains through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, along the shores of the Great Lakes through Wisconsin, Minnesota and finally ending in the vast plains of North Dakota.

Insect head nets came in handy

We had thought we would hike on the North Country Trail earlier when we were in Ohio, but rainy weather, poison ivy, ticks and muddy trail conditions made us change our minds.  However lately, as you may have noticed since I haven’t been complaining as much, we seem to have escaped some of those previous ‘plagues.’   At any rate, we were excited to finally get on the NCT.

Our first day we hiked parts of the Red Pine, East Ridge, Hemlock and Wilkenns trails plus a short section of the North Country Trail to make about a 6-mile loop.  This ‘sampling’ of trails showed off the beauty and diversity of Wilderness State Park. 

Beach grasses on 'youngest' dunes nearest the lake shore

Tiger swallowtails on the beach

 

The next day we hiked exclusively on the NCT through the dune and swale complexes, also called linear or parabolic dunes, near the shoreline of Lake Michigan.  The dune – swale communities are significant for their high concentration of biodiversity in a small area.  As we hiked up and down the dunes they increased in size the farther away we went from the lake.  It was so interesting to see and hike the dunes and swales from the lowest and youngest near the lake to the oldest ones farther inland. 

Shadier section of the North Country Trail in the older dune complex

The youngest dunes are colonized by beach grass and are prime nesting areas for the endangered Piping Plover.  Then as we moved inland a variety of grasses, ferns and sedges became dominant.  On the secondary dune ridges which are between 55 – 200 years old there are low growing evergreen shrubs, sand cherry and bunch grasses.  The tallest and oldest dune ridges are between 200 and 3200 years old.  Mixed pine forests dominate with white pine, red pine, white spruce, balsam fir, white cedar and paper birch being common.  Thank goodness much of the trail went through the oldest dunes and shade was abundant.  All that up and down was a bit of a workout!

Columbines

Bunchberry

 

All in all we had a wonderful time exploring Wilderness State Park.  The campground was very close to the lake and watching sunsets on Lake Michigan was on the agenda every night.  There was one problem though that we are hoping against hope won’t become our 'fourth plague.'  The mosquitoes were definitely increasing in numbers, so much so that we had to break out the head nets for our hikes.  It wasn’t that bad as long as we kept moving, but stopping for very long was not a good idea.  We are a little worried as we’ve heard some scary stories about Michigan insects in the U.P. – our next destination.

 

A blue blaze marks the North Country Trail

David’s Stats:

Days Hiked:   2    
Total Miles Hiked:  12.73   
Ave. Miles per Day:   6.37  
Total Elevation Gain:     1,409
Ave. Elevation Gain per day:  705