Today’s trek was a 20-miler (32.2 km) from High Bridge, a boat access area, to Hodenpyl Dam. The weather looked great: sunny and low 80s F. (26-28 C.). The shuttling took some time, and we’re discovering that having four cars is better than three. It’s not ideal from an ecological standpoint, but all four of us keep forgetting what car(s) will be where and when. And we can only fit all of us in Ed’s car, so that becomes problematic.
Anyway, we got started just before 9 a.m. and began trekking through the forest. Then we popped out into a flowering prairie area for a while, which was lovely. We could also see the Manistee River. Beautiful!
Leaving High Bridge Behind
It was starting to get quite hot out in the prairie, so we were nervous that we’d be trekking through this landscape all day long. Luckily, the trail eventually dipped into the woods, where it stayed for the remainder of our hike.
From here on out, the trail wound up very long, steep hills, then descended. Over and over and 
over again.
But, we persevered. We passed one group of 17 hikers, in three different clumps; guessing maybe a Boy Scout troop?
Tonight we’re back at Northern Exposure. Annoyingly, strong storms are coming all night and into tomorrow. We’ve had enough rain already!
Snowshoe
MI NCT miles today: 19.6 (31.5 km)
MI NCT miles to date: 772.6 (1,243.4km)
Total NCT miles to date: 1,521.6 (2,448.8 km)
Total NCT miles to go: 3,078.4 (4,954.2 km)
