I woke up at 5:29 AM, exactly one minute before the iPhone alarm I set started chirping (crickets). Up, shower, and out. As we were driving over toward Mancelona, it started snowing to beat the band and I was glad it was dark and my window was foggy because I had made the executive decision to wear hiking sandals and I did not want to know how much snow was on the ground. I was relieved when we got to the trailhead and found no more snow coming down and not much on the ground. And the sun was coming up.

Like my footwear? I am wearing tights and smartwool socks inside these shoes and that combination keeps me warm down to about 10 degrees as long as I am walking somewhere dry. They were actually perfect for today’s conditions.

The sun rose a bit higher…

I was discouraged from using this old outhouse. It was okay, I wasn’t desperate 🐗. What was fun was the discussion it kicked off about all the old outhouses we grew up with and some of us still use, at least occasionally. And then just around the corner, we reached the top of Deadman’s Hill, where there is a modern outhouse, if that makes any sense.

Today’s hike was a special treat. Not only is the Jordan Valley a gorgeous area, we hooked up with the Jordan Valley 45 North Country Trail chapter, a different chapter than our familiar Hiawatha Shore-to-Shore friends. New friends made the world a wee bit smaller by the end of the hike. Here are the Twinz of Terror signing in to the log.

Cobweb Sweep? See the kid in the Twinz of Terror photo? He is a phenomenal hiker. For a while I was in the lead and he was bouncing around behind me. I finally asked him if he’d rather be out ahead of me. The answer? Well, no because then he would run into all of the cobwebs. My friends, there were no cobwebs today. I think it was too cold for cobwebs. But I understood how he felt and was honored to serve as Cobweb Sweep.

We hiked around nine miles and then met up with The Beautiful Gay at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Gaylord for lunch. Not a restaurant that is on my radar screen. I have eaten at one ONCE, with The Engineer and his family in East Lansing, and you know that was a long time ago because he has been dead for 10 years. But the wings hit the spot today and now we are slodging around in Michaywe.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 14th, 2015 at 5:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.