Day 1 - Little Beaver Lake - Seven Mile Creek
My friend Jamie from downstate decided to join me. I picked up a permit on the way through Munising. We met in Seney at the trailhead for the Fox River Pathway and quickly shuttled the cars. We would both drive to Stanley Lake where we would leave his car and then I would drive both of us to Pictured Rocks, specifically the Beaver Basin Wilderness, where we would start our trip.
It was already past noon when I drove down Little Beaver Lake Road. Two wolves were soon sighted crossing the dirt road. Nice way to start a trip!
As Jamie had never hiked in the Beaver Basin before we decided to take the north route around Little Beaver Lake and Beaver Lake. We had about 9.6 mi to hike to get to Seven Mile Creek for the night. With the recent time change, we kept a steady pace with few breaks. The weather was about 50 F and windy. The lake provided a roar of waves but it was moderate compared to many other times.
Set up camp, had dinner and went down to the lake in the dark. An almost full moon provided good light to walk the beach and cause crazy shadows. I may have had something to do with the latter.
Day 2 - Seven Mile Creek - Fox River Pathway (Clyde Lake)
The first three miles of this hilly trail are in good shape until Kingston Lake. We saw the old kettle lake along the way. Took a break at Kingston Lake and headed onward to the Kingston Plains and the stump museum.
From many past experiences with the pathway, I knew the trail markers and any evidence of tread would be obscure. The pathway is rarely hiked and the surface is very uneven. It starts out with many DNR triangular blue tags, then goes to faded blue markers and then to very faded slightly marked spots and then many spots aren't marked at all. Some small sections had recent flagging but I don't think it was done by the DNR as it was erratic. I was glad when the flagging stopped as it was too "in the face". I like being able to find the trail on my own!
An area of beech trees that had been logged perhaps five years past was now full of little beech trees still retaining their leaves. I actually hiked on the pathway when it was being logged and I was surprised at how different everything looked.
After many miles of hilly wooded areas and mostly flat open fields, we came to a series of lakes. I had decided that we would make camp at Clyde Lake where I had stayed before. The place was extremely peaceful and there wasn't the slightest breeze. Had a pleasant evening walking around the ridges that surround the lake. Trail mileage for the day was 10.9 miles.
Day 3 - Clyde Lake - Stanley Lake
As we approached the Stanley Lake area, the rain turned to snow. Of course I almost wanted to do a happy dance as it was the first snow of the year in these parts. The winds had picked up as well and the temp dove to 32 F but we were done with the trip. Almost 7 miles today. Now we only had shuttling to do and we were on our separate ways. On my way back to Marquette the snow increased in intensity and the waves on Lake Superior were at full speed. It was a neat way to end a trip and I have been been enjoying the snow since I got home...even skied a couple of times!
