Autumn on the North Country Trail

Autumn Hike On The North Country Trail

 Yesterday I hiked a portion of the North Country Trail (NCT).  The trail when completed will stretch 4600 miles from North Dakota to New York.  We are fortunate enough to live within a couple of miles of this gem. I started here at the Gordon Dam.  

 I started a little late in the afternoon because at the stage I am at in my life, I sometimes like talking to people.  I can't explain it because in the past, and still today at times, I avoided conversation.  But I digress.  I bumped into a guy at the parking lot at the Gordon Dam, never met the guy before, but that took 45 minutes.   hehe   I enjoyed every minute of it!

 The hike yesterday had me carrying my REI Double Shot belt with two water bottles, a bottle of Gatorade, 2 of CADs secret recipe energy balls, a container of peaches, light jacket, hat, camera, my multitool and bear spray.  

 A lot of the leaves are now gone in our area.

 It is time for the Tamarack tree to shine.  It's funny because I hate to see fall come, but it seems the Tamarack makes it worth it.  If we are lucky, CAD will tell his Tamarack story in the comment section.  Say, maybe one of these beauties will work for "TARATS"

 The above picture is one of the many board walks on the section I hiked.  They put the boardwalks in to avoid damage to the wetlands.  The longest boardwalk on this hike was about 270 feet, although I probably crossed a couple dozen of them.  The section of trail called the Brule Bog has 3500 ft of boardwalk on a 2.3 mile section of trail.  Pretty cool stuff.

  

 Here they have hauled in material to build more boardwalk.

 A bridge on the trail crosses very near this beaver dam.  This picture was not zoomed on my $100 cheapo camera.

 I wasn't going to include this picture as it didn't show what I intended very well, but I added it anyhow.  The path it shows is not the NCT, but a beaver trail leading to the waterway just above the dam.  They have been busy!

 The trail is marked periodically with these blue rectangles.

 A few posts back, I mentioned the Bird Sanctuary.  The trail runs through this area also.

 The above picture is as I was coming up to Rovers Lake.

 The trail has camping areas along the way.  This is the Rovers Lake camp area located within the Bird Sanctuary. This lake was loaded with waterfall on this day.

 At each of the camping areas/rest stops there is an ammo box mounted on a post with a log, trail maps and etc. I stopped and logged in with the date, weather conditions, trail conditions, unique sightings  and how far my journey was taking me this day.

The hike had me covering 8 miles on this great fall afternoon.  Although, I ended up trail running the last .75 mile because getting back to the beginning of the post, I spent time making a new acquaintance rather than hiking.  This was a one way hike with a ride waiting on the final, so I didn't want to miss that...although she would have not complained if I were a little late.

Lets get outdoors and have some fun!!

Thanks for visiting!

PS...for those that do not know, highlighted areas are links and click pics for big.