Northville Placid Trail Day 2: Miles 20-37

Today’s topic: Appreciation of rain.

Day 1 I would have described as calm. It was calm as if it were a snowy winter day. Other than the chipmunks gathering for the winter, there were no birds singing, no wind, and no other animals. Just the sound of my own feet crunching underneath. But today the noises came back. The rain itself made noise, the water it brought made the stream stronger and the birds came out! While the rain was a bit of a bummer, it made the hike more interesting. A bunch of frogs and newts came out in the middle of the road, asking to be stepped on. I think I missed them all, but they were little. A couple of deer too. Even a small darter fish in one of the streams!

The rain brings puddles of clear water

These guys must be the missing link from worms to amphibians.

The rain feeds the trees long enough for you to see a handful of red leaves.

Land

The terrain became more complicated in this section. First of all, because of the mud and the newly slippery rocks. Secondly, there were a TON of downed trees. I was able to get over many of them, but at many I had to stop and consider which way to go. There weren’t any huge ones. A lot of the flora reminded me of the PNW. Lots of ferns and moss under patches of evergreens, with a hint of light rain. The beaver activity was new and the fallen leaves on the ground were new, but it was a small taste of home.

….beavers? Drop trees in the middle of the road? This one was hard to get around.

I think I found the culprits.

The rain brings ferns 🙂

The rain brings a lot of soft moss 🙂

Human impact

There was also a lot of interesting infrastructure in this section. There were plenty of bridges and a wide variety of sizes. There was one that was a giant suspension spanning a river, and there were others that were just a couple of logs placed over a dip. There was a strange forge/fireplace after the bridge over Big Ed, apparently once used at a girls’ summer camp. Lean-tos are great. Part of me regrets using my tent last night, but I hope I don’t have to take it out again. You probably save 30-45 minutes of setup and teardown time every day, and that’s a huge blessing. They also guarantee protection from rain, a flat surface to put food on and sleep on. All of them also have nearby pit toilets. I arrived at Hamilton Stream Lean-to for the night. I tried to make a fire but everything was too wet.

The sheds are super cute!

Rain brings dangerous terrain

very long bridge

The long bridge apparently has a forge?

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