Northville Placid Trail Day 3: Miles 37-58

urine

This Tuesday did not go as expected. It started to rain, as expected, but it only lasted until Piseco, where I was able to get reception! With that welcome I sat for a while and called my wife while I looked for where to get food. After quite a bit of searching, I discovered that there was literally nowhere to get food. When the guide mentioned that “it would be prudent to mail a resupply to the post office,” it did not mention that Piseco should hardly be considered a city. There’s no gas station, no grocery store, and the only restaurant doesn’t open until 11 on Wednesday… My only hope was to go a little out of the way to get to the Inn, which had excellent reviews for the food. To my surprise, there was no one there. The owner had left his personal number at the reception, which was out of service. So I saved a few packets of oats and continued on my way. I didn’t want to have to stop and boil water for lunch, so I planned to eat the dried oatmeal packets.

I later learned from some locals that the place just after the post office with the giant axe, Bob and Matt’s Hardwood, may have been a good resource. Apparently a lot of hikers stop me and make gear changes and deliveries in their garage. In this scenario, the strategy would have been a resupply. The road trip itself wasn’t that bad.

road walk

Nice views at the foot of the road

Beautiful views on foot along the road, part 2

Cool tree on the walking path

Hits from loose rocks

Somewhere before Spruce Lake, I approached a creek crossing, which was one of many so far on this trip. As usual, I was exploring which rocks I would use to cross said stream (more of a trickle). That’s kind of challenging when leaves cover most of the ground, so when I stepped on a rock that seemed to be mostly buried in the ground, I didn’t expect it to roll. With how high my weight was in my pack, I fell completely on my side, the hiking pole lifting my top end a little. I knew immediately that I had done something to my right foot. Between metatarsals 4 and 5 (ring toe and little toe respectively) that hurt when I extended my foot or wrapped it around something. I took a few deep breaths and continued, each step hurt like a 5 and every once in a while I stepped on a rock or root that hurt like a 8. I decided I would go to West Lake incline instead of Cedar Lake (4 miles less) and evaluate in the morning.

The smallest little autumn leaf

Blurred forest floor

In the pine forest you can see the trail! This was exciting for me. It was easier to avoid roots and rocks.

NCT Ranking

This is the third state in which I have hiked a portion of the North Country Trail. (The others are various portions in MN and the shore of Pictured Rocks Lake in MI). So far I’m not impressed enough to consider walking the rest. Hopefully in the next year or two I can do the Superior Hiking Route.

I think this section looked like there were the most mountains to see in the immediate vicinity so far, and yet I barely saw any because I was just looking at the ground to make sure I had my footing. That said, the lakes and boardwalk areas were quite beautiful. I was quite pleased with the view from my shed.

Northern country trail!

View from West Lake Boathouse

The Plan

While I was definitely injured, I was unsure of the severity of my injury. I wasn’t sure if it was just a sprain or if something had broken. I didn’t feel much pain when pushing it, except from the side. I decided that no matter what, I would make it to Long Lake and consider leaving the trail from there. That meant 25 miles the next day…God help me.

This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any products or services you purchase using links in articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price they would otherwise pay, and their purchase helps support The Trek’s ongoing goal of bringing you quality backpacking information and advice. Thank you for your support!

For more information, visit the About page of this site.