October 29, 2022 -- McKeever Hills Ski Trail
 The
leaves have fallen, or more likely 'blown down' thanks to some low
temperatures and several high wind episodes. But this day was
wonderfully mild, 45-50 degrees with just a mild wind. The leaf
covered trail was damp and cushy like a thick carpet, until one's
toe caught on a hidden root or stick. We slowed our pace and enjoyed
a more leisurely walk. We had decided it was a good day to walk
McKeever but debated on the route. We rather wanted to do the main A
loop clockwise since we had gone the other way the last time. But
there was the issue of where the trail crosses a wet area near the
Cabin, with several ponds on one side and McKeever Lake on the
other. If we went counter-clockwise (south) (as before) we would
come to that spot about a third of the way around, about 1 1/4
miles, then could backtrack and do the C loops. If we went clockwise
(north) it would be about 2 1/2 miles there then back and likely not
enough time to go on down to the more challenging C loop, which we
weren't sure we wanted to do anyway. Such decisions! We finally
chose to go with our druthers, clockwise, take off our shoes and
wade across when we got to that spot, then continue on around. It
was a bit cool to be real excited about that but really, it wasn't
that big a deal. Though we decided (based on previous experience)
that the best way to go about it was to remove socks and innersoles,
shoes back on, roll up pant legs, wade, then replace the dry socks
and innersoles, put on the wet shoes, then continue on, and let the
shoes dry on the trail. We'd decide about the C Loop when we got
there.
It's a delightful trail, twisting and
turning and hilly, along the south side of Pete's Lake, around and
down to McKeever. As we came to the crossing we heard voices and
barking up ahead - there apparently were folks staying at the cabin.
Not surprising as this is a popular Forest Service cabin to rent and
is often booked far ahead. But what WAS a surprise, and a very happy
one at that, was to come upon a long wooden walkway of cedar poles
laid down across the marsh and wet ground of the McKeever Lake
"channel", continuing until the ground rose out of the wet.
It was careful walking across the wet poles
but it was very much appreciated. We emerged dry footed at the other
end to be greeted by two happy dogs with the owners calling to get
them back. We waved to the couple who were on a side trail below the
cabin then continued on our way.
When we got to the C Loop intersection we
decided we had time and energy to add that couple of miles (which
doesn't sound like much until you see the terrain). The leaves
covering the trail had dried and it was rather a noisy crunchy walk
now. We enjoyed renewing acquaintance with the now more familiar
named hills - Quick Silver, Sinkhole, Fantastic, Heart Attack. They
didn't seemed quite as severe as we remembered, but, we reminded
ourselves, we weren't on snowshoes this time. And when we came to
Thunder and Lightening, slipping on the leaves as we went up, up
and stopping (for the view, of course) at the welcome bench at
the top before going down, down, slipping and sliding some more, we agreed
that C still deserved its "Most Difficult" (for skiiers) designation.
Towards the end of the C Loop the trail
crosses an old little used two-track that goes a short ways over to Wedge
Lake. On the Forest Service map this is a numbered "road" and there
is a Boat Launch icon. We decided to check it out. It was a short
walk and what a wonderful discovery. This is our kind of "Boat
Launch" (yes, this is it, verified as a fishing spot by two little
red and white bobbers hanging tangled in a nearby branch, which
brought back childhood memories for both of us. Neither remembered
much in the way of fish but we do remembers those cute bobbers.)
It was incredibly peaceful, beautiful,
relaxing. We took a long break just soaking it in. There was little
chance anyone would be bringing a boat in here to disturb us. Finally though it
was cooling off and we still had some ways to go so we gathered
ourselves and gear and continued on. We'll certainly visit here
again though.
We decided to skip the B loops this time and
headed up to finish the A loop back to the parking lot, marveling again at
the large trees on Hemlock Hill, passing the edge of Kimble Lake,
enjoying the last fairly level track of A back to the car. Now we
felt ready for November.
March
4, 2022 -- It's a Hiking Day!
Sunny, upper 20's, calm -- no question, it was a day to be outside. I
know, it won't be long and this will feel downright cold, but it's still
winter and this was a Cat's Pajamas of a day. Even LilliB agreed (for a
short time). We were on the trail at McKeever Hills by 12:30, lunch in
our packs and sun on our faces. Definitely more snow here but the
pathway was well packed and recently groomed. Three happy skiiers came
off as we were getting ready and we all agreed it was simply a most
beautiful day. With freezing rain forecast for the next few days (yep,
it's March) I think everyone who could (and wanted to) was out enjoying
the day. One of the skiiers was from Milwaukee and was happy to be where
there was snow (he was bicycling on bare ground back home); the other
two were from Ishpeming who were taking a break from having had to
shovel their roofs off twice this past week (when we got 4" of snow in
the last storms Ishpeming/Negaunee area got upwards of 4 feet! McKeever
area was somewhere inbetween.)
We felt so good we decided to head on down
south-east to the infamous C Loop and see if it was do-able on
snowshoes. It was a nice gentle walk down A to get there. This had to be
the easiest snowshoeing we'd done, perfect conditions. Then onto C.
Sure enough, the hills were as loopy and
curvy and steep as we remembered - beautiful, and fun. The photos all
seem to "flatten" out the hills, but trust me, there is nothing flat
about this trail! One skiier had
been through fairly recently. You had to be a very confident,
experienced skiier to do this Loop, and there were a lot of herring-bone
tracks up and down some of those hills. There was just enough traction
for our snowshoes to get up the ups, with a bit of slipping on the
downs.
But we were getting hungry and started
looking for a good spot to sit. There are plenty of downed trees,
comfortable big ones, but the snow was so deep they were well buried. As
we went on, looking for a possibility and a thinking we'd just have to
pack down a spot in the snow along the trail we headed up a particularly
steep series, with the usual curves, (between Fantastic and Heart Attack
-- they love labeling these "special" hills!)
to find at the top -- a bench!! With a view
through some trees of nearby Wedge Lake. We happily settled ourselves in
the sun for a nice long lunch break. Cool enough but warm enough. There
simply wasn't a better place to be at that moment.
But the rest of the trail called so,
refreshed, we gathered ourselves and gear and looked down, down - and
down we went.
And on around C, along the short moderately
flat piece where Bruno's Run crosses, onto the Thunder (steep up, where
we had to hunker down to keep going up without sliding back) and
Lightning (steep down, with a bit of sliding and running to keep our
feet under us), and finally on to the crossroads of B. Did we want to go
around the figure8 B loops? It was just too beautiful a day to end yet,
so around the B's we went, with moderate hills compared to C. Again a
bit of confusion at the intersections (a few more signs would be nice
here) but we got ourselves going in the right direction so we didn't end
up going around B again (and we definitely didn't want to go around C
again!). A real nice return on A (past Hemlock Hill and Stride Out). As
we neared the parking lot a voice behind us made us move quickly to the
outer edges as a skiier glided by in the groomed tracks, having made an
enjoyable loop around A. Living fairly nearby and skiing here often he
confirmed what we suspected, the conditions were too fast today to
comfortably ski C.
We finished off our outing with what has become a bit of a habit, dinner
at the Buckhorn on the way home, where there are more snowmobiles than
vehicles in the parking lot. We sit at our usual small table on the edge
of the crowd of generally big people made bigger by their puffy
specialized outfits, snowmobilers toting colorful big helmets and likely
big appetites. All of us having enjoyed the outdoors each in our own
way.
February 5, 2022 -- More Good Walks
The weather continues to match the hiking trails with its many ups and
downs. But after a stretch of non-hiking weather it comes on back to
some inviting days, and this past week we had three! For us that means
mid-teens to twenties, light wind, little precipitation, and a bit of
sunshine is a bonus.
Friday was one such day and McKeever called
us. We just had to go back to see if the trail was as nice as it was
last trip. And it was! Firm base, enough snow for traction, cool but not
too cold. There were (it appeared) two skiiers and dogs ahead of us and
we followed their tracks around A & B loops. We had noticed before
several side trails folks had made off the main track and we decided to
follow a couple of them. The were both nice loops off of the north-west
part of A, going down closer to Pete's Lake, on un-trod snow. On one we
found a good large downed beech near some beautiful large hemlocks to
sit and eat lunch, enjoying some light sun filtering through the clouds
and branches. Though we didn't see the owners there were plenty of
squirrel and rabbit tracks (including under our beech-seat) who no doubt
made good use of the plentiful little hemlock cones (the little dark
dots in the lower right of the photo). Since the area is rich in large
hemlocks there are often cone-strewn patches along the trail, breaking
up the solid white (along with the usual colorful beech leaves). It was
again a wonderful 2 3/4 hrs in this beautiful area, and plenty long
enough on snowshoes.
January 17, 2022 -- Return to McKeever Hills on Snowshoe
We thought we'd snowshoe on a portion of Bruno's Run today. Parking is
the big question this time of year but there are several options to get
on Bruno's and all of them off Hwy 13. So we drove up to check them out,
and also see if there were any tracks on the trail. There are only short
sections on Bruno's that are reasonably well marked or easy to determine
in the winter (near Pete's Lake Campground and Widewaters); the rest are
quite often iffy and one can easily find oneself wandering through the
woods lost in the snow. Ideally a snowshoer (who knows the trail) will
have gone on before. There was a brisk west wind but one way or another
we'd be walking in the woods so that wasn't a concern, especially with
temps in the mid 20's.
We found two spots to get off the road, but at the Indian River crossing
saw only a lone ski track which meant we'd be breaking trail. That would
be OK, just a shorter walk. As we drove by and considered the options we
saw that a plow had gone into the McKeever Hills spot. Maybe? Steve
pulled in and we found a fully plowed parking lot! Not only that, when
we got out to check the trail there was an even bigger surprise -- a
wide groomed pathway with ski tracks down the middle and plenty of room
on either side for snowshoeing. Plus a sign that indicated snowshoers
were welcome (rare on a ski trail), just please stay off the tracks.
Easy enough to do. And, to top even that, there was a section of this
trail we hadn't walked yet. The decision was easy. Before the snow we
had walked the infamous C Loop so knew we didn't want to do that one on
snowshoes (more steep hills and curves than one could imagine getting
into a fairly short loop) (it's a great walk though!). But we would do A
and B -- clockwise on A and however it looked best to do the figure8 B
loop.
Underneath the recent snow we saw plenty of tracks -- mostly dogs. At
first I thought a big pack of coyotes had gone through, but this
wouldn't be their style. Boot and snowshoe tracks were there so the dogs
had apparently brought their humans with them, who kept nicely off the
recently set ski tracks.
The entire trail through this beech-maple-hemlock woods is beautiful.
There are a scattering of the large dead beeches still standing, still
impressive, even when they finally fall. And their progeny are numerous,
giving such wonderful color to the subdued mid winter forests, their
fallen leaves pesky to skiier, pretty to us. The north part of A Loop
goes roughly along the south side of Pete's Lake with glimpses of its
snow covered flatness. It would be a great Lake to explore in our
kayaks. The terrain is pleasantly hilly and the trail curves around
enough to be constantly interesting. A few steeper hills give the
skiiers a nice downhill without being overwhelming on snowshoes. (In the
photo below that dark spot down the trail is me.)
After an hour or so we found a suitable downed tree nestled out of the
wind to stop for a lunch break just a short ways off the trail. Soon we
heard voices and along glided a couple on skiis, and their dog who
stopped in surprise to look into the woods at us. He was well trained
and didn't come on over to check us out (or maybe he quickly determined
we didn't have anything to eat of interest to him) which alerted the
couple and we exchanged greetings as they went by. It was nice that
someone was enjoying the set ski tracks before it snowed again.
As we went along we were very impressed by the groomer. He (or she, of
course) obviously understood both the skiiers needs and the foot
traffic, and was skilled in the use of the equipment. This is a well
established, wide, cleared pathway which makes a difference, too
(compared to one like Indian Lake Pathway's brushy, narrow track). But
the ski tracks were consistent, in the center area except on steep hills
where he moved the tracks to the appropriate side to give the skiier
room to "walk" up, or down, with plenty of room for the snowshoes. The
majority of the time we walked easily along, side by side on either side
of the ski tracks. Such an easy trail to walk. We were a bit concerned
at one point when it appeared the groomer had made a circle in a sudden
opening and headed back, ending our wonderful groomed track. But no, he
hadn't abandoned his trail users, he just made a comfortable nice curve
around and continued on the trail into the woods.
When we got around the B figure8 Loop we came to the only confusing
spot. But a compass helped orient us and we headed back on the rest of A
Loop which we had walked our previous trip here. In the parking lot
there was a new arrival, a man with two lively dogs who were very
anxious to get out of the truck. He nicely held them back until we were
in the car then a quick moment later they were well on their way down
the path. They knew where they were going. This is obviously a popular
trail, for good reason.
We ended our delightful three hour walk by leaving a thank-filled note
and donation in the donation box. It had been a great way to celebrate
my 70th birthday! With dinner at Buckhorn on the way home to finish it
off; a very nice day.
November
10, 2021 - A New Trail for Us
No casual sauntering here! Surrounded by lakes
and woods and hills and valleys, and the popular Bruno's
Run Trail, is this amazing hilly trail. We were aware of the trail as we
had snowshoed into the National Forest Service's McKeever Cabin many
times to visit a friend who comes up annually to enjoy skiing amidst
the calm and quiet of the northwoods. That route in is on a fairly
flat old two track and we had only gone on the main trail a short
ways, though we did remember it as hilly. And we'd seen the trail
when on Bruno's Run where the two cross paths.
 But this day we decided to check out the
whole trail. The weather forecast was for a week of wet and cold and
we wanted to get in at least one more hike in milder weather before
all that began. Plus the trail was only a little over an hour away.
Or would have been if we hadn't decided to take a back road or two.
But that was part of the adventure. We figured we still had time for
a good walk.
The map said Loop A was 3.7 miles, a
nice distance for a few hours walk, and we could add B if there
was enough daylight. It was mostly cloudy, a bit chilly and
moderately windy, but we were in the woods and comfortable enough.
We did notice the trail designation for skiiers as "More Difficult"
for A and B, and "Most Difficult" for C. That was OK, we liked
hills. We had no idea...
As is so often the case, the trail
markers are for skiiers, not hikers, so a bit lacking in some
places. We had to backtrack right away as we realized the track we were on
wasn't heading in the right direction. We figured it out, began
again, deciding to walk the trail the "right" way (for skiiers) so we
could see the signs/markers head on. Very soon there was another Y
option with no markers. Sigh... We chose to go right, continuing to
enjoy the hilly terrain. Then we came to the back side of a sign --
we were going in the opposite direction from what we thought. There
were a number of signed hills, with names such as "Whoa" and
"Sinkhole", such as ski trails seem to have. But these weren't on
our trail map so didn't help much, except to confirm what you were
looking at -- a very steep hill (up or down). But we had a compass,
a general idea of the area, and Steve's good sense of direction so
weren't worried. We soon figured out where we were, walking the SW
part of A and heading for McKeever Cabin (on, not surprising,
McKeever Lake).
Other than the trail going more up and down
rather than around, the surroundings were similar to the very
enjoyable Bruno's Run. We soon came to the familiar path to the
cabin but were dismayed to see the area all around the cabin had
been "cleaned up", with the underbrush and branches piled in eerie
short TPs topped with a piece of plastic. What a sad sight. The
trail runs down below and around the cabin and I was anxious to get
beyond that weird project. But we were stopped by the "bridge" that
the trail crosses just beyond the cabin. Too bad whoever made the
brush TPs hadn't spent their better time making a proper bridge. The
logs laid across wet area were well down in the water and the only
way across was to wade. We turned back.
Happily back on the trail we came to the
intersection of B and C loops. C was only 1.8 miles long so we could
easily do that, then the little B loop, returning on A. There was
that warning sign, but we'd hiked Rapid River Ski Trail, we knew
about steep hills. Off we went.
To say this is a delightful section of the
trail doesn't give it full credit. The sign isn't kidding. It wasn't
just the numerous roller coaster hills, all straight up and down (no
going around on this
 trail),
but the curves. I think every climb or descent incorporated a curve,
top, bottom or inbetween. I can't imagine doing this trail on
ski's!! Not to mention downed trees to step over. I think there was
only one, very short, straight, flat section on the whole loop. It
was a great hike. But it was a great reminder that one can't get a
feel for a trail, or how long it might take to walk it, based on
mileage. This was not a fast walk but certainly a fun one.
When we came to the intersections of A, B,
and C we decided (once we figured out which trail was which) to head
back to the trailhead on the milder A loop, leaving B for another
time. The days are definitely shorter now. We found the spot where
we'd gotten off the clockwise track of A, at an unmarked cross
trail. But we were glad we made the "error" as we really enjoyed the
C loop and probably wouldn't have had time for it had we taken the
longer northern A loop. So we still have unwalked parts of this
trail to experience and look forward to on another day.
* * * * * *
Copyright
© 2021 by Susan Robishaw and Stephen Schmeck
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