Anyone else from the midwest area?
Illinois here, I have been doing shakedown/break-in hikes in Michigan just about every weekend and wondered if anyone else in my area was preparing for 2017.
Alas, don't have time to thru hike, but I am from MI. Where are you doing your shake down hikes?
West central Indiana
I hike the NCT/Manistee River Trail loop a few times a year; however, I think nothing helps as much as climbing dune stairs for hours with a full pack....
Im in southern illinois. metropolis / paducah area. training myself for the AT now. Im a firefighter, and carry 75 pounds alot in structure fires, so my back and upper body are strong.....buuuuutttt thats not the AT, and il need to endure in different ways on AT im sure. so im physical training any way.
From my limited A.T. experience (not a thru-hiker - but have done one 55 mile hike, five 100+ mile hikes, and one 200+ mile hike), I find I need to develop my CLIMBING muscles...And, the only way to do that in MI's lower peninsula flat-land is to do stair climbing. Unfortunately, that only trains my muscles and doesn't train my feet. My feet suffer a bit each year adjusting to the rocky-ness of the A.T. Thankfully, I have not had a single blister since switching to trail runners two years ago. ...
Yet, I sure had blisters before (see link below...)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzp...ew?usp=sharing
Last edited by shelb; 10-20-2016 at 00:08. Reason: Include picture....
I mainly hike the NCT/MRT loop. Closest thing I could find near me but if anyone has other ideas I'm open to other options.
I am but I'm also only about 90 minutes from Colorado
Hiking the AT is “pointless.” What life is not “pointless”? Is it not pointless to work paycheck to paycheck just to conform?.....I want to make my life less ordinary. AWOL
I'm from around Lansing, MI. The Waterloo State Recreation Area is pretty nice, albeit small. You can do a weekend backpacking trip there with moderate elevation change (for MI). Let me know if you're in the area.
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I found new hikes in Michigan from the Michigan Hiking and backpacking group on Facebook. I recommend joining. The Manistee river trail loop is my favorite but there's also the Fife lake loop and the Jordan River Pathway for overnights in Michigan's lower Peninsula. I think the Manistee River trail has the most elevation change. It's my favorite, but it is also the most crowded. The Fife Lake loop was my least favorite because there were a lot of ticks when I went. I think I saw four people hiking the loop and they were going the opposite direction. The Jordan River Pathway was fairly crowded and you "have to" camp at a campsite that costs money in the middle of the loop. I recommend all three if you haven't tried them.
I will be back doing the NCT/MRT loop the 28th, this weekend I'm clearing out the storage unit. My goal is to be comfortable doing the whole loop in one day and continue to do that into the cold weather conditions I expect to experience with my Feb 22 start date. My warm weather setup is well tested but I really want a good chilly rain to hike in as crazy as that sounds.
Hello,
I grew up in rural NW Illinois. I currently live in the Wisconsin Northwoods close to the UP.
I'm Leaving Springer 4/3.
May see you on the AT, but probably not since your starting so early!
I recently border jumped from tinley Park to Valparaiso...
Unfortunately the only true backpacking trail in Northern Illinois is the I&M Canal State trail. At roughly 62 miles and being a National Historic Corridor you are allowed to camp along the trail in a mostly open manner. There are designated sites and some trail head parking... but the only reliable place to park and hike out of is the Channahon State Park access site. Parking is free and if you happen to meet the Ranger (and I mean THE, there is one full time and one seasonal one) then it costs $6 per night but you don't need to pay in advance or get a permit.
One of these days I meant to get a trail guide together as the water sources are an issue. You don't really want to drink from the canal or the river, and as you go west the canal dries up.
That's a filter and purify sorta place.
However you do cross several towns and other parks that have faucets and taps so if that info is organized then it's not too hard to manage water.
It is dead flat, mainly crushed limestone/screenings for the first 20ish miles then degrades a bit to dirt or back to path. While you won't get any hill climbing in... you can stretch your legs and due to the surface you will take a pounding and feel every mile you walk. And as I said- other than some 2-8 mile loops in parks with walk in sites... you gotta go down to Shawnee or up to WI to get any miles in at all. So this is a nice place to get some 20 mile days in if you want to avoid walking in circles. Enough towns, restaurants and bailouts in the first 40 miles too that make it a great training or beginner trail.
And yar- they do say that walking in sand is 60% harder. Hauling my kiddo in the carrier at the Indiana dunes is quite a workout! And the National park is amazingly diverse and beautiful, so come on over the border and there is some nice hiking... but no backpacking there officially speaking.
One thing worth passing on too-
There is a very active group of hangers at hammock forums. I've been going out with them fairly often for the last year as they camp all winter and it fits my schedule to sneak out for a night and sip some whiskey with em.
They go to the I&M often as well as WI, MI, etc. https://hammockforums.net/forum/foru...hp/114-Midwest
I don't like backpacking with others (sorry for those that have asked) but it is fun to meet up at a spot and share a camp. Typically they are out once a month in winter (none of us like summer camping much, lol).
It's only a 3.5 mile walkin to the spot they typically use... so it's nice when you only literally have a night since that trail is easy to walk in the dark and the site easy to find...
I did the Manistee river loop last year during peak color season. Have not done the Fife or Jordan River yet, but day hiked part of the latter. Another great hike is North Manitou Island. Not long, but beautiful and quiet. On your way to Leland you can do the dune climb in SBNL. If you think climbing dune stairs is hard, try climbing the dune without the stairs. I've never made it to the top myself. But coming down is sure fun.
If your looking for similar terrain to the AT in the Midwest you could look to Wisconsin (where I'm from) Devils Lake near Baraboo,WI has lake bluff rims that has good up/down elevations. If you wanted a more AT like experience then it's definitely the Porqupine Mountains in the UP of Michigan. Though if you talk to many of the "old timers" they will say that the best way to resin for the AT is to just do it! Start slow, (like 10 miles a day), carry a 30 ish pound pack max, and don't force your mileage at the beginning as your body adjusts to the process. I myself saw many try to make big mileage get hurt/injured. The thing I found out is that these "veterans" were right.
...not "resin", but "train"...over zelus autocorrect!
For as much as it's knocked... if you're willing to go about 8 hours you can cover a lot of really neat stuff in the Midwest.
But for a quick weekend it does get trickier if you're driving 4-6 hours each way.
On the flipside...
I found myself going to the AT a decent bit at one point. If you're solo and don't want to deal with the travel and logistics of a car...
The Amtrack line running from Chicago to DC or Chicago to NY will get you on the trail pretty easy.
The Amtrack to Harper's Ferry is very nice... leaves about 9 pm you sleep on the train and wake up and have breakfast with your fellow travelers then arrive at 11:00 AM in Harpers Ferry.
There is a line too that goes to Staunton VA (Waynesboro) too so you can head south out of harpers and do the shennies pretty easily.
But I always found that a relaxing way to take a week trip... no stress on the travel, wind down on the train and mellow out... then hit the trail pretty fresh with no car to deal with.
Provided you can sleep in your seat and not need a sleeper car ticket it's well under $200 each way, often close to $100 if you catch a sale.
I used to do the all night burns up to Porkies, the dells, or down to Shawnee... but these days I'm pretty car-lagged from that style of trip and you feel like you didn't get much of a trip. Having the train to decompress on each end is kinda nice.
The Chicago to Carbondale train does take longer than driving but that's an option too.
The Allegan State Game Area has some nice trails, the Swan Creek loops have some elevation and are quite interesting.
http://www.michigandnr.com/publicati...trails_map.pdf
Dispersed camping is allowed September 11 to May 14, with a permit, which is a paper form that you fill out and post on a tree.
http://www.michigandnr.com/publicati...an_SGA_map.pdf
The permit is available for pdf download on the bottom of this page:
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7...648---,00.html
The Trap Hills section of the NCT is only about 90 minutes from my house and is just east of the Porkies. Excellent prep hikes for the AT. Starting to get pretty chilly though, so would probably simulate the weather of a March AT start. it hasn't snowed up here yet however!
My wife and I are prepping for a 2017 NOBO. This fall we hiked the Michigan Shore-to-Shore as a shakedown. It certainly isn't comparable to the AT in regards to terrain, but a two week shakedown was nice. Earlier this year we did the Jordan River a couple of times. We hope to complete one winter hike to test our winter gear before we set off to Springer in March.
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