Mother Goose Returns to NCT to do Northern Lower Michigan

Mother Goose (photo by mikendyan)

based on the journal of Mother Goose

"Mother Goose," Bonita Helton, came back to Michigan in August to hike some more miles of the North Country Trail. Because she enjoyed Pictured Rocks so much, she began in Marquette and rehiked east from there for about nine days. Her friend, Sue, hiked with her for part of the time. Sue's great talent is reported to be to "yogi" ice and cold drinks from folks in vehicles, which Mother Goose really enjoyed.

Sue writes: "We left camp carrying saturated tents after a night of rain, and slugs. I don't know if it was the four cheesepotatoes or the noises in the creek overnight but I had wild dreams about bears in camp, in which I yelled at Bonita " bark like a dog.... bark like a dog" to scare away the bears. "

With the bugs and humidity so high in the UP, they hitched a ride to the Bridge, and began working south from there. She gives high marks to the trail in most of Northern Lower Michigan. It's not exactly clear where she ended this section of her hike, but somewhere south of Traverse City.

Now, she has returned to the Pacific Crest Trail. Perhaps she'll come back for more of the NCT another year.