I got invited to go on this trip by a couple coworkers (who are brother-in-laws) a few months ago and was totally in for an adventure. Plan was to do one hike each day over 3 days, camping overnight between.
First day (Jordan River Pathway):
Started the hike @ 10:44 AM. It rained 100% of the time between getting to the trailhead and pulling out of the parking lot so that was cool. Hopefully we'll be able to get a fire going and dry our stuff out. I have enough backup stuff for tomorrow but I'm not 100% sure about the two guys I'm hiking with
They did pretty good all things considered. One of them is dealing with plantar fasciitis the last couple weeks so he was in quite a bit of pain by the end of it but he finished strong
Saw 1 million mushrooms. (One of the guys I'm hiking with is a hobby mushroom forager, so I got to learn a lot about the mushrooms we saw) Also legit probably saw 50 toads on the trail. Didn't accidentally kill any of them so that's a plus. Had a large patch of wild strawberries and another one of wild raspberries. I've had wild strawberries before but not wild raspberries so that was really cool to see/ eat.
We finished this hike at 7:17 PM, total duration for the day: 8:32:47
The first night we decided to camp at a campground on the Fife Lake Loop, even was treated to a steak dinner by one of the guys I was with which was amazing. I slept in my hammock (with rain shield and bug net)
Second day (Fife Lake Loop):
It was still raining in the morning, so we took our time eating and packing up to let things dry a little, but started our hike a little later than we planned at 10:43 AM.
Not as many toads or mushrooms as yesterday, but about half the first half of the hike was through a field of millions of wild blueberry plants.
Not as much wildlife as I would have expected. Think just a couple of squirrels, a couple of deer, and two owls at the very end. That was pretty cool.
Unfortunately, my two hiking buddies barely survived this hike so they decided to bow out and get a ride home tonight so I get to do the MRT loop solo tomorrow.
We finished this hike at 9:33 PM, total duration for the day: 10:50:05, total duration hiking so far: 19:22:52, total adventure duration: 01:10:49:05
Since the other two decided to go home after this hike (we met one of their fathers at the trailhead of the Manistee River Trail) and because it was already midnight, I decided to setup a bed in the back of my van and sleep in that.
Third day (Manistee River Trail):
What is the only logical thing to do for a trail runner whose buddy's bail on the 3rd of three hikes? Answer: run the third Loop 😀
Slept fairly well in the van, woke up around 7:30, ate some food, got ready and got on the trail at 9:03 AM
My first experience of the MRT Loop was a gem. Did the first 16 mi super chill cuz I didn't know how my body was going to feel after The 40 mi I did the last 2 days. My body was feeling good after that so I decided to kick it up a notch for the last 4 MI. Not really sure if that shows on the graphs or not
I saw a couple of toads, a couple tiny frogs, a woodpecker and one slithery boi.
Finished the run at 2:22 PM, total duration for the day: 5:19:06, total duration hiking/running: 24:41:58, total adventure duration: 02:03:38:03
All in all a fun experience but a little sad all three of us didn't get to finish it together.