2005 Softies Hike

Softies Hike 2005 These pictures were taken on the fall scouting expedition for the Softies hike on the NCT in the Porkies along the Little Carp River on the way to Lake Superior. Bev by an amazing yellow birch. The Little Carp River as it flows into Superior--a dandy spot for lunch. Anyone hiking in on Pinkerton Trail can meet us at the bench by the bridge (we're taking this picture from the bridge, described by the Hutchins' as the "elaborate [one] with 63 steps"). From here we could walk out to the lake for lunch or stay along the river. The NCTH Softies Hike ("Hike" because that's what we do all day and "Softies" because we stay at a motel and enjoy the luxury of the hot tub and a warm dry bed at night when we're done hiking.) by Marge Forslin. Six women - Mary Beals, Denise Herron, Shirley LaBonte, Bev Laughna, Ayleen VanBeynen and Marge Forslin - and Walker, the VanBeynen's Belgian sheep dog, hiked for two days across the North Country Trail between M-64 north of Bergland and the Little Carp River Road in the Porkies. We did it Saturday and Sunday, May 14 and 15 - hiking from west to east each day - thirteen miles the first day and five the second. Transportation service between the motel and the trail each day was graciously provided by John VanBeynen and John Forslin. John and Marge Forslin were the "tech" team for the trip - Marge had her GPS and portable ham radio and stayed in contact with John throughout to track the hikers progress and arrange the pick-up times. To deal with trail and weather conditions on Saturday, the hikers used strategies from Marti Leppanen and Walker (the dog). They used Marti's technique - just keep moving! - to deal with the duration of the hike and the on-and-off rain all day Saturday. Sitting on wet ground held no appead and they found that her technique of moving slowly but steadily kept them warm, tickeed off the miles, and kept their spirits up. Thanks, Marti. The hikers crossed creeklets during the day, carefully at first, but, as the day wore on and their feet got wetter and wetter, they switched to Walker's super simple stream-crossing technique - just walk through it! Thanks, Walker. (The hikers eschewed, however, his example of running full speed back and forth along the trail, wallowing in puddles and digging in the mud.) The early wildflowers were out, but hid their faces in the rain, except for the vast crowds of marsh marigolds which shown like sunshine throughout the day. Sunday dawned cooler and clearer and with only five miles to cover that day, the hikers fairly strolled along enjoying the forest on the Lily Pond Trail in the Porkies - a number of them especially enjoyed the areas of dark Hemlocks with trunks velvety black from the rain contrasting with the lacy chartreuses of the newly leafed-out white and yellow birches. The hikers crossed one wide stream that second day just after lunch. Knowing beforehand that the stream would be too wide to do anything but wade across, different hikers tried different methods - some used garbage bags fastened over shoes and up their legs, some tried water shoes with pant legs rolled up, and on hiker used Walker's super simple stream-crossing technique again and just walked through it. They finished they hike along some new trail created last fall to avoid the Summit Peak road walk and found themselves passing through beautiful stands of virgin timber - a great finish to another interesting Softies Hike.




	North Country Trail Hikers		Softies Hike 2005 These pictures were taken on the fall scouting expedition for the Softies hike on the NCT in the Porkies along the Little Carp River on the way to Lake Superior. Bev by an amazing yellow birch. The Little Carp River as it flows into Superior--a dandy spot for lunch. Anyone hiking in on Pinkerton Trail can meet us at the bench by the bridge (we're taking this picture from the bridge, described by the Hutchins' as the "elaborate [one] with 63 steps"). From here we could walk out to the lake for lunch or stay along the river. The NCTH Softies Hike ("Hike" because that's what we do all day and "Softies" because we stay at a motel and enjoy the luxury of the hot tub and a warm dry bed at night when we're done hiking.) by Marge Forslin. Six women - Mary Beals, Denise Herron, Shirley LaBonte, Bev Laughna, Ayleen VanBeynen and Marge Forslin - and Walker, the VanBeynen's Belgian sheep dog, hiked for two days across the North Country Trail between M-64 north of Bergland and the Little Carp River Road in the Porkies. We did it Saturday and Sunday, May 14 and 15 - hiking from west to east each day - thirteen miles the first day and five the second. Transportation service between the motel and the trail each day was graciously provided by John VanBeynen and John Forslin. John and Marge Forslin were the "tech" team for the trip - Marge had her GPS and portable ham radio and stayed in contact with John throughout to track the hikers progress and arrange the pick-up times. To deal with trail and weather conditions on Saturday, the hikers used strategies from Marti Leppanen and Walker (the dog). They used Marti's technique - just keep moving! - to deal with the duration of the hike and the on-and-off rain all day Saturday. Sitting on wet ground held no appead and they found that her technique of moving slowly but steadily kept them warm, tickeed off the miles, and kept their spirits up. Thanks, Marti. The hikers crossed creeklets during the day, carefully at first, but, as the day wore on and their feet got wetter and wetter, they switched to Walker's super simple stream-crossing technique - just walk through it! Thanks, Walker. (The hikers eschewed, however, his example of running full speed back and forth along the trail, wallowing in puddles and digging in the mud.) The early wildflowers were out, but hid their faces in the rain, except for the vast crowds of marsh marigolds which shown like sunshine throughout the day. Sunday dawned cooler and clearer and with only five miles to cover that day, the hikers fairly strolled along enjoying the forest on the Lily Pond Trail in the Porkies - a number of them especially enjoyed the areas of dark Hemlocks with trunks velvety black from the rain contrasting with the lacy chartreuses of the newly leafed-out white and yellow birches. The hikers crossed one wide stream that second day just after lunch. Knowing beforehand that the stream would be too wide to do anything but wade across, different hikers tried different methods - some used garbage bags fastened over shoes and up their legs, some tried water shoes with pant legs rolled up, and on hiker used Walker's super simple stream-crossing technique again and just walked through it. They finished they hike along some new trail created last fall to avoid the Summit Peak road walk and found themselves passing through beautiful stands of virgin timber - a great finish to another interesting Softies Hike.

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Softies Hike 2005