Manistee River Trail Civil War Style

Back during the winter a friend and I decided that we would like to do some backpack style hiking in northern Michigan.  The challenge was we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the gear in order to do it.  Then it dawned on us!  We already have everything we need in equipment and skills, just 150 years out of date.  So, the planning was started to complete the Manistee River Trail Loop Civil War style.
 

The Manistee River Trail Loop is a 21 mile hiking loop composed of part of the North Country Trail and the Manistee River Trail with the Manistee River running down the center.  The area rises and falls in elevation several hundred feet.  The hills, valleys and the vistas of the river felt like we were much farther from home. 

On Friday three of us set out on the trail at about 5:30pm.  We wore our Federal uniform, haversack, canteen and knapsack.  We had a water filter pump in a civilian haversack which I carried along.  We knew the first day would be the toughest.  We had to complete 7 miles to get to the next water source and needed to get it done before dark.  To add to it this stretch of the trail was the toughest for terrain.  The first hill we came to was a very steep incline that went on for several hundred feet.  For the full seven miles the trail would rise and fall in and out of the heavily forested valleys.  We did get to the creek just before it was completely dark with enough time to get some firewood and water collected.  That first drink of water from the fast running cold stream was outstanding and refreshing.  The evening passed quickly as we talked about our first stretch of the hike while frying up some bacon and eating hardtack.  When it was time for bed we hung our haversacks from a tree limb about 30 yards away as a precaution for bears.  The night passed slowly as the temps dropped and the fire was a challenge to stay going.  Scarce deadfall and damp wood was the contributor. 

Come morning we took our time with our bacon, hardtack and coffee breakfast not leaving our camp until 9:40am.  At that time we started the next leg of our journey.  This took us over the Manistee River and now the trail stayed closer to the banks of the river or overlooking it from several hundred feet up.  The views were incredible!  Around noon we stopped for dinner and made a coffee fire.  Again we fried up bacon but started to get creative.  This included adding apple slices and brown sugar to the pan after the bacon was done for a dessert of sorts.  By 3:30pm we hit our next camp area at Cedar Creek which made about 10 miles for that day.  The only area to make a camp in this deep valley was on a small peninsula on a curve in the creek.  We cleared a sleeping area and collected firewood.  Once that was done we dipped our tired feet in the cold creek and began to just relax.  Supper was started around 5pm which was a soup consisting of salt pork, desiccated vegetables and chunks of hardtack (like dumplings) in a boiler just big enough for a three person meal.  Our last apple each made up dessert.  The rest of the evening was passed by talking, laughing, writing, readings of The Raven and a little Shakespeare.  Once it was dark we laid down in our she-bang laughing and telling jokes.  I think by 10pm all was quiet.  The fire quickly died down and it was as black and dark as possible in the valley as we drifted off to the sound of the creek running past. 

Unfortunately, sometime after 3am our slumber was broken by distant rumbling of thunder and lightening.  We secured camp as best we could and laid back down.  The thought of a down pour was concerning.  Our camp was scenic but not a good place to be in a heavy storm, at the bottom of a valley next to a creek and obviously in a low spot. About an hour later the thunder and lightning seemed to all around us.  We deiced we would rather get wet with our gear on than laying on the ground so we packed up.  The call was made to start hiking out since getting wet on the move seemed more favorable then getting rained on just sitting.  At 4:30am we started our hike out with a small flashlight.  The storm poured the rain down and the thunder boomed.  We slowly picked our way along the trail until daylight started to appear on the horizon.  We had just 4 or so miles to go to the vehicle but it seemed longer.  The time it took us is most likely why.  We didn’t get to the car until 7am.  Of course, we lost the trail twice momentarily in the dark so that added time.  The terrain was also almost as tough as the first seven miles and we were not so fresh anymore!

Doing these types of activities really helps us continue to get some kind of appreciation and understanding of what the original boys went though 150 years.  These adventures are experimental archeological studies for us since we use very similar field crafts that they would have had to learn and deploy.  After it was all said and done we were each tired but it was a great experience.  One that we plan to repeat next year.