Bellplaine State Forest 1/29/06
This was dayhike meant to test a foot injury, Belleplaine was a perfect choice with lowland pine forest, oak and white cedar making up for about 12 miles of easy flat trails. I hadn’t been there in over ten years so I thought a trip back was due. Nice area but incredibly poorly blazed and not maintained trails seem to be the rule of thumb. Blow down, flooding, and zero blazes in some areas. All of this combined for confusion and a slow pace. They also must have six or seven short trails (Goosekill, Meisle, North Shore, etc., etc.) that would serve the hiker much better if combined into one longer one instead of bouncing from split to split. Truthfully, I didn’t mind, I wasn’t in a hurry and there was zero human contact, except for one who I will soon get to.
I hit the trail a little after sunrise and watched it bounce off Lake Nummy, a real pleasant start. Not soon after though I heard some heavy crashing behind me, I turned to see a youngish looking shaggy guy come flying up. Now all I really wanted was a hello and a move on, but this character wasn’t having it, at least for a while anyway. He proceeded to tell me what a waste my daypack was, no need for all that s*it I think were he exact words. “All you need for a day like this is water”, and with those words he crashed ahead in a light windbreaker and tennis shoes. Now the weather had forecasted some rain with dropping temperature, I guess I could have told him, but honestly I just wanted him to move on. After bouncing off the shorter trails I hit the 7 mile East Creek Trail which offers a nice savannah approximately three miles in, a ways off in the high reeds, I saw a fox dart into the open and then was gone.
As I broke around noon I saw the strangest of sites, the shaggy guy had somehow crossed a thick bog and was on the opposite side of the lake. With all of the rain they have had there lately it seemed a terrible idea, and rather dangerous at that. I watched him jumping around for a bit and moved on.
With about a mile or two left a light cold rain started, but since it wasn’t coming down so hard I figured it would be a nice place to stop and have a hot bite to eat. I rigged my poncho to two close set Oak trees and cooked up some teriyaki chicken mixed with some ramen noodles. It was nice out there in the light rain, I was dry in between the trees and the solitude did me good. Well, as I was chowing down I heard noise in the distance and knew it was him. I hoped I had moved off trail enough were he would leave me be, but I just wasn’t that lucky. He must have smelled my lunch cause I up he comes, invading my nice little spot under the trees. He was a sight, his entire lower body was soaked up to his waist, the temp had dropped into the low 40’s and he was shivering really badly. He made some small talk about the weather change, but really he was eyeing my food like a hungry-dog, but I didn’t offer him any. Insults won’t really get you too far with me, so I proceeded to eat on. Once I was finished my lunch, I did cook him up a packet of oatmeal I had on me, and then a little tea. He humbly thanked me and moved on. After giving him a twenty minute head start I made my way down the rest of the trail. It was a nice little hike, my foot was strong and I revisited a decent park.
This was dayhike meant to test a foot injury, Belleplaine was a perfect choice with lowland pine forest, oak and white cedar making up for about 12 miles of easy flat trails. I hadn’t been there in over ten years so I thought a trip back was due. Nice area but incredibly poorly blazed and not maintained trails seem to be the rule of thumb. Blow down, flooding, and zero blazes in some areas. All of this combined for confusion and a slow pace. They also must have six or seven short trails (Goosekill, Meisle, North Shore, etc., etc.) that would serve the hiker much better if combined into one longer one instead of bouncing from split to split. Truthfully, I didn’t mind, I wasn’t in a hurry and there was zero human contact, except for one who I will soon get to.
I hit the trail a little after sunrise and watched it bounce off Lake Nummy, a real pleasant start. Not soon after though I heard some heavy crashing behind me, I turned to see a youngish looking shaggy guy come flying up. Now all I really wanted was a hello and a move on, but this character wasn’t having it, at least for a while anyway. He proceeded to tell me what a waste my daypack was, no need for all that s*it I think were he exact words. “All you need for a day like this is water”, and with those words he crashed ahead in a light windbreaker and tennis shoes. Now the weather had forecasted some rain with dropping temperature, I guess I could have told him, but honestly I just wanted him to move on. After bouncing off the shorter trails I hit the 7 mile East Creek Trail which offers a nice savannah approximately three miles in, a ways off in the high reeds, I saw a fox dart into the open and then was gone.
As I broke around noon I saw the strangest of sites, the shaggy guy had somehow crossed a thick bog and was on the opposite side of the lake. With all of the rain they have had there lately it seemed a terrible idea, and rather dangerous at that. I watched him jumping around for a bit and moved on.
With about a mile or two left a light cold rain started, but since it wasn’t coming down so hard I figured it would be a nice place to stop and have a hot bite to eat. I rigged my poncho to two close set Oak trees and cooked up some teriyaki chicken mixed with some ramen noodles. It was nice out there in the light rain, I was dry in between the trees and the solitude did me good. Well, as I was chowing down I heard noise in the distance and knew it was him. I hoped I had moved off trail enough were he would leave me be, but I just wasn’t that lucky. He must have smelled my lunch cause I up he comes, invading my nice little spot under the trees. He was a sight, his entire lower body was soaked up to his waist, the temp had dropped into the low 40’s and he was shivering really badly. He made some small talk about the weather change, but really he was eyeing my food like a hungry-dog, but I didn’t offer him any. Insults won’t really get you too far with me, so I proceeded to eat on. Once I was finished my lunch, I did cook him up a packet of oatmeal I had on me, and then a little tea. He humbly thanked me and moved on. After giving him a twenty minute head start I made my way down the rest of the trail. It was a nice little hike, my foot was strong and I revisited a decent park.
