March 2021, Weekday - weekend
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| Arcadia Marsh Nature Preserve |
Hiking
We hiked a couple of new trails this trip: Arcadia Marsh Nature Preserve in Arcadia, and Misty Acres Trail in Benzonia.
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| Arcadia Marsh Nature Preserve |
Arcadia Marsh Nature Preserve is an easy and beautiful boardwalk hike. The entire walk, out and back again, was just a little over 1½ miles. We parked in the parking area on M-22. There is also a parking area at the east end of the boardwalk on St. Pierre Rd. There are several benches and viewing platforms along the boardwalk. We observed signs showing three different types of trout in the waters, although we did not see anyone fishing. We saw swans, birds, and muskrats.
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| Misty Acres Trail |
Misty Acres Trail is on the north side of N. Manistee County Line Road/M602 in Benzonia. This hike is a hard packed dirt trail, which is slightly hilly. Even so, it was still an easy hike of about ¾ of a mile. We caught a couple of small glimpses of Betsie River down the hill near the start of the loop portion of the trail.
We passed many preserve and trail signs this trip: Green Point Dunes, Arcadia Dunes Nature Preserve, Upper Herring Lake Nature Preserve, and more. We missed hiking two trails where we had planned to stop because my husband and I both had extreme fatigue symptoms following our COVID-19 vaccination the day before this trip: Arcadia Dunes Baldy Trail in Arcadia, and Fruithaven Nature Preserve south of Frankfort. I had read that the Baldy Trail overlook has a great view of Lake Michigan. These are just a few of the many beautiful outside areas in Manistee and Benzie counties!
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| Pickle Chips at North Channel Brewing Co. |
