My plan for Thursday was a morning hike at the trails surrounding the Mid Michigan Community College, about 25 minutes north of town.
I can’t remember the last time I rode my bike there, but I think it might have been 2020 or 21, and I am certain that I never hiked or lumbered there (walking a busted derailleur out doesn’t count). I have cross-country skied, and snowshoed there, but those are different beasts for a different time of year. So, this was all new to me.
The MMCC trails are some of the best trails in the central Michigan area, and I think the only reason I haven’t lumbered or hiked there in the past two years was leftover memories from my riding days, where I logged many hundreds of miles on my bike. Why go full Lazarus and resurrect old memories if you don’t have to.
The only thing the trails lack is a ton of climbing, but they make up for that by being 20 miles of relentless twisty, turny, rocky, rooty, fast singletrack for your mountain bike, trail running, or hiking pleasure.
I’ve had it in mind for over a year now that I wanted to do a 10-mile lumber there, but injuries and time kept getting in the way. And while I wouldn’t be doing a 10-miler today, I was hoping to get back into the routine of utilizing these amazing trails and planned on at least 5 miles of low-key lumbering with my camera.
Mission accomplished.
It was refreshing to be on new/old trails and even “awesomer” to be reminded of how much I love singletrack trails.
I did a hodgepodge of the Red, Blue, Orange, and Pink trails and then jumped on a section of two track back to the parking lot and got 6.25 miles in my feetz. Good times.
The funny thing was that after getting used to moving faster with my version of running, I felt guilty that I was moving so slowly.
“Maybe I should start running?” I thought as I twisted through the trees, but with two cameras (Fuji x70 and Nikon z50) and not wearing my “running shoes,” I stuck to my plan of just lumbering, getting some miles in, and hoping to see some critters to photograph. Sadly, the critters didn’t get the memo.
It’s been a good week of lumbering and running, and I only need 3.75-ish miles tomorrow to hit my 25-mile goal, but with three days to go and a brain that easily gets bored, I’ll probably get out for more.
I hope to continue to use the MMCC trails as a lumbering and running option in the weeks to come, but I will be sure to wear my North Face Altamesa 500s because they offer way more stability on rougher trails than my New Balance fresh foams.
Later.