The MRT is between Hodenpyl Dam and Red Bridge. The 18" wide trail is on the east bank of the Manistee River and follows above the river for 10 1/2 miles. The MRT crosses several streams with wooden bridges and you can see several small waterfalls from the spring fed streams. The trail is well marked with blue diamond trail markers.
After two friends cancelled out on the Saturday hike, I recruited two students from my Manistee Glass Bead class. One wanted to bring her dog, which worked out fine.
I drove several two tracks before the hike to find a spot halfway down the trail to park one of the vehicles for a shorter day hike but decided to do a down and back hike to save the newer cars from going down a small dirt trail.
My student and her dog, Cindy, at the start of the hike.
Cindy did turn around for a better photo but she didn't like to cross the suspension bridge. Maria dug out her hiking shoes for the 4 hour hike. We decided that with the Michigan - Michigan State game on at 3:30, we would just do about half of the hike today.
The trail is above the river and we saw lots of people on the trail and floating down the river. The great weather had someone camping in every other spot along the river. There are about 10 camping sites on the east side of the the river. Most are on bluffs above the river and some are down near the water. About 1/2 of the hikers had camping gear and 1/2 of the kayaks/canoes were going to camp also. The weather was in the high 60's.
The fall colors were about 95% out! What a great day for a hike.
The great weather brought out lots of people on the river. I have never seen the parking lots so full! It was nice to hike along the river and see people hiking up and down the trail. We saw younger people with backpacks, single hikers, and whole families out for a hike. How many more beautiful day do we get this fall? I don't know but I intend to get out every day I can.
You can see how high we are above the river. It makes for great views of the site and sights! Cindy, the dog, was on one of those retractable leashes of about 15 feet. She did a nice job of leading us up the trail and not getting tangled around the trees.
Remember to click on any picture that you want to blow up to a larger picture. The trail was well-maintained and had nice wooden walkways over the small streams. Most of the trail was level but there were a few switchbacks up and down some hills.
The leaves were mostly yellow on the east side of the river and we could see red and orange leaves on the west side.
This young man and his dog hiked in3 miles and set up camp for the weekend. He was reading against the tree with his dog watching the hiking traffic. A nice spot with a great river view.
I love being in the woods and hiking along through it. Being in the woods right beside the river is even better.
As we were leaving, I noticed that the woods beside the road had some great color also. Everyone was a little tired from the 4 1/2 hour hike but we all vowed that we would return and do the whole 10 1/2 miles hike next time.
As we drove by the lower end of the trail, we stopped at Red Bridge and saw an over-flowing parking lot.
Ah, one last look at the river and the foliage in prime colors. Just one more reason that I am happy to live "up north".
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