Fall Colors on the Manistee River Trail

With hopes of avoiding the crowds, we set off on a cold, cloudy, and rainy weekend to hike the Manistee River Trail and North Country Trail loop. Despite the poor weather, we still found ourselves faced with the challenges of a popular trail.
Backpacking Gear:
Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL1 & REI Quarter Dome SL1
Superior Wilderness Designs Framless Pack & Granite Gear Crown 2.0
Big Agnes Crosho -20 & Sierra Designs 15
Exped 7r & Big Agnes Q-Core Deluxe
Camera Gear:
Sony A7iv & Fujifilm XT-4
Sony 16-35 f4 pz
Sony 20mm 1.8
Sony 85mm 1.8
Viltrox 13mm 1.4
Fujifilm 70-300mm

[@joemiller7296]

This is on my bucket list for next year.

[@lovemihikes]

Definitely a trail to see! The overlooks are a great highlight to the trail!

[@natureismyjam]

Great video and one of my favorite trails to spend time on. You tell amazing stories and always look forward to the next video! Thanks.

[@lovemihikes]

Thanks so much! That really means a lot:) Don’t plan on stopping anytime soon!

[@laplant31]

Hey guys! Sorry you had a less than ideal trip here. My buddy and I just did this trail this past weekend and thought it was the best trail yet (Have only done Potawatomi trail 3 times so far though). Fun insight, I was the guy who asked you if you were "Lovemihikes" last month when you were camping at Poto (April 7th). We were site B2 and I think you were site B1. Anyway, back to MRT/NCT, we've used my Garmin watch with pre-mapped trail routes (downloaded from AllTrails) to stay on route very easy. The NCT doesn't really have campsites, you can setup anywhere far enough off the trail and practice LNT. The MRT side, we thought, had plenty of camp sites. However, at times, you had to WALK a bit to get to the next one lol. The bad news...that bridge where you said, "that's a great spot for a bridge" at 19 mins in this video...my buddy broke his ankle. He wasn't fully looking where he was walking and found himself having to bail on the bridge and hop into the water. I noticed from your video, someone actually moved the bridge itself (to make it easier to get onto the bridge versus trying to go around that big tree). This in turn exposed some large rocks on the bottom of that creek. Well, the pad of his foot hit one of those rocks and completely destroyed his ankle. (I'm talking bone popping out of skin, bad). Thankfully another couple helped us get rescue, but that was quite the ordeal for extraction as well. He's back at home finally, recovering. Crazy how quickly things can change...was truly a freak accident and we are still kind of in shock how it just happened.. We still think it's our best trail yet. I'd definitely recommend trying it out again! We plan to in the next year or so once he's recovered. Happy hiking guys!

[@lovemihikes]

I can't imagine having that happen on a trip! That definitely beats out any horror stories I've had! Thanks for saying "hi" at blind lake as well! Never expected to connect with other backpackers through the channel, but it truly has been one of the best (and most surprising) parts. Always encouraged and humbled to hear of people watching these videos.

[@sbrk]

Looks Stunning, glad you had a good-ish trip :)

[@lovemihikes]

Thanks:) wanted to keep the “realness” in the video! 😅

[@rogerpowers50]

Awesome video and photos! Editing is amazing and captures each moment and the views! Well done! Hard to schedule a trip like so far in advance to be able to capture the colors and have tolerable weather. Hard to believe the following weekend was sunny and 70:)

[@lovemihikes]

Yes! We talked extensively about how every other weekend in October was at least in the 60’s during the day😅. Thanks for watching!

[@jenniferdrake5846]

My daughter, niece and a friend from church did this last summer. It's a lovely trail!

[@lovemihikes]

It is a great trail! The views are certainly amazing!

[@chrislrob]

Nice video! I solo hiked this loop last year and then again this year when I completed the "Lower Michigan Triple Crown"! MRT side is simply a more pleasant trail in every way. I hiked at a small campsite on the NCT last year that I just could not find this year. I have no idea why. Anyway, good video. Subscribed.

[@lovemihikes]

Thanks so much! Certainly many more enjoyable views on the MRT side! Glad you enjoyed the video!