Jordan River Pathway/NCT loop: May 26-27, 2013

The Jordan River Valley is an 18,000-acre block of state-owned forest land in northeast Antrim County. Good wildlife watching and beautiful scenery are common along the Jordan River, Michigan's first waterway to be officially designated as a Wild and Scenic River. Much of the area has been proposed as an old growth forest area.

The Jordan River Pathway, an 18 miles loop winds through this portion of the Mackinaw State Forest. The Pathway contains several loops of varying lengths. One loop begins at Deadman's Hill, which offers a spectacular vista of the surrounding countryside and river floodplain. A second breathtaking and popular vista is Landslide Overlook. Part of this Pathway is the North Country National Scenic Trail, that when finished, will extend 4,000 miles from New York to North Dakota. 

We began at Deadman's hill and hiked the east side of the loop first.

This is one of the most expansive views in lower Michigan.  I'm sure this would be an excellent spot for fall colors.

Landslide Overlook

We joined the North Country National Scenic Trail for the 2nd half of the loop.

We passed the only point on the NCT where the trail crosses the 45th parallel.

The forest floor was very fluffy.

We made it the to the Pinney Bridge Campground and set up camp.  There were a few others around at the campsites.

We made a fire and cooked up some pesto pizzas with cous cous!

There were great views on the west side of the loop.

The Jordan River

We passed a nice pond on a beaver dam.

Back at the trailhead!

This was a great two-day loop hike.  While mostly in the forest, there was lots of variety in vegetation. We had great weather!  There were some mosquitoes at the Pinney Bridge Campground and we also found a few ticks, so make sure you do tick checks.  This hike would probably be even better in the fall.

Certainly one of the finest hikes in lower Michigan!