Ken Ilgunas

THIS GUY is amazing. He just finished hiking the 1700 mile proposed route of the Keystone XL Pipeline from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast of Texas! I feel like I found a kindred spirit.

He wrote a fantastic article for Salon.com that my friend Susie pointed out to me. I'd love to be able to use my hike to raise awareness for hiking in Michigan the same way he used his hike to get people to think about this pipeline.  My sincere congratulations and respect to Ken for this amazing achievement.

The City of Warren

What a pleasure to meet with Bill Gambill from the Office of the Mayor today. I had planned on road walking straight up Van Dyke to get to the Clinton River Trail but Bill showed me some nice trails that run through Warren including the Red Run Trail. Hikers, in general, hate road walking. We would always rather walk on a path or trail of some sort.

Much of Warren is developed but they are very proud of their trails and parks and they work hard to promote conservation with their Going Green program.

The Great Heron Controversy

Seems not everyone is a fan of the proposed trail. As the trail runs through River Bend Park in Shelby Township, it coincides with an established trail that runs near a great blue heron nesting site. There's concern that hikers and bikers passing by would disturb the fragile heronry. In my research, I came across this article from the C and G News. I've also visited the nesting site myself. It doesn't seem like the trail runs close enough to the birds to bother them and there's plenty of signage warning people of the fragile nature of the nesting wading birds.

I'll continue looking into it. Additional comments and information on the subject are welcome here.

My Other Hikes

Check out details of my previous hikes of the Pacific Crest Trail and Michigan's Shore To Shore Trail.

He's at it again!

When a dear friend first sent me the link to the article about Governor Snyder proposing a 924 mile trail that went from Detroit's Belle Isle all the way up the lower peninsula and all the way across the upper peninsula to the Wisconsin border, I knew I had to hike it. I knew that I could be the first if I got my act together and raised some funds for equipment and supplies. The purpose of this blog is to allow those who are interested to follow my adventures and allow those who are so inclined to contribute to my effort.

I intend to start on March 15th or so of this year.  I think it will take me about 10 weeks to complete the hike. My housemates and I scoped out the start of the trail and followed it up to the Paint Creek Trail in Rochester. True, the first couple of days will be mostly road-walking right through Detroit but I'm okay with that. In fact, urban hiking and stealth camping are specialties of mine. Once I get past Saginaw, the rest of the trail will be very remote. I'm okay with that, as well, having just hiked from Empire to Oscoda across the lower peninsula.

The first few entries of the blog will follow me as I prepare and equip for this hike. Stay tuned to see if I survive the city and make it all the way to Wisconsin!