The backstory on this crazy idea!

Mackinaw to Maumee

“Retirement is not the end of the road. It is the beginning of the open highway.”
- Source unknown

Or in my case, the North Country Trail…

I retired nearly five years ago and am fortunate to be in pretty good physical
health (still very immature mentally though) and still fairly active. But as I age and
the aches and pains get more noticeable, I’m looking at my bucket list of things I
want to do before I reach the ultimate retirement. One on the list has been to do
a long hike of several weeks or more. I love to hike and run on trails so this has
always been a goal.

The Appalachian Trail first comes to mind for many of us when we think about
long distance hikes. But that’s not going to happen for me at this time. Instead
I’m going to try to hike the North Country Trail from Mackinaw City at the top of
Michigan’s lower peninsula to Maumee, Ohio where I grew up. That’s a total of
667 miles which is still pretty far, but not anything close to the Appalachian Trail’s
2,200 miles. I hope to do this during the month of June (which is right around the
corner – yikes!!).

Why the North Country Trail in Michigan (www.northcountrytrail.org)? First it’s the
nation’s longest national scenic trail (www.nps.gov/subjects/nationaltrailssystem/index.htm).
It stretches from North Dakota through Minnesota, Wisconsin, both peninsulas of Michigan, around
southern Ohio (using part of Ohio’s Buckeye Trail loop), across Pennsylvania
and New York, and ends in Vermont. It’s about 4,800 miles long. Secondly it
passes right by us here in northwest Ohio as it uses the north fork of the
Wabash-Cannonball Trail and the Scout Trail in Oak Openings Metropark. So it’s
part of our local trail DNA. Finally, I’ve hiked a lot of it in lower and upper
Michigan and can assure you it’s really, really beautiful and a joy to hike.

So after I had talked about this hike for more than ten years, my wife Anne finally
got tired of hearing about it and said, “Just do it.” So Nike here I am. (By the way,
they turned down my request for a sponsorship. Cheapskates!)

The other reason I’m doing this is to raise awareness of SewHope, the nonprofit
I’ve been a part of for almost twenty years. SewHope is focused on helping
extremely poor communities in northern Guatemala through improving medical
care, education, and healthy living conditions (www.sewhope.org). Over these
years with the help of many donors and a lot of on the ground hard work by our
Guatemalan staff and many, many Americans who have visited there, SewHope
has made real improvements in women’s health, children’s education and
nutrition, and the living conditions within their homes. If you wonder, “Why
Guatemala?” the answer for me is God literally told me “Fix this!” during one of
my first trips there. As I walked through a very poor, remote village, I literally
heard those words. There was no one around – certainly no English speaking
villagers – so I believe it was God.

I’m hoping I can make it to the finish of the hike. I’m leaving Mackinaw on May
29th and need to get to Maumee by June 30th . That means about 20 or so miles a
day. I’ve got a cranky knee and an angry big toe that let me know they’re not
happy when I hike a long way. Both are from old injuries from my twenties and
are finally having their day in court. I hope to keep them under control. But as I
tell people my age, we’re like old cars with failing parts, but we still have our GTO
nameplate (although one guy told me he was a Porsche haha!)

But I’m even more hopeful that you’ll take a minute after reading this to check out
SewHope (www.sewhope.org) and see what we’re doing (and have done). I also
hope you’ll consider helping us out.

If I’m not eaten by a bear, fall off a cliff, or arrested for vagrancy somewhere and
have cell coverage, I’ll post interesting (at least to me) pics and short stories of
the trip on Facebook. I don’t understand Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, or hashtags
and won’t be going there. I’m 66 and FB is more than enough social media. But I
also hope to post more detailed updates on the SewHope website. And
remember…

“You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.”
- C.S. Lewis

Donate here