There can't be another soul for 50 miles. We smile at him. You didn't hear it from me, but the North Country Trail is the most lovely and least known off-road route in all of flyover territory. And here, at an unmarked trailhead in the Manistee National Forest, is inarguably the best stretch. Clipping in, we drop into red-oak and sumac forest.
Sunlight veins the leaves.
Fallen branches crunch beneath our wheels. Abruptly the trail narrows. Soon saplings are whipping our handlebars. Snaking, curving, and intermittently tumbling, we accelerate downhill. Trees crowd in.