The Vasa Pathway is the crown jewel trail system of the Traverse City area. It is clearly well funded and well taken care of. It provides trail opportunity for people through all 4 seasons whether you're looking for biking, hiking, or winter sports. Though I don't live near Traverse City it is still a trail system I've heard of from other parts of Michigan.
While in the area for a conference I made it a point to have an adventure out here during some afternoon free time. Given the time I had available I targeted the 10K loop. It was all clearly marked. The whole of the 10K loop was a double-track forest road. I believe in the winter this would be groomed for XC which is a treat.
The weather was cloudy and drizzly for most of the way with a few brief moments where the sun would try to poke through. The drizzle wasn't enough to drench me just a little bit of dampness on the clothes. I wore my running vest to carry my water bottles but I was hiking the whole way today. I am still nursing a bad and lengthy case of patellar tendinitis which has me sidelined from trail-running while I try to heal it.
I was intrigued along the way to see a number of single-track paths branching off from the obvious Vasa Trail. None were really marked on the maps so I was left curious where they all branched off to. There was a great bridge between markers 2 and 3 over a small creek and near it signs for a Vasa Snowshoe Trail. On my return trip I decided to check this out but I wasn't able to follow the snowshoe trail for more than a tenth of a mile before it got lost in the woods.
Vasa Pathway
Trailhead Elevation: 737 ft.
Distance: 6.95 mi.
Elevation Gain: 653 ft.
Start Time: 2:34pm
End Time: 4:42pm
Trip Report:
Track:
I have a track and waypoints from the activity all contained in the embedded Google Map. Check it out and use at your own risk.
No comments:
Post a Comment