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Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.  May 2018
MichiganTrailMaps.com

Trail Introduction   |   Guide   |   River Trails   |   Getting There   |   Additional Information


Spring Trails & Rising Trout

There are a lot of reasons to go hiking in May; to enjoy a profusion of woodland flowers, to look for morels, to celebrate the fact that the woods are finally free of snow. But one of our favorites is to watch trout rise to emerging mayflies while fly anglers gracefully cast in an attempt to catch them. As Tim Allen would say: This is pure Michigan.

In this enewsletter Jim DuFresne, the main blogger for MichiganTrailMaps.com, writes about hiking the Mason Tract Pathway and then ends with his top five river trails for spotting trout and maybe an angler in pursuit. As part of the newsletter is our newly re-designed and improved map of the Mason Tract, which has always been one of our most popular downloads.

If you want to know more about Michigan's famed trout streams, order DuFresne's Twelve Classic Trout Streams in Michigan from our eshop.

Hiking Through Mason's Tract  

By Jim DuFresne

The only people we saw while hiking the Mason Tract Pathway weren't on the trail but in the water. Two miles into the hike, the pathway descended to the edge of the South Branch of the AuSable River and in the middle of this blue-ribbon trout stream was a pair of fly fishermen.

For a few minFly fishermanutes we quietly watched them cast dry flies into the ripples of the river and then everybody moved on, anglers and hikers alike. Within the fabled Mason Tract, an undeveloped area of 2,860 acres that is split in half by the South Branch, they had trout to catch and we had another 7 miles to walk.

Since the early 1900s the South Branch has been a playground for millionaire anglers. That includes adventure novelist James Oliver Curwood who had a lodge here and used the river as the setting for his book  "Green Timbers." In 1921 Clifford Durant of the Durant Motor Car purchased the area and built a 42-room mansion on the banks of the South Branch.

In the 1930s George Mason, another auto magnate, obtained the land from Durant. Mason was an avid fly fisherman and the South Branch became his private retreat from the pressures of Detroit.
               
He loved his river so much that in 1954 he bequeathed it to the state of Michigan, opening up this once exclusive wilderness to anybody who cherishes the Northwoods...whether they are a millionaire or not.

Trail Guide 
Mason Tract Pathway MapClick Here to view or download a larger version of the map.

There was a time in the 1990s, when the Mason Tract Pathway was poorly marked and a challenge at times to follow. But over the years it has been extensively upgraded, thanks to Boy Scouts, trout fishermen and DNR staff who rebuilt bridges, replaced benches, added new signage at junctions and stabilized the delicate shoreline bluffs with stairways and fences.
               
Now the only thing that keeps the numbers of hikers low on the Mason Tract is the fact that it's a point-to-point trail.
               
The pathway stretches from M-72, 15 miles east of Grayling, to Chase River Bridge northeast of Roscommon. That leaves you 9.5 miles from where you left your car.
 
"In that respect it's not an easy trail to walk because you need to arrange two vehicles," said my hiking partner Mike Ugorowski said. "But it's worth it."
               
We began at the M-72 trailhead and in a mile had passed through Canoe Harbor State Forest Campground and were looking at the South Branch for the first time.
               
The Mason Tract contains 11 miles of the South Branch but not a single cottage or dock. This natural setting attracts hordes of weekend canoers in July and August who share the waters with fly fishermen.
               
HikerBut on land you encounter only hikers as even mountain bikes are banned from the pathway.
               
For the next 3 miles the South Branch rarely left our view. Sometimes we were on a low bluff above it, occasionally we would drop to the edge of it but it was always there, the river that Mason loved.
               
Eventually the pathway swung away from the South Branch and passed through a stand of old growth timber. One white pine that towered above us looked like it belonged in Hartwick Pines State Park. Within a mile we returned to the river at the Highbanks, a popular stretch for fly fisherman, and a half mile later we arrived at what is left of Durant's Castle.
               
The mansion took two years to build and cost almost $500,000, an extraordinary amount of money for a summer home at a time when the country was suffering from the Great Depression.
               
It included a gym, barber shop, walk-in vault, seven fireplaces and was wired for a ticker tape so Durant could keep one eye on Wall Street even from the middle of his personal wilderness. The castle was finally finished in the fall of 1930 and mysteriously burnt down in February of 1931. All that remains today are parts of the foundation and half a fireplace.
               
After reading about Durant's misfortune on a display board, we wondered what would have happened if the castle never caught on fire.
               
Would Mason still have purchased the land and then bequeathed to the people of Michigan? Would we be here right now?
               
"Funny how things turn out," somebody said.
               
We all agreed and then pushed on to finish the remaining 3 miles of our hike.

Five Other River Trails 

Silver Creek Pathway: This 4-mile loop in Lake County winds along both sides of the Pine River, a blue-ribbon trout stream. At one point the pathway skirts the Pine for almost a mile, sometimes right along it, other times just above it. The water is so clear and the current so swift that you can see trout facing upstream, waiting for some morsel of nourishment.

AuSable River Trail: Located in Hartwick Pines State Park, AuSable River Trail is a 3-mile loop that crosses the East Branch of the Au Sable River twice and provides anglers easy access to the trout stream known for its brook trout.

Ocqueoc Pathway: Best known for its waterfall, this pathway, a series of three loops, also provides easy access to the Ocqueoc River in Presque Isle County. At one point you follow the Ocqueoc for almost a mile, close enough for constant views of the gurgling trout stream through the trees. This stretch is one of the most beautiful river trails in the Lower Peninsula and ends with the Ocqueoc Falls, heard long before you see them.

Platte River Springs Pathway: The only way to reach the trailhead of this short pathway in Benzie County is to walk through the trout stream. Once on the other side you can follow a 1.6-mile loop with much of it in view of the Platte River.

Fred Russ County Park: Not every trout stream is up north. This 13-acre Cass County park features a stretch of the Dowagiac Creek, a Class A trout stream highly regarded among anglers for brown trout. The trail system forms a 3.2-mile loop that crosses the river twice and partially follows it in between.

Getting There 

From I-75, depart at Roscommon (exit 239) and head east on M-18 through town. To spot a vehicle at the southern trailhead, turn north (left) on Chase Bridge Road (County Road 519) 2.5 miles out of Roscommon. The South Branch is 2 miles up the road. To reach the northern trailhead, continue on M-18, and the road will swing north and reach M-72. Head 2 miles west (left) on M-72 to reach the posted entrance to the Mason Tract

Additional Information 

For more information on the Mason Tract Pathway contact the Roscommon DNR office (517-275-5151).
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