{"id":209675,"date":"2014-08-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/?p=209675"},"modified":"2014-08-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-09T00:00:00","slug":"ghost-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/?p=209675","title":{"rendered":"Ghost Town"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was tough getting out of Lowell, MI and heading North. \u00a0I initially went South thinking it was North. \u00a0Then I could not find the marked trail out of town. \u00a0I ended up talking to the Oak Wood Cemetery care taker to find the right road. \u00a0It got me to the trail marker. \u00a0Instead of walking further down the road, I turned down the marked path and ended up back in Lowell. \u00a0An hour had gone by and I was right where I had started\u2026back at the cemetery. \u00a0Had I turned left instead of right, as he instructed, I would have been on the right trail. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ninety minutes later, I was on the proper trail, on the Lowell State Game land and in the quiet and solitude I cherish. \u00a0Not a sound. \u00a0Not even the crinkle of dry leaves as a chipmunk scurries away. \u00a0My goal was to reach Fallasburg, at least it was a marked town on the map. \u00a0What I did not realize was that it is a Ghost town. \u00a0There are only about six remaining houses standing that has been build in the 1830s and 40s. \u00a0At one time this place was bigger than Lowell and had a church, post office, three blacksmiths, a general store, grist mill, furniture factory, and saw mill. \u00a0In the Spring logs were floated down the Flat River. \u00a0It was thriving.<\/span><\/p>\n

The main Grand Rapids to Detroit road went through Fallasburg. \u00a0A cover bridge was built over the river, four of them, as they often got washed out in the Spring thaw and overflowing river. \u00a0The present covered bridge was built in 1870 and still is in use. \u00a0Total cost of construction was $1,500. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The railroad eventually was built and it went through Lowell. \u00a0By 1940 Fallasburg was a memory. \u00a0What remains is the covered bridge, a couple of picnic tables and a wedding party having pictures taken. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This was my first long walk (10 plus miles) in some time. \u00a0Total miles completed on the North Country Trail is now 54.6 miles, only 4,546 to go. \u00a0My feet hurt and I was needing water. \u00a0Jan picked me up and we went to the Flat River Grill Lowell for a wonderful meal. \u00a0I had Brussel sprouts with stuffed chicken breast. \u00a0Then I phoned Ron and Dorothy. \u00a0They joined us with their friends Armond and Jane. \u00a0We had a great time, terrific conversation. \u00a0The shower felt so good when we got home. \u00a0Oh, did I mention we stopped at the Jamestown ice cream shop for a small hot fudge Sunday. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is now Sunday morning. \u00a0I am reading <\/span>Soul Keeping<\/span> by John Ortberg. \u00a0On page 136 it says, <\/span>\u201cThe space where we find rest and healing for our souls in solitude.\u201d <\/span><\/i>I read that this morning and I said to myself \u201cOh yea, that is what I did yesterday!\u201d \u00a0I love being alone in the woods.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was tough getting out of Lowell, MI and heading North. I initially went South thinking it was North. Then I could not find the marked trail out of town. I ended up talking to the Oak Wood Cemetery care taker to find the right road. It got me to the trail marker. Instead of walking further down the road, I turned down the marked path and ended up back in Lowell. An hour had gone by and I was right where I had started\u2026back at the cemetery. Had I turned left instead of right, as he instructed, I would have been on the right trail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":209676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_block_theme_hide_title":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15],"class_list":{"0":"post-209675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-founders-corner","8":"tag-hiking","10":"with-featured-image"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/wood-nature-dark-forest-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/wood-nature-dark-forest-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Lou Haveman","author_link":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/?author=5"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=209675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/209676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=209675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=209675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/louhaveman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=209675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}