North Country Trail: M-123 to East Lake Road. (The landscape is changing!)

This section of the North Country Trail started from a two track road by M-123 where I hiked through the beautiful forest to East Lake Road. This was a 8.5 mile out and back section for 17 miles in total.
The hike started by crossing over the quiet Bissel Creek before entering the woods. The changing seasons brought down lots of crunchy leaves and crisp air. Newly built boardwalks led me over Taylor Creek and into a cedar swamp filled with tightly packed skinny trees. I then found myself walking past mound after mound of mossy boulders. Some creating a porous slabbed footpath on the trail.
I came to The North Branch of the Carp River and saw around 8-10 fish coming in small groups up the shallow water body. Areas where sand poked over the water, the fish attempted to quickly swim over. I'm puzzled on what the species was. Their fins were blotched with large white spots and the sides of their body were a reddish hue. Let me know if you can identify them!
The large mossy rocks continued strewn along the trail. There were boulders that even had trees growing out of them.
I hope you enjoy this wonderful section of the North Country Trail
(Date Recorded: November 1st 2025)
~All music, photography, and videography in this video are produced by The Next Hill~
What's Over The Next Hill?
00:00 What's ahead on trail
00:59 Starting the hike
1:39 Bissel Creek
3:16 Taylor Creek
4:09 Mossy boulders begin
4:20 North Branch Carp River
4:30 Fish swimming upstream
4:53 Song: FM-Scape
7:38 East Lake Road
7:51 Trail Summary