A similar hike was organized between breweries last October.
Courtesy | Ronni Scrivens
A local group is planning a brewery-to-brewery hike from Hillsdale to Jonesville.
The North Country Trail’s Chief Baw Beese Chapter is planning a brewery-to-brewery hike on Oct. 7 at 2 p.m. from Hillsdale Brewing Company to Ramshackle Brewing Company in Jonesville, according to Ronni Scrivens, a member of the group who is helping organize the event.
“We hope to expose the North Country Trail and the wonderful groups and people involved with it, and grow the member numbers and promote local small business,” Scrivens said.
Participants will hike five miles along the North Country Trail, according to a Facebook post. The trail in total runs from Vermont to North Dakota and cuts directly through Hillsdale.
“There are still so many people that don’t know what the North Country Trail is and that it goes right through our community,” Scrivens said. “We have two awesome breweries that not only have great beverages and food but have amazing atmospheres.”
Felicia Finch, co-owner of Hillsdale Brewing, said she hopes the event will encourage people to use the trail, build camaraderie with Ramshackle Brewing, and inform people about the businesses. She said the two breweries have a good working relationship.
“The more the merrier,” Finch said.
Zack Bigelow, co-owner of Ramshackle Brewing with his wife Jessy, said the business is dog friendly and plans to host live music the night of the hike.
He said local breweries have to work together to compete with larger corporate breweries.
“We’re up against the big guys,” Bigelow said. “We all understand that. Let’s make Michigan the greatest beer state in the world.”
Bigelow said he and his wife have been members of the North Country Trail, Baw Beese Chapter, for close to 10 years.
“We used to be avid hikers,” Bigelow said. “Running a brewery kind of takes away from time to go out in the woods and enjoy nature.”
So chapter members decided to organize the brewery-to-brewery hike. This will be the group’s third such hike since Scrivens first suggested it before the COVID shutdowns.
“I mentioned at a meeting that I thought it would be fun to do, and I was given the green light to organize it,” Scrivens said.
The first hike, however, took place in October 2022, and attracted close to 30 people, according to Scrivens. When people said they wanted to do the hike more than annually, the group held its second hike in April and attracted up to 80 people, she said.
“We have one of the greatest trail systems in the United States,” Bigelow said. “Bring your hiking shoes and come on in.”