A 52-mile hike through a Michigan forest brings a father and son closer together

They were tired, thirsty — and out of water.

Yet the father and son, still about 5 miles from the end of their 52-mile hike in the Manistee National Forest in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula, were determined to tough it out. Before they could finish, their outdoor adventure would become even more treacherous.

For Jim and Elijah Pool, the hike along part of the North Country Trail, was the latest, and longest, of many. Their goal for this one: to go at least 51 miles in a single day, 1 mile for every year of the dad's life. They did 1 mile better, and the experience, on May 31, marked an important moment in their relationship.

Books, movies and TV shows are full of father-son stories. In many, the pairs go on remarkable quests to test their manhood and bravery, but in so doing, they also share deep feelings, show profound vulnerability and gain new insights.

Jim — the founder of the Bamboo Initiative, a church network in Ferndale — wanted to go on this hike because he realized that with his impending birthday, his first-born child, now 20 and a West Point cadet, has been growing up while he has been growing older.

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Their hike was essentially going the distance of two marathons in a single day, but it also was an opportunity to spend precious moments together.

"We had lots of time for conversations about life and relationships and God," Jim said. "But, also, we didn't feel the pressure to be talking every minute. One of the things that has been great, as we've done these walks together, is we've grown in our ability to be together without needing to talk."

Afterward, Jim — who doesn't turn 51 until Saturday, the day before Father's Day — acknowledged that he could feel the toll the hike took on him, much more than when he was in his 30s and 40s.

Eli, in contrast, recently marched 19 miles carrying at least 24 pounds on his back in under 4½ hours.

"I've been hiking with my dad for as long as I can remember as a yearly tradition for us to do crazy stuff, where we might die," Elijah said. "This was just the latest installment. I was happy to join him. I was excited when he asked me, and I had a great time."

During the hike, Jim saw that his boy — the 5-pound-something baby he held in his arms the day he was born — had become a muscular, 185-pound man. And, he wondered: How much time would Elijah still have the time for these adventures in the future?

In a couple years, if all went as Elijah planned, he would graduate from the U.S. Military Academy and be commissioned as an Army officer. If Elijah got his first choice of postings, he'd be headed to Alaska, about 3,800 miles away. And after that, who knows?

He could be deployed to a combat zone.

He could get married — and have children of his own.

Experiences he didn't have

Fathers hope to give their kids a better life than the one they had, and in some ways, that's a part of what the hikes have been for Jim.

Initially, Jim said, the father-son adventures just sort of happened, but they gradually became more planned.

Jim was born in Dearborn at Oakwood Hospital, which is now part of Corewell Health. His father — who also was named Jim and who died in 2014 — was an Air Force captain who flew big planes during the Vietnam War. But when Jim was just 1½, his parents divorced.

His dad, he said, moved to Hawaii and later Texas, and he never really got to know him.

Jim was raised, he said, mostly by his mom, until she remarried when he was 15.

But, Jim reflected, even though he and his father didn't have a close relationship, he was likely influenced by him — or at least his mother's stories of his dad's service to his country and wartime bravery — to seek an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy in New York, graduate in 1994 and then commission as an officer in the Army, and later transfer to the National Guard.

Still, there was a lot, Jim said, that he missed about fatherhood growing up in Westland and then Livonia, and it wasn't until he became a dad that he understood what it must have been like for his stepdad, Jim Bleakley, — an entrepreneur who died in 2017 — to suddenly become a father to a teenager.

In 1999, Jim met Megan, married her, and four years after that, she gave birth to Elijah James Pool. They named their son after Elijah in the Bible, a figure, Jim said, who showed great courage, a virtue they wanted their child also to possess. And Elijah's father, as well as his paternal, maternal, and step-grandfather were named James.

Jim and Megan also had three daughters, Esther, Eden and Olive, now 17, 16, and 14.

But Elijah was their first child. When he came into the world, Jim said he was filled with amazement, joy and love. Elijah was, Jim added, a part of him, but Elijah also, the new father realized, would one day be his own man with his own thoughts and identity.

Then, when Elijah was about 2, Jim said he had an epiphany. He put his toddler to bed, singing him a lullaby and kissing him goodnight. Jim said it struck him: When he was his son's age, he didn't have a dad to tuck him in, and that made him feel an even greater responsibility to try to be a good father.

9 of the 10 hardest hikes

The Pools' father-son hikes started as family vacation activities.

The first one, which Jim said he had almost forgotten about, was when Elijah was about 6. The family was on vacation in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and Jim took Elijah on a short trail to see, what Elijah recently remembered as a "hidden waterfall."

The waterfall wasn't quite as hidden as Elijah recalled, but the experience seemed to spark in his son a sense of adventure.

Their next hike was when Elijah was about 8. This one was a little longer than the one they took to the waterfall, but still only a few miles long. The family had been vacationing in the Acadia National Park in Maine, and this time, the father and son followed a trail to Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the Eastern Seaboard.

A few years after that, Jim said, he decided to start walking his neighborhood as a way to keep fit. He likes walking, he said, because it's exercise that's not too strenuous. It allows him to get outside, look around and think about all sorts of things.

Jim mapped out a plan to trek every street in Ferndale. He also, he said, walked the perimeter of Detroit.

Then, he had the idea to really challenge himself. He found a list in Backpacker magazine: "America's Hardest Dayhikes." At first, he was going to do them all on his own. But somehow, he said, he ended up doing them with Elijah — and that became a project for the next few years for them to do together.

So far, they've attempted nine of the 10 hikes on the list.

They started with 32 miles in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. Then, did 23 miles in the San Jacinto Mountains in California and 21 miles in the Grand Canyon in Arizona. They hiked 19 miles in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming and 18 miles in the Cascade Mountains in Washington State.

They went 25 miles in the Adirondack Mountains in New York, 32 miles in the White Mountains in New Hampshire and 17 miles in the Bigelow mountains in Maine. The last of their nine hikes, was 41 miles at Mount Hood in Oregon, which they didn't quite finish, but it was where, Jim said, Elijah decided to try to get in West Point.

The hike's last few miles

Jim said that he planned their latest adventure, but it was Elijah who led, pushed and encouraged him to the finish.

And that motivation became especially important during the hike's last few miles. They were in the dark, exhausted and parched, and suddenly there was another problem: glowing eyes. Something, they said, was lurking in the shadows about 50 to 100 feet away from them.

"We knew there were wolves active in the area," Jim said. "But we were super tired, because we had been going for, you know, 17½ hours, and we took the 'it's better that neither of us lagged behind' approach because wolves go for the weaker prey, which, at that point, would have been me."

The threat brought them closer.

It also heightened their resolve to return to their campground, where they started that morning.

Fortunately, they said, they never had to find out whether the eyes belonged to wolves or some other animals.

And while the air of mystery and danger added to their adventure and gave their story a more sensational ending, it couldn't compete with what Elijah said was the most memorable aspect of their hike: that he did it with his dad, "someone I love."

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Father and son's 52-mile hike in Michigan woods brings them closer