Deam Wilderness Sycamore Loop

In May of 2012 Mary and I took our son on his first "real" hike.  We were visiting some close friends in Indiana and decided to visit a very special place.  Mary and I have many fond memories of the Deam Wilderness just south of Bloomington, Indiana.  We deciced to day hike a popular loop trail called the Sycamore Loop.  PDF on the Deam Wilderness  The loop is about 6 miles and makes a nice, but short over night backpack if one wishes.  I have done it several times.

We arrived at the trail head, which has an old fire tower.  You can climb the fire tower but we chose not to since we both have done it before and with the baby it wasn't a good idea.  We decided to let Liam play in the grass while we checked our gear for the hike.  Liam was amazed by the different textures of the grass, sticks and rocks.  We hiked for an hour or so and decided to take a break near a stream for lunch.  We found a campsite right on the edge of the stream and sat down on a nice log for some sandwiches and cheez-its.  After we ate we thought Liam would like a cool dip in the stream as the weather was warm.  This would be his first time playing in a stream.  We are pretty sure he loved it!

After lunch we completed the rest of the loop.  At one point during the hike, Liam managed to get in a nap.  I wish I would fall asleep like him!  Mary, Liam and I had a great time and we are looking forward to future adventures in the wilderness as a family.

Manistee River Memorial Day Trip

Over memorial day weekend my wife, Water Weasel, her fiance' and I did our traditional trip down the Manistee River.  This was the 5th year in a row for us on this trip.  We paddled from 131 Bridge to Harvey Bridge.  We have had lots of rain this spring and we were worried that the river would be high.  It didn't appear to be flooded or anything, but the flow was a little faster than normal.   We got to our campsites much faster than in previous years and we were all less sore after a day of paddling than in the past. 

Saturday was our first day on the river. It was a little chilly and we dodged a few raindrops.  We didn't see many others on the river or lots of people camped on the banks.  We made a nice camp about an hour past Baxter Bridge Campground.  The site was nice but were the mosquitoes bad!!  They were the worst I have seen in 5 years of doing this trip!  I have paddled in the U.P. of Michigan where you can hear the mosquitoes buzzing.  This was not that bad thank goodness!  We enjoyed each other's company around the fire and listened to some great music.  We talked long into the night and finally went to bed when the fire died down.



Sunday was a nice partly sunny day.  We awoke to sun and pleasant temperatures.  The bugs were still bad though.  For breakfast we made some gourmet eats.  The night before our trip I made a yeast dough to make into cinnamon rolls.  So, Sunday morning I baked fresh cinnamon rolls.  I used a recipe from my NOLS course and the same brand of pan I used on my course.  It is called a Banks Fry Bake and it is one awesome piece of cookware.  Click for more info.    The dough is rolled to about a 1/2 inch thickness.  I used a wine bottle as a rolling pin.  The filling is made from real butter, cinnamon and brown sugar.  I spread this on the dough like peanut butter then rolled it.  I tried cutting the dough with dental floss like the recipe suggested.  This didn't work well so out came my razor sharp Mora knife.  After we had the dough cut, I placed them in the pan, covered with the lid, and put the pan on the Whisperlite.  On top of the pan I built a small twiggy fire and baked for about 20 minutes.  You can see the results in the pic and they tasted SOOOOOO good.  I made the dough with 1/3 whole wheat and 2/3 white flour with 2 tablespoons of wheat germ.  The finished rolls were very dense and filling!

We saw more people on the river and more campers along the banks.  I guess with the warmer temps. and nicer weather more people came out.  We came across a flotilla of canoes rafted together and the occupants were thoroughly enjoying themselves.  This was a fine example of "Cabrewing".  A short distance down river we came across 2 kayakers who were part of the "Cabrewers".  One of the kayakers had a nasty ankle injury from jumping off a bluff.  He misjudged the distance.  I got to use some of my Wilderness First Responder skills and did a quick and dirty assessment of his injury.  It was severely swollen.  My guess was that he broke it.  Water Weasel gave him some ibuprophen, I instructed him to keep the angle in the river to ice it, and I suggested he hurry to his take out point and get to a hospital ASAP.  I saw him an hour after we set up camp and his ankle looked worse.  I hope everything turned out OK for him.  In the late afternoon we got a nice camping spot on a high bluff.  This was a higher bluff than we normally like to camp on, but the site had a nice breeze and plenty of firewood near by.

I had some time to give my Bidor Parang a good test at this campsite.  There was an abundance of large logs and I got a chance to chop and split a few.  I also practiced digging for worms with it which it excelled at.  No worms were found so I didn't fish.  This parang was well worth the RM28 I paid for it.  That is a little over 7 bucks US.

I decided to get the evening fire going using my firesteel instead of a lighter.  I was determined to use natural tinder so I collected some dead grass and dead fern.  I tried and tried and tried to get a spark to catch but my tinder was obviously a little too damp from the rains the day before.  I finally resorted to some magnesium shavings to get a flame.  Once I got a flame the grass and ferns caught quickly.  After some birch bark and a little pine pitch my small fire was going nicely.  This fire was then built up larger and made smokier to help chase the mosquitoes away.  After dinner we all played a Wild West themed card came called BANG.  This game is from Italy and is very fun to play.  Google it.  We noticed the sky getting a little dark and WaterWeasel busted out her phone.  We were able to get 3G internet way out in the boonies.  She pulled up radar and a storm was on its way.  We prepared the campsite and banked the fire with more wood to prepare for the coming storm.  This video says more than I can type. 





 The storm didn't last long and we had a quiet night for the most part.  Off in the distance we could hear a pretty rowdy party.  We could hear the lyrics of the music and other "crowd" noise.  Sound really carries at night in the woods.  We all went to bed a little earlier than the night before and the party was still going strong.  I awoke around 3 am to a strange sound outside our tent.  I peeked out with my headlamp to investigate and found a raccoon munching on some food at the base of a tree just outside Water Weasel's tent.  I watched the raccoon for 5 minutes or so to figure out what it was eating.  I was maybe 20 feet from it and he did not care I was shining my light on him.  Then I watched him climb the tree and chew on a bag that was hung from a broken branch.  The bag was too close to the trunk and apparently there was some food in the bag.  I got my Teva's on and chased the raccoon away.  I found a small hole chewed in the back and potato chips on the ground.  I moved the bag and hug it from the ridgeline of our tarp.  The rest of the camp seemed secure with no way for marauding raccoons to get at any more food.  I also picked up a half dozen small round rocks for my sling shot and 2 golf ball sized ones in case the critter came back.  At 3am I could still hear the party in the distance going strong!  I briefly woke up again at 5am and could still hear the party!  WOW!!!  I remember those days when  I could party like that.
 

Monday turned out to be an amazing day!  The weather was hot and sunny.  I took a quick dip in the river which was ice cold.  We had a short paddle of 2 hours and then we picked up the cars and headed home.  This was an epic trip and everyone had a good time.  This was the first official canoe trip for Baby Denn and my wife and I think our baby will be a good companion on future trips.  The baby is due in September.  This trip is just what we all needed before a long and busy summer and before Baby Denn arrives!

Chippewa River May 2010

The first weekend of May found my wife and I and a few friends on the Chippewa River near Mount Pleasant Michigan.  This was a new river for us all.  We packed up the canoes and gear in a light rain and headed North.   We used Chippewa Outfitters to spot our canoes and as our take out point.    http://www.chipoutfitters.com/  We put in at Winn Road.  The access here was a little more than a small pull off along the side of the road with a dirt path to a landing near the bridge.  There was just enough room to drop off our 3 canoes and gear.  We did this quickly as traffic on the road was heavy.

The river was absolutely beautiful and a little more technical in places than what we are normally used to.  We had some tight turns to make around fallen trees and some large boulders to navigate around.  The river got shallow in places where we scrapped bottom a few times.  After a few hours of paddling we arrived at Deerfield County park.   This park allowed camping at designated sites for $20 a site.  We reserved 2 since we were just over the legal limit of occupants per site.  A ranger was supposed to check on us and collect a $3 per boat fee.  We told the livery this and they thought it sounded odd.  The ranger never came.  We were the only people camping there that weekend.  After camp was set up I tried my hand at fishing.  I managed to catch about 6 rainbow trout but none were large enough to keep.  One trout swallowed the hook and I felt it a greater crime to release a mortally wounded fish to the river than eat it.  So, wrapped in tin foil the rainbow went into the fire.  A few minutes later we dined on fresh trout!!  

The next morning we woke up to a downpour.  This thoroughly soaked our entire campsite.  Our tent kept us very dry except a little puddle under my wife's thermarest.  Not bad considering how much rain fell  and we were on a packed down campsite.  The gigantic tarp I brought sheltered all 7 of us very well and we enjoyed fresh coffee, eggs, sausage and more eggs in relative dryness.



Beyond Deerfield Park the river widened in places and we also paddled through several ponds.  This was my favorite section of the trip.  It had a much different feel than our usual trips.  We had a sense of wilderness at times and at other times we did not.  We paddled through a golf course!  The massive houses along the river were impressive!  The covered bridge was a highlight of the trip.  You don't see these everyday!  We had more capsizes than all of our previous trips combined.  TIP...TIP!  All capsizes were experienced by the 3 person boat.  We discovered that a middle seat in a canoe is not the best place for someone to sit!  At least the weather was warm and the river not too cold!

 The take out point at Chippewa Outfitters was fair.  There was a 50 yard walk from the river to a small pull off along side the road.  The livery itself was another 50 yards or so beyond that.  The road was busy so we had to be careful loading the boats and gear.  This was a fun and slightly more challenging trip than previous ones.  I would definitely do this trip again!

Manistee River: Sharon Bridges to Coster Road Access

In early September, Water Weasel (check out her blog) her boyfriend, and my wife and I headed up North to our favorite river, the Manistee. Water Weasel had just purchased a like new canoe on Craig's List and was eager to try it out. We drove up Friday night and stayed at the CCC campground. This is a nice place as it is right on the river. There were many other people there that night and at first we were worried we would not have a site. After set up, we cranked up the radio and busted out the High Life and Boones Farm. A tame night was had around the fire.

The next morning we packed up and headed towards the Sharon Bridge access. When we were just 500 yards from the put in point, I realized I had a flat tire! The last time we did this section of the Manistee I messed up my car. I am two for two now. After a Nascar-like tire change to the donut, we were on our way. The put in point has changed a lot since our last time on this section! There is a parking area, toilets, and ramps to help put in your boat! This is a far cry from the washed out gravel, stump, and grass infested put in point of old! We were pleasantly surprised! After unloading and spotting cars, we were finally on the river around 11. My cares started to melt away with that first paddle stroke and sip of High Life. We paddled for a few hours and camped just before the US 66 bridge. We love this river because there is a lot of government land surrounding it. That means you can "ninja camp" as we call it. We are very self sufficient and are able to camp anywhere. We discovered this site on a previous trip. I think we call it Kick Ass now. I am not sure how this site stays as open as it is. There are a few trees which seem to be old apples. I discovered some OLD rusting cans in the woods. Maybe this was a homestead at one time? The site is pretty flat, gets a nice breeze, has a fire ring and is on a nice small bend. There is great swimming here! We arrived at this site about 6 hours after we left Sharon Bridge access.

After supper the bugs came out. They were not horrible, but they were bad enough to just be annoying. Then, I remembered something I read in a wilderness survival book Water Weasel got me. I made a smoke can. I gathered one of those old cans and cut out some holes in the bottom. Inside I put a few hot coals from the fire and added lots of green brush. This made lots of smoke that I placed upwind from our site. A light wisp of smoke drifted through Kick Ass site and kept the bugs at bay...until the green brush ran out. Then I added more.  Check at the end of the post for a video to better explain this technique.

We had a fun evening at the site. We did some swimming and of course lots of consuming adult beverages. The Freeplay Ranger radio kept us entertained with Big Ten football. After much searching, I finally got in my Buckeyes on AM radio. They were playing USC and I really wanted to hear it. I managed to hear the entire 4th quarter and even though we lost, I had a great time during that quarter!

From here we paddled another 3 hours or so to the Coster Road access. This access is very well maintained and has very good parking with a boat launch and restrooms. On the way home we stopped at Houghton Lake Walmart to get a new tire. We also picked up some more ratcheting straps to better secure the canoe. This trip was short, but it is just what we all needed after a very busy summer. No matter how long or short the trip may be, just getting out does so much! So, the question is...what will happen to my car next time we do this section???

Paddling the Huron

The first weekend of May, my fiance' and two of our friends paddled the Huron River. We started just up river from Millford, MI and paddled to Huron Meadows metropark. The paddle overall was good but I probably won't do it again. We paddled through the lake at Millford and Ford Lake which was very difficult. We had to get permits for EVERYTHING. I understand permits to control access but the whole concept sucks in my opinion. It is just nickel and dimeing you to death. Just issue a permit for free and stop when too many people are there. Ok, I am done with that.

The sections of the river without the lakes were beautiful. We found out since construction was going on the 96 bridge that we couldn't go under it. We had to pay a livery to shuttle us around 96. After haggling the price down to $40 we were set. When we needed to shuttle, the livery arrived right away. However, they were very disorganized. We went to one place and our boats to the other. Our driver wasn't listening to us when we told him where we were supposed to go. Eventually we got back on the river.

Overall, the trip was fun. I probably wont do it again overnight because of the lakes, permits and general difficulty of planning the trip. Any day paddling is better than a day at work.

Halloween in Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area

On October 31, 2008 me and 3 of my friends ventured into the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness area. There is not much information on the web about this Michigan gem. It is the only designated wilderness area in the Lower Peninsula. It is located between Manistee and Luddington Michigan on Lake Michigan.

We arrived at the trail head late Friday evening. We had to detour because the road to the trail head had a bridge out. Once we arrived, we paid the $5 parking fee for the weekend, and headed into the darkness.

Night backpacking is always exciting. It was even more exciting this time because it was Halloween. Also, the trails are not well marked here since Nordhouse Dunes is a wilderness area. We eventually ended up along the shore, and the view was spectacular! There was not a cloud in the sky and the stars were out in full force. We could see a lone lake freighter in the distance also. While hiking to the beach we scared up a porcupine. I had never seen one in the wild and once it saw us, it lumbered off in the opposite direction. We eventually found a nice place to camp near the timberline around 9pm. By this time we were starving and made some dinner. After dinner out came the box wine!! A good time was had by all around the campfire.

The next morning we awoke to a beautiful November day. We decided to look for a better site, as in the daylight our previous night's site did not look very good. However, just on the other side of a ridge from our first night's camp we found the perfect site. So, we packed up camp and moved to the new site. After breakfast, which was had close to 10am, we decided to explore. We walked the beach for a few hours discovering all kinds of "pirate treasure." Pirate treasure is anything washed up on the beach that is interesting. We found countless fishing lures, a frisbee, tennis balls and even a flag from a commercial fishing net. One of my friends decided to strip down to his skivvies and take a swim in Lake Michigan! We returned to camp and made a light lunch.

After lunch 3 of us, Brett wanted to stay in camp and "be one with nature", decided to hike more of the trails. What awaited us to discover was breathtaking. The view of Lake Michigan from the high bluffs was amazing. We followed a ridge trail that gave us a bird's eye view of the tornado swath. Apparently a tornado went through the area in June 2008. The DNR denies it was a tornado. Everyone I talked to who knows the area says it was a tornado. Anyway, this area was spectacular too. The force that created this destruction is definitely something to respect. In some ways I wish I could have been there to see it and in other ways I am glad I was not there!!

After dinner we got a nice campfire going and busted out the box wine again. Much fun was had around the campfire that night. In the morning the four of us packed up camp and polished off a bottle of blackberry schnapps to get the day started. We dropped our packs near the dune area to further explore this area before leaving. We managed to take the rest of our box wine with us on this little expedition. Some awesome dune jumping and swimming in Lake Michigan was conducted after the wine took affect. We also found a dead fox well preserved but half buried in the sand. Brett decided to dig him out. We wanted to take the fox home and keep it. Instead, he gave it a burial at sea. Dead foxes can really fly through the air!

We had a great time in the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness area. There are about 10 miles of hiking trails. Some of the trails are closed due to the tornado destruction. This is a great area to base camp like we did. If you love to beach walk, this is the place. Nordhouse Dunes is now on my list of favorite places to backpack in Michigan!

Backpacking: Manistee River Loop

The Manistee River Loop is a backpack I have done more times than I can remember. I have primarily hiked it in spring and early winter. It is located in the Huron-Manistee National Forest near Cadillac Michigan. At the end of this post are some links for more information.

The loop itself is made from the North Country Trail and the Manistee River trail. I always start at the Red Bridge River access. There is a nice parking area on the left hand side BEFORE the bridge. You do need to hike the road and cross the river to get to the trail. Here, there is a pit toilet and water. Be careful hiking the road. The trail will be just across the bridge on the right hand side.
To get to Red Bridge, drive west of Cadillac on M55. Look for Warfield Road on your right hand side. Turn right on Warfield and follow it to Coates Highway. Turn left on Coates. When you reach Red Bridge River access you are there!

The part of the loop I start with is the North Country Trail side. In the first few minutes of hiking you will cross under some massive power lines. Shortly after that you will cross a dirt road. Get ready for a long steep uphill! Some call this Mount Manistee! You will not reach the North Country Trail until you get to a trail junction. Follow the trial to the right to continue in the right direction.
I prefer the North Country Trail side of the loop because you can camp anywhere 200ft. from water. That is easy beacuse there is no water for quite some time! After 7 or 8 miles the trail will decend and a small stream can be found. There is also a pine plantation here. This is my favorite place to camp. There is evidence of previous campsites within the pines. Pack in what you pack out and keep the place clean. Follow Leave No Trace too OK?!?

The trail continues on for a few more miles. Look for a connector trail on the right hand side. This is important because it will connect you to the Manistee River trail. If you miss it you will reach a dam. I have done this before. Turn around and hike back. The connector trail crosses the Manistee River with a big suspension bridge. It is nicknamed Little Mac.

The next section of trail is the most beautiful. Epic scenery of the Manistee River can be seen atop the bluffs. Caution: The trail does follow the edge of the bluffs closely in a few spots. A small waterfall can also be seen. You must camp in designated sites on this side of the river. Eventually you will reach Coates Highway and the parking lot.

This trail is a great weekend hike. It's approx. 20 miles of hiking allow a great work out and allows spectacular scenery. You could hike this in 2 days as I have done before. However, it is more enjoyable in three. Check out the links below for more information.

http://mrtassociation.com/thetrail.aspx
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/hmnf/pages/Recreation/Manistee/cm_manisteeriver_trail_txtonly.pdf
http://www.lnt.org