Isle Royale - July '09

Route was planned, shopping was done, packs were set....we couldn't wait, so we took off a day early on Friday night, July 17. We headed to the cottage for overnight, then up to Marquette on Saturday to visit friends. We headed up to Copper Harbor on July 19. We checked into the Bella Vista Motel and did a bit of exploring and geocaching. We thought this area was really beautiful. We had dinner at the Harbor Haus and saw the Queen return from the Island. We headed back to the hotel for an early night eagerly awaiting the morning....

Day 1
We awoke around 6 a.m. had our last shower for a week, ate some pop tarts, took a final inventory of our packs, and headed for the dock. We got our car settled in the parking lot, loaded our gear, and boarded the Queen. We took off right on time at 8:00 a.m. The ride was very smooth; it was a beautiful morning. We arrived at the dock at Rock Harbor, Isle Royale around 11:20 a.m. We gathered for the leave no trace lecture on the docks, then on to register for our permits.

We were on the trail headed for Daisy Farm by 12:40 p.m. The trail was pretty rocky, which quickly broke in our ankles. We stopped at 3 Mile Campground and had lunch and rested our feet at one of the shelters. We got back on the trail to finish day one and arrived at Daisy Farm campground at 4:45 p.m. and settled in to shelter 13. This shelter had a great location and had a perfect location for our new backpacking hammock. This was our luxury item of the trip and was a fantastic way to rest our tired feet!! We will definitely be taking this hammock on every trip from now on.

Once we were settled in to the shelter we headed down to Lake Superior to get some water. We were going to soak our sore feet, but the water was so cold we couldn't stand it! Instead we just sat on a log and enjoyed the beautiful view. We headed back to camp, relaxed in the hammock, then prepared a delicous dinner of beef stroganoff, garlic mashed potatoes, corn followed by a Hershey bar for dessert. We played a game of Phase 10 dice and read for a bit. We went to bed early tired after the first day on the trail.

Day 2
We woke up around 8 a.m., made some oatmeal for breakfast and packed things up. We took a leisurely stroll to the beach and enjoyed a cup of coffee. We were on the trail before 1o headed for West Chickenbone. It was a very hot day, so we stopped often to rest, cool, and hydrate. We took our time today so that we could enjoy the beautiful scenery of this wonderful island. Crossing one of the bogs, we had our first glimpse of moose tracks in the mud.

We stopped halfway and had pasta primavera for lunch. This was very yummy and gave us extra energy to head to camp. We arrived at W. Chickenbone at 4:15 p.m. and set up our tent. We went for a quick swim to cool off. We later found that there were leaches in the lake, but we only ended up with one on Eric's ankle. We took a short nap in the hammock, then prepared a very filling dinner of couscous burritoes with chicken. The mosquitoes forced us into our tent by 7:00 p.m. We played Phase 10 dice and headed to bed early again.

Day 3

We woke up around 8:00 a.m. again. We had some breakfast bars, packed up camp, and were on the trail by 9:00 a.m. The hike back up to the Greenstone seemed completely uphill and was a hard start to the morning. We stopped on a nice, rocky outcropping for a long lunch break and had tortilla shells with peanut butter and jelly. Our energy seemed very high today, so we continuted on after lunch only taking a couple of quick breaks to rest our feet, enjoy the breathtaking views, and sip some water.

The trail down to Hatchet Lake campground was a steep downhill, so we took our time since our feet and knees were a bit sore. We set up the tent and took our ritual nap in the hammock. After getting our camp arranged for the night, we made a delicious dinner of pesto tomato pasta with green beans and dessert of dark chocolate cheesecake. We walked down to the lake to fill our water bottles and soak our feet in the lake. A perfect end to a wonderful day! We played a game of phase 10 dice and headed to bed.

Day 4

We awoke at 6:58 a.m. to the distinct sound of two moose calling to each other. We excitedly hurried out of the tent to see if we could see them only to find a thick blanket of fog. It was very interesting to listen to them calling, however. Since we were up, we decided to pack up the tent and get ready for the day. After an oatmeal breakfast, we hit the trail at 8:30 not looking forward to the climb back up to the Greenstone after the treaturous downhill yesterday. We seemed to notice increased fatigue today, so we took it a little slower. We stopped at Ishpeming Tower for a quick lunch break. The mosquitoes didn't allow us to stop for very long though before they started to carry us away.

We arrived at South Lake Desor campground at 1:30. We set up camp, filled our water bottles, and relaxed in the hammock. While resting in the hammock, a man ran by and said he had seen moose swimming by. We hurriedly headed down the the lake in time to watch a mother moose and her calf swim by and get out of the lake a ways down. Our first moose sighting of the trip, and it was much more exciting that we had imagined. They were much larger than we had imagined!! We took a couple of pictures, then headed back to make dinner. Another wonderful dinner, tonight consisting of bacon and pea alfredo pasto. After dinner we read for a while, played phase 10 dice and headed to bed. We awoke at 3:00 a.m. to hear a moose walking around the campground making quite a bit of noise. We could even feel the ground shake as the moose was walking by. I have to admit, it was a little scarey wondering hoping it wouldn't decide to walk right where our tent was! Luckily, it wandered off, and we were back to sleep.

Day 5

We got up around 6:45 a.m. to a few sprinkles of rain. We packed up quickly, ate some breakfast bars, and hit the trail. The rain was on and off for the first several miles on the Greenstone, but before long became a steady downpour. It was too warm to put our raingear on at first, but before long decided to don the gear so as not to get chilled. We reached the junction to head to Siskiwit Bay campground and made a final decision (we'd been toiling with the idea since last night) to continue on to Washington Creek instead of doing the Feldtman Loop. So we took a quick break for gorp and headed on for the "downhill" hike to Washington Creek.

We were excited when we finally reached Washington Creek. We settled in to shelter #6 upon arrival to Washington Creek. This was a long hike and our feet were very sore. We got into dry clothes and rested in our sleeping bags for a while. The rain stopped, so we decided to head into Windigo to explore a bit. We took time to explore the visitor center and then headed to the store. We decided to splurge after 5 days on the trail and get a pizza and some ice cream bars for lunch. They tasted amazing after all of that trail food!! We headed back to the shelter, popped our blisters, and studied the map. We decided to make the shelter our base camp for the next three days until we were scheduled to take the ferry to Rock Harbor. Our feet and backs were very excited since the 11 miles today was very hard on us.

After dinner, we went to the visitor center for the evening presentation on journaling Isle Royale. This was a great presentation. On our way back, we were lucky enough to see a moose eating out in the water. It seemed oblivous to all of the boaters and even the fisherman who was wading and fishing nearby. We headed back to the shelter, played phase 10 dice, and headed for bed.

Day 6

We slept in this morning and then lounged in our sleeping bags for a while before getting up to make some oatmeal. We had decided to rest today and explore Windigo. After breakfast, we headed into Windigo to do a load of laundry. It felt great to have some clean clothes. We enjoyed another cup of coffee while studying the map and figured we had walked over 43 miles so far since arriving on Isle Royale. This felt like a great accomplishment to us.

We attended a program on the bats of Isle Royale at the boaters pavilion, which we really enjoyed. We went on the 1 mile guided nature walk and enjoyed the information about the habitats of Isle Royale. We spent some leisurely time at the shelter to rest our feet during the afternoon. While resting in our shelter in the afternoon, a mother moose and calf walked by the front of our shelter out in the water. Several hourse later, we saw possibly the same mother moose and calf walking by our shelter, get out of the water, and graze on some plants just down the trail. In the evening, we attended a program at the visitor's center on winter on Isle Royale. This was a great program, and very informative but also entertaining. We headed back to bed for early night.

Day 7

We woke up at about 7:00 a.m., had a nice breakfast, and hit the trail for Hugginin Cove by 8:00 a.m. It began to rain after 30 minutes on the trail, and it didn't take long before our pants were soaked, as we walked through the brush. The trail was very beautiful, even with the rain. About 45 minutes before we reached Hugginin Cove campground we saw a mother moose and calf a ways off the trail. We took a picture and continued on. The trail along the coast was breathtaking! We took time to take in the views and take several pictures. After exploring the campground, we headed along the west loop and back to Washington Creek. We went to the store and purchase a couple of shower tokens now that we were done hiking for the trip. The 5 minute shower was worth every penny! We relaxed for the rest of the day, enjoyed the peace and quiet, and got ready for the ferry the next day.

Day 8

We woke up and got things in our shelter packed up. After breakfast, we headed to the dock to wait for the Voyageur II. It was running a bit behind schedule, but after passengers off-loaded and registered for their stay we were on our way. The trip was beautiful as we made our way around the island. After seeing all the beauty, we are excited to possibly explore different parts of the island. It started to rain just before reaching Rock Harbor, so we had to stay inside the boat for the last leg of the trip. We got our packs and headed straight for the campground where we were able to secure the last free shelter. It continued to rain, so we were glad that we were able to get a shelter.

We decided to head to the Greenstone Grill for dinner. The burger and beer tasted great after 8 days on the island! Our taste buds were excited! We attended a program on loons which was very well presented.

Day 9

After breakfast, we got our stuff all packed back up and ready for the trip back to the main land. We were definitely not ready to leave this beautiful island. We boarded the Queen bound for Copper Harbor. The captain let us know that the waves were 3-4 feet with some larger swells, so it could be a rough ride. The waves continued to be bigger as we continued on, and the ride was not pleasant at all. Everyone was very happy to set foot on land once we arrived in Copper Harbor. We had some dinner in Houghton and decided to call it an evening.

This vacation surpassed all of our expectations of Isle Royale. We both immediately fell in love with the island and really hoping to be able to get back soon! Overall we hiked 53 miles and loved every step of it.

Portland, OR - June '09 -- Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!

Porcupine Mountains - July '08

The Porcupine Mountains

Tiff and I decided to go on our first backpacking trip. With Tiffany's relentless research we decided that our first trip would be the Porcupine Mountains. We felt that this would a good place to get our "feet wet." So in July '08 we set out for our first backpacking adventure. We had a beautiful drive up and through the Upper Peninsula. It was about a 9 hour trip total. Ontonagon was our destination. Ontonagon is a small town right on Lake Superior and really is the only place around for quite a ways. From there we went west a few miles until we found the campground that we had reserved a site for our initial stay. The campgrounds were beautiful, right on the beach of Lake Superior. We could see the lake from our tent. At night we both fell asleep to the sounds of waves hitting the rocky beach. We couldn't wait for morning to come. We were so excited for what was to become an unforgettable few days.

Day 1

In the morning we packed everything up and headed for the trail head. With Tiffany's research we decided to start at the east end of Escapement Trail. Escarpment trail is probably the most popular but the most scenic. Once we got to the trail head we had to get our gear on. For Tiffany being only 5'2" the pack was about half her size. So I had help her fling her pack up and strap her in. I think both our packs weighed about 30-40lbs. At first it doesn't seem too bad, but after a a few mile it can begin to feel like 60 lbs. So with our packs on and a quick picture we were ready... ready for our adventure!!! The initial start we were climbing the north side of the mountain. It was a little concerning at the beginning because the first 50 yards was up hill and VERY rocky. We soon found out that it wasn't going to last--at least the rocky part. The first mile or so was all up hill at a pretty sharp incline. Half way up we looked at each other, we both knew what we were thinking..."what did we get ourselves into." After a mile or so we finally got to a scenic vista that overlooked the north side of the mountain...the very side we went up. We got to the vista, and we both ooohed and aaaawed. We though, "hey this a great time to take a break and enjoy the view." From there we continued up the initial ascent. That first climb wasn't easy. We both were new to having large packs that had 4 days worth of food, clothes, and equipment. We punched through and made it to the top!!! From there we could finally see Lake of the Clouds. It was gorgeous. We could almost see our entire trip from that point. For this trip we were basically going around the Lake of the Clouds in a giant circle. Up on the Escarpment trail we took the most pictures because with every turn there is a beautiful view. Here are just some of the pics we took on Escarpment Trail. Escarpment Trail, as you can see, didn't disappoint. We got across half of Escarpment trail on Day 1. We decided to make camp down on the west end of Lake of the Clouds. We had plenty of water available, and we got to see the lake up close and personal. We found a good place to pitch our tent and set up camp after a great day of hiking. We made a nice dinner from a recipe we had found on the Internet called Thanksgiving in a bag. It really hit the spot after a busy day of hiking.

We learned an important lesson that night at our camp. We put our food and toiletries up on a bear pole like we read about. Well...we forgot about the little zip lock baggy with a couple crumbs!!! About 2AM my wife wakes me because she hears something. I said "oh it's probably a raccoon or something" and rolled over. As soon as I did, I heard a deep sounding sniff right next to my head. I knew right then that wasn't a raccoon sniff that was a BEAR sniff. I sprang out of my sleeping bag. We could hear the bear circling around our tent. I couldn't figure out what it wanted because everything that he would want was up on the bear pole. Well except for that little baggy. I began to yell at the bear because I heard that they don't like loud noise, but that didn't work. All of a sudden on my wife's side of the tent her pack flew out from under the vestibule in an instant. That bear flung it out so fast, the pack was there one second and gone the next. I am thinking oh great he is going to drag it to who know where. After a few minutes we didn't hear anything so I got out and flashed the light around. No sign of the bear. Luckily the pack was just about 15 yards away. It wasn't damaged just a little baggy with crumbs sitting on the ground. How he got that baggy out of a pack filled with stuff without damaging or pulling anything else out with it is beyond me. So the lesson of that night was to not underestimate a bear's nose...they can smell ANYTHING even crumbs.

Here is a GPS map of what we hiked on Day 1.

Day 2

The morning didn't come fast enough after that bear experience. Besides the bear it was a great first day full of beautiful views. We hoped that day 2 was going to be just as good. After a hearty breakfast of oatmeal we strapped on our packs and headed back up to the Escarpment trail. We continues on the Big Carp River Trail along the Porcupine Mountains taking in the beautiful scenery. Here are some pictures taken on the trail.

It mostly down hill all the way to Camp #2. We had more cover on day two, as we were in the forest part of the time. We were at the bottom of hills during the part of the trip. The ground was full of fallen boulders that had come from these hills. They made a nice spot to rest our tired feet. However, being lower also meant there were more mosquitoes. After crossing the river on a wooden bridge, we found a nice place to set up camp right next to the Big Carp River. It was a great because we had cold, fresh water just a few steps away. We made a nice dinner of freeze dried Teriyaki chicken with rice and double chocolate cheesecake for dessert. The perfect end to a beautiful day.

Here is our route for Day 2.

Day 3

We woke up on day three and were looking forward to the day. It was very sunny and very warm. We had breakfast, filled our water bottles with the nice cold river water(purified it of course) and off we went towards Mirror Lake. Our goal for day three was to make it to the top of Government Peak which was about 8 miles away. The first half of our trip was down in the Carp River Valley (Correction Line Trail) so it was low, damp and muggy...perfect place for mosquitoes. Let me tell you they about carried us away. We did, however, make it to Mirror Lake in record time since we didn't stop much because the mosquitoes would get you. It was not the nicest part of our 4 day hike, but once we got to Mirror Lake we put on our swimsuits and took a dip. It never felt so good to swim. The breeze off the lake kept the mosquitoes at bay, and there was an bald eagle perched atop a tree across the lake from us. It was a great lunch break to say the least. I really felt like that rejuvenated us from a kind of miserable, itchy morning.

Once we had lunch we packed up and hit the trail; we had quite a ways still to Government Peak. Once Mirror Lake was behind us we were headed NE of the lake. A mile in we came to this marshy area that you needed to walk on little bridges to get through. It was pretty in it's own way. Throughout the day it was very hot, so we drank alot of out water. We even filled up at Mirror Lake, but by the time we got to the bottom of Government Peak we were spent. It took every ounce of strength to get up that peak. Once I got up there I dropped my pack and pitched the tent; I left Tiffany to get things organized. My mission was to find water because all we had was about 14 ounces. We still needed water for dinner and breakfast. So I went down the other side Government Peak to find water. There was a small lake of some kind on my GPS but it was more like a marsh once I got there. I trounced around off trail trying to get to place where I could find standing water. Let me say this if my wife saw the water that I took from there, the very water we would soon drink and make dinner with she would of "died." After filtering it with a coffee filter and purifying it, it didn't look so bad. Heck, I was the one that had to see what the water looked liked before filtering. Yuck! Well that night we didn't really spend much time outside the tent. The mosquitoes were so bad that we just took our rain fly off to let in the breeze and just laid in the tent and talked and played some Toss the Pigs.

Here is our map of Day 3.

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Day 4

Day 4 was yet another beautiful morning. We got up early to see the sunrise that morning. We made some coffee and had some sunrise spuds and stood there enjoying the view from atop Government Peak (sorry the picture doesn't do it justice) . We started down the peak and me came to the very marsh that I found some "water." I said "hey there is where I got the water," well Tiffany wasn't to impressed. It was funny (you had to be there)! Beside the first day atop Escarpment Trail this was the second most beautiful stretch of our trip. When we got up to the river we were on a high bank looking over. It was beautiful with the sun shining and the sound of the tumbling river. We took alot of pictures during that stretch. One very cool thing was right about when we got to Trap Falls I caught somthing in the corner of my eye. At first I thought it was a black labrador retreiver but then I saw another. I looked closer and I realized it was a pack of wolves. Very cool! Not many people get to see wolves. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but by the time I saw them and realized what they were they were gone. I think we interupted their morning drink of water. After a great time on the river we

continued on. We were close now to the finish. Our last mile was pretty flat and easy so we jhust talked and laughed about all the fun thins that happened on our first backpacking adventure. It was a great time full of fond memories that will last a life time. Overall the trip was as good as we could hope for besides the one morning with the mosquitos. We felt good about our accomplishments (hence the flexing) . We hiked about 25 miles give or take in those four day, and we are looking forward to returning. We are plannning a different route to a see some different trails that Porcupine Mountains has to offer.