I know it's been a while...

..since I posted anything. I've been very busy and I haven't done much hiking or exploring unfortunately. Last weekend, however, I did go on a new bike route. I rode a 21 mile loop Sunday in the country and It was great weather, and great scenery (for around here, anyway) No photos as i no longer have a working camera. maybe I'll get a new one next month.

Cat Hair

1*, feels like -19*, W 20 mph wind, partly cloudy, BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY, WIND CHILL ADVISORY, WINTER STORM WATCH

Remember, if you are out and about walking this morning, that cat hair is an essential part of staying warm. Make sure you have some on your balaclava---

Extreme Weather Swings

10*, feels like -12*, 91% humidity, W 36 mph wind, snow/fog/wind, WINTER STORM WARNING

I took a walk earlier, when it was warm out. Near 50*. Two hours ago it was 51* for the high. Look at the temps now! Blizzard like too.

Good time to look at old photos and journals for fun!

Thanks, Charlie.

31*, feels like 22*, 78% humidity, S 10 mph wind, fair

I met a new friend this morning, early. His name is Charlie. Charlie Horse. I'm sure someone out there must know him. He came over unannounced and uninvited but made himself known real fast. I had to shout and jump out of bed to handle the surprise visitor. But that's OK, because I'm not usually up before that magical time right before sunrise that I enjoy so much but just can't seem to wake up for anymore.

Yes, I really am a morning person. Morning is my favorite time of day but since I get home latish from work, I tend to sleep in or I wouldn't get near enough hours of sleep every night. So, having been rudely awakened, I couldn't get back to sleep, I decided to go for a walk instead to enjoy the morning.

The first thing I noticed when I headed out was that the air temperature was notably more mild then it has been for a while. And had there been no wind, I wouldn't of needed hat and gloves to keep comfortable. The snow was soft, not crunchy and hard.

I walked through the neighborhood to the bike rail-trail and walked along the county line to Hobart section which heads south and is quite short, I think around a mile tops. I walk through the snow, past the baptist church and the corn field behind it, past a big red barn, lots of those oaks that hold onto brown leaves all winter, and snow covered marshes. I came to a spot that seemed very pretty this morning. there is a creek that runs through a marshy spot which the trail looks down over through the trees. Everything but the moving water was covered in snow with grassy snow island clumps dotting the middle of the stream. There were about a dozen ducks swimming around in circles, quacking and chatting to one another as the golden glow of the sunrise reflected off the water. It was quite a sight, and of course I had decided not to bring my camera along with me this time thinking that there wouldn't be anything worth taking pictures of. So I stood there, leaning against the railing along the trail, absorbing it all in until the golden glow faded off the water. I called it a morning and tuned around, walking back home the way I had come.

Soup's On.

33*, feels like 28*, 78% humidity, SSE 6 mph wind, fair.

The healthy habit calender today says:
"Soups on! A cup of broth soup with veggies before meals can help fill you up with few calories."

I had the same breakfast this morning as I did yesterday. Cereal, milk and a mandarin orange. For lunch though I made up a cup of broth and made sure I ate plenty of veggies before my sandwich. Over all I had quite a few veggies today:

Carrots, green beans, corn, alfalfa sprouts, potato.
I only had one fruit- the mandarin orange.

I still ate some junk-- a apple fritter for desert after dinner and a chocolate bar for a snack today but all things considering, I think this is a lot better then what I was doing a few days ago.

It was a nice day for a walk, near perfect weather. I thought about taking a walk. But I felt tired all over. I just couldn't make myself go, not even for a short one. Having worked 9 days in a row with 3 more left to do, you would feel tired too. I am SO not going to work this much next year.

Expiriment

26*, feels like 16*, 81% humidity, W 10 mph wind, cloudy

The calender today says to experiment! Try something new in my meals. So that is what I did today. In fact, over all I have eaten quite a bit better then I have lately been eating. I added a mandarin orange to my breakfast of corn flakes, and for lunch I added homegrown alfalfa sprouts to my sandwich and drank milk instead of soda with my breakfast and lunch. I had a much better day of eating then I have in a long while. To tell the truth though, I was much too busy today at home and at work to think much about constant snacking (see, I told you I was a boredom eater....) Plus, I have a little less stress today due to the fact I told off a co-worker that was being very rude to me lately and made a stand. I will NOT be treated like white trash by anyone. And just because I am younger, does not give anyone the right to be rude to me. Nope.

I took a walk this morning too, though it wasn't a long or difficult one. It was on a flat paved surface and I was slow because my ankle is still sore and hurts if I over do it. But it was a sweet relief to get out, despite the cold and wind. Yay for exercise!!

Morning walk

The big fishing pond not quite frozen.

Frozen beaver pond.

Abandoned bird nest in the honeysuckle brush.

Cold and windy. Trail flat and paved. 40 minutes.

Critters noted:
Cardinal, Blue Jay, Juncos, Sparrows, grey squirrel, domestic cat, domestic dog (With no owner in sight,I picked up a sturdy thumping stick just in case).

Trip Report Part 2

Saturday Morning:

I got up before first light and began to pack up inside my tent as I had crap sprawled out everywhere in hopes to dry some things with no luck. I packed things wet. Outside the tent, others had already gotten up as early risers. The stars were out. It would prove to be a nice sunny day for us. I ate a granola bar for breakfast that REALLY sucked and that I will never buy that brand ever again in my life, finished packing up and hit the trail before anyone else. I stopped at a near by stream to pump water before continuing on. The trail this morning was very tricky to find. You would be on it one moment and not on it the next. Blazes were few and far between with lots of downed trees, broken marks, and lots of game trails criss crossing the hiking trail. I had to do a LOT of backtracking. The trail was not especially steep, but it was difficult footing none the less, that wore me out after a while. The footing was made more treacherous by all the leaves hiding things that wanted you to break an ankle and everything was slick. It was interesting the different things the trail took me through. Sometimes it went through these relatively flat areas where I could go into cruise mode, sometimes, there was lumpy ground, with large puddles to trudge through and lots of downed trees, other times it was strait up hills or down them, along ridges, and along rocky bluffs with views, where I ran into a couple members of our missing group, Hubcap and Chinmusic with his most awesome trail dog Mugsy. One place the trail turned into a very rocky section, and climbed over the bottom of what looked like a rock slide area. The rocks were loose and this is where I tweaked my right knee and fell pretty good. Here i had to sit a while to let the shock of that go away and to wrap my quickly swelling and bruised knee with an ace bandage. I took some pills, some pictures of the crime scene, and forced my way on. It was just shortly after this in a wooded semi flat area that I paused for a moment that a couple of our group caught up to me. Dhutch stopped for a smoke and I took the time to take my pack off and guzzle water. They hurried on and I started again soon after. More and more group members passed me up as I was going a snails pace now, it had to be less then a mile per hour it seemed like.
The trail returned to nice views, crossed a couple streams that I was hoping would be Gleason Falls where everyone had talked about stopping for lunch. No one was stopped there so I continued on until afternoon. Really dragging, I stopped to try to eat something and forced down some dried berries, a piece of cheese and part of a tortilla. It helped some, but I still was going a snails pace. I finally came to a bigger stream and saw most of the group there, either filtering water or exploring the side trail to the falls. I SO wanted to see the falls, I'd been looking forward to them all day but as I dropped my pack to filter water I knew I did not have it in me to use the extra energy it would take to walk up there and back with the way my knee was feeling. At this point I had quit having fun and I wanted only to get to camp. It couldn't be much farther NOW, I said to myself. A few more miles at best....
Those last few miles seemed like hundreds of miles. Hill after hill of poorly marked trail and backtracking. Everyone was way ahead again until I came down a steep hill and saw them crossing a road bellow to a clear cutting area. I called to them bellow and Randall answered, he was drawing an arrow in the road to direct everyone the right way through. I hurried down the slick hill falling only once to catch up to a few at a stream filtering at the bottom of the hill. I followed with then through the clear cut which nearly killed me as I could not bend my leg and climb over the trees very well. I held off cursing a lot, and just gritted my teeth as Jimmy waited for everyone to get through. This last part was what really did me in that day. I knew then I would likely not make it to camp as they all hurried ahead again. I kept lying to myself to keep me going. I'll stop at 4:30 and find a spot, I lied. I'll stop at 5. I'll stop at 5:30 unless I smell camp fire. It's just one more hill.... I could go no farther and it was getting close to sunset so I found a rare but tiny flat spot that was mossy and looked comfortable enough, sheltered from wind. As I pulled out my tent, I realized I was on solid rock under that cozy looking moss. A solid mass, that would hold no stake. I dragged my tent further back butting in between two trees where I could at least get a few stakes in. At this point I didn't care any more. I threw everything inside, changed into dry clothes, tried to eat but barely got anything down again and guzzled more water. It was almost dark when JimmySan showed up at my meager camp. He offered to carry my stuff for me to camp, to convince me to join the group telling me it was .9 trail miles according to his GPS over a stream and a couple hills. I just couldn't, besides, no body carries my gear but me. Could you imagine the grief I would get from Trail Talkers if I allowed anyone else to carry my gear? No way! So Jim went on his way after I told him I'd get off the trail in the morning with Mataharihiker and Dhutch and planned to get an early start to not keep them waiting for me.
It was a warm night, at least and I was comfortable so long as I kept my legs propped high on my pack all night. At one point I heard an animal scream, then coyotes yipping right outside the tent. Soon after some kind of bird started 'laughing' and sounded almost like a hysterical woman. The pills for the pain made me nauseous so about 4 am I had enough, packed up and set out to make it to the real camp.

Trip Report Part 1

Thursday night: I left work at 11 pm with my husband who drove me over an hour into Illinois to my friend Jim's house where I would surf his couch for the night.

Friday Morning: Woke up around 5:30 to get ready for the trip. We hoped to leave at 6 am as it is a long drive up through Wisconsin to the UP of Michigan. "Randall" was the first to arrive this morning, and then the late comer, "Hubcap', arrived 15 minutes after 6. We loaded our gear into the back of Jim's pickup in black bags to keep everything from getting wet. A good thing as it rained the entire drive up to the UP. Jim played Neil Young music on the radio the entire drive, and we had good conversation. We stopped 2 times for food. Randall wanted donuts and we all had a good laugh when we spotted a naughty novelties store that advertised videos, sex toys, and bakery goods. I don't have to mention the cream filled donut jokes the guys were making... We did not shop there, instead we went into a gas station and got some breakfast before hitting the road again. For lunch we stopped for fast food. Though I didn't eat much. I was actually kind of car sick on the ride up the entire time and would have to look strait ahead or close my eyes sometimes when I got too queasy. The fall colors in Wisconsin were amazing. Reds, golds, browns, dazzled us as we drove by despite the doom and gloom of the wet weather. By 4 we had reached the Old Victoria Historic Site that was our start for the trail. Randall, Hubcap and I tumbled out of the truck and pulled on rain gear and packs. I think I got soaked just doing that. Good thing I was especially anal about putting everything in water proof bags inside my backpack! That would prove to be a real lifesaver :). Jim left with the truck to go meet "Dhutch"at the other end of the trail and Randall and Hubcap decided between themselves who would stay and wait for them. I am a slow hiker and wanted to hurry on to camp so I let them volunteer. I could of sworn Randall had decided to stay, so I said I would go on ahead while the 2 of them seemed to be chatting. It was still raining and I didn't like standing still in it getting cold. It was much better to be moving in the rain. The blazes were well spaced and the trail easy to follow up the hill. Though the trail was sodden and wet, I was so far enjoying it. I saw Jim's pick-up zoom by through the trees where the road must of been and waved but he didn't see me.
I made my way to an old building that looked to be some old mining building that was pretty cool. I took my time playing around there taking pictures and trying to locate where the trail went from there, half expecting the guys to have caught up to me by then. Studying the placement of the blaze, I decided the trail went right through the doors of the building, and low and behold I stepped out the other side and it was there, though partially hidden. I walked down a curving hill around some more ruins, little more then part of a stone wall, and really had to start paying attention as the blazes seemed to either be missing or covered by lichen. I came to a gravel road and found the blazes again on the other side and it took me a short distance along a road and Vitoria town which was nothing but what looked like a few homes. I crossed another road and saw a painted blaze just down the road. I followed that not realizing that this was a forester's mark instead of the real blaze which happened to be ten feet away and the same color exactly. I should of known better. I followed these blue marks along the edge of a clear cut, scrambling over downed trees, branches, scrub and rubble. The terrain became steeper and steeper as it went back into the woods. I managed to half slide and climb up several steep hills, then with a wrong step slid down an impossibly steep ravine. Standing in almost knee deep rushing water at the bottom I had a real OH SHIT moment of panic, especially when I realized that steep side was too muddy and steep to climb out, and so was the other side. Almost sheer walls. The fact that I could of easily broken a leg did not escape me either. I considered my options. Calling for help, blowing my whistle. None of those would do me much good as I could see. The only way to get out would have to be by my own means. If I followed the stream down, it would likely take me to the big lake, if I followed up, I could maybe find a less steep way to climb out. This is what I did. I was soaked to the bone, and needed to move or end up freezing, so I scrambled through the water a short distance and began to use small trees to help climb out. At last!!! I climbed up onto a narrow ridge between that ravine and another and brought out my map and compass while I caught my breath to try and figure out where I had gone wrong. I followed that ridge back to the clear cut and cross-contryed over to the other side where I saw power lines, power lines that I knew parallelled Victoria road. Once I got to the road I followed it back down hill to where I had taken the wrong blaze and low and behold, 10 feet past the false blaze was the real blaze! Boy did I feel like a dope! From there I hurried along until I smelled the acrid smoke of a campfire just being lit and saw "Prosecutor" standing at the top of a hill. He waved and I waved back. CAMP!!
I was sure the others were there before me, but to my surprise, my party wasn't there yet. They MUST be lost too, I thought, kinda worried but sure they would find their way out like I did. I met "Cow Patty" and "Mataharihiker" and set up my tent. By then it had finally stopped raining and I could set up without worrying about getting my dry gear wet and the things I was wearing could dry out a bit. I enjoyed the amazing view, warmed by the fire, and had something to eat and drink as we related our day's experiences.
As it grew dark, Prosecutor went out to try to direct the others into camp. Matiharihiker set up a small lantern in a tree to guide people in but after a while still no one came. Prosecutor had gone all the way back to the road but found no one so he'd come back.
After a while, tired of being damp, I changed into dry clothes and snuggled to sleep in my bag. I woke up shortly after when I heard Jim's voice and Dhutche's voice. Boy was I glad to hear them! I left my warm cocoon-y goodness and went to visit them around the fire a moment, making sure they were OK. I was worried about them. Jim said he knew where everyone was camped, and that put me at ease. What a start!

I'm all packed....

My pack weight with food and water is 33 lbs. That's heavier then normal for me but with such variable weather, I did not want to go light with the shelter and clothes. My normal packed weight is 22-25 lbs. I leave tonight, to crash at my friends house on the couch whom I will ride share to the trail with. It should be wet, but a good old time!

Trip Preperation: Gear

Gear is the most important part of backpacking--It can make a difference between enjoying your trip or coming back miserable.

Since the weather in the mountains is just about guaranteed to be crazy this time of year, I will not be skimping on gear to make my pack lighter. I may have to wait out storms in my shelter, so I have opted for a tent instead of a bivy this time. Waiting out a storm in a bivy is not that great of an idea. So, this is the basics of what I am taking:

Mountain Hardwear PCT2 tent
REI women's downtime 15* bag
Blue sleeping pad cut to about 3/4 size
Homemade alcohol stove and heet as fuel
water filter
Kelty Comanche 4300 backpack
flat stake(as a digging tool) and TP, and other toiletries
Petzel headlamp
boots
First Aid stuff
Compass, maps, whistle
small folding knife
food (see below)
titanium spork and cooking pot
clothes line
bear bagging line
clothes---not decided on yet
lighter/matches
sack for hanging food