Michigan Hikers! (and Ohio friends)

“Speaking of Reformed, where has he been lately? Lurking??

Mmmm, beer. Question is do I want to set up camp after some beer?”

“Oh, and I just checked the weather. Going to be beautiful! Sunny and 50 degrees.”

“AG - If you can get ahold of Sassy and Birch, they have my phone number.”

“Are you coming on the hike tomorrow, Spock? Just curious.

Oh, I've been around, but busy - organized a quiz bowl tournament and dealing with union response to potential layoffs at my school. Recessions suck.

But I can't wait to get on the trail tomorrow. Some glorious weather we've been having. Maybe we won't get any snow this winter.

hehe.”

“Adventure Girl, if you see this tonight email me so I can give you smileygirl's phone number. She needs to know if you're riding with her tomorrow!”

“Sass- I tried to email you but It failed. Could you please let smiley know that I am not riding with her, and I might show up for the hike but most likly not. We shall see my weekend turned into a huge adcenture it seems.”

“Too late.”

“Thanks to Buddha Bear, Cow Patty, Tarabull and Smiley Girl for a great hike on Saturday.

We walked through a desert, forded a stream, tip-toed our way through a fire zone and carefully navigated our way past areas known to inhabit fierce badgers.

And then, after only barely surviving the hike, we sheltered ourselves against tsunami warnings on the shores of the vast Maumee.

It was a wild and crazy hike, but only by placing ourselves on the edge of survival could we come to that inexorible truth of life - that the Belgians make the best damned beer on this planet.

Good thing my insurance carrier doesn't know about this stuff.

BTW, Smiley Girl, keep me updated on the breast cancer walk stuff - mingels@monroe.lib.mi.us

Can't wait 'til December.”

“Our fearless leader, Reformed Lurker, expertly guided us through the dense oak and pine forests and across the mighty Maumee along with the exhausting trek he described. The ascents were less harrowing than expected (after all, we were in Ohio) and the wildlife, oh my! Even the sassafras trees boldly proclaimed their presence!

As we sheltered ourselves at the shore camp, Buddha Bear revealed superior firewood gathering abilities, Smiley Girl was still smilin', and Tarabull used trivia to keep our thoughts off the threatening weather. Talk of the fate of the Edmund Fitzgerald 26 years ago to the day led us to wonder what this night might have in store for us on the shore on the Maumee. Our shelters held steady and eventually the winds became still. Whew.

Ah, the Michigan Mountaineers & Ohio friends.......”

“Hiking the switchbacks we enountered is still fresh in my mind....and of course who could forget the defening sounds of the great wild creatures above (planes) and around (trains) us. It was quite an adventure! Glad to hear you all survived the night on the Maumee, I was much too scared to spend the night on the banks!”

“Hey how far did you guys hike? Did you do the whole 17? Glad you all had a good time!”

“And did you talk about where we'll hike in December? Any decisions?

Talked to Sunshine Saturday, she's a maybe. Has other plans but really wants to join us and is going to try to do both.”

“No, we didn't do the whole 17 miles. I think we did about 8-10. We hiked so darn fast, though! Had lunch by a beautiful river, the sun was coming through the trees just right, it made a perfect picture! That place would be great in the fall when the leaves are changing. Although it was a lot of fun just to drag your feet and walk through all the leaves on the ground, right Buddha Bear??”

“Yes, it was smileygirl. Walking through the crisp leaves on a beautiful fall day brought back memories from my childhood.

I noticed that you too thouroughly enjoyed stomp”

“Yes, I generally go out of my way to walk through the leaves, even in the parking lot at work. Brings back memories for me too!”

“Rl, Tarabull, and others, the link for the Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day event. :

http://www.breastcancer3day.org/

Doesn't seem like the site has too much info. I requested a brochure, we'll see if it has more info.”

“I, too, enjoyed my weekend. Camping w/ Buddha and cow patty was a blast. And hiking w/ all of you was great too.

Smiley Girl - thanks for the link. I looked around some and it does appear that each individual has the $1900 minimum even if you create a team. That would probably require some corporate donations. I'm going to see what I can do. I really think it would be fun.

DECEMBER HIKE:

As you may have read in above posts... SissyBoyBrian has been elected to Camp Tramp. I have agreed to assist him in this endeavor. If you have any dietary needs, dislikes or allergies, or just a special reqeust, speak now. Bri and I will be discussing the menu over a beer tonight.

We're assuming approx 9 people. I'm thinking lite dinner for Friday night since many will be coming late and will have eaten on the way, breakfast and dinner for Saturday, and breakfast on Sunday.

Everyone can bring their own Saturday lunch trail food. AND their own beverages.”

“Sounds fine. Snacks Friday night would probably be enough if you wanna skip a dinner. If you need any help/Costco access give me a holler!

Re the three day walk: $1900! I hate that there's a minimum you have to raise to participate in these events! I can understand if it's one of the marathons in Alaska, Hawaii, Ireland etc but this is in our backyard virtually! They should be excited to get whatever people will give. What do they provide that warrents a $1900 min. donation? Gold plated tee shirts? Birch and I wanted to do this but I doubt we will if we have to come up with $3800.00.”

“It would be nice if only 1 team had to raise the $1,900, and if The Backpacker.com could throw in a few bucks. :)”

“I was hoping it was a team minimum, too. But, it doesn't appear to be so.

Matt, are you reading this thread?

Sass - they provide a camp city, food, etc for the two nights you are sleeping out. I guess that gives them the right to give us such a large minimum amount.
Thanks for the offer to help. I also have a costco card. We'll be all set.

We're actually looking forward to the challenge of planning a menu for so many people. Maybe we'll find our new talent... catering!”

“I read that most of the participants raise an average of $3K. They apparently tell you how to fundraise. I don't think it would be that hard, it would just take some time.”

“My 'string' calculations using the map trails and scale gave us an 11 mile day. A pretty good half a day's play!”

“11 miles! It seemed like 1/2 mile when hiking with our group!”

“Oh, Buddha, it felt like a 1/2 mile because we were hiking so darned fast! But I agree, its always fun with this group!”

“running girl has raised large amounts of money on a couple of occasions for the leukimia society marathons. i'll tell her to look at this thread if you folks want ideas.”

“Would you please do that Baume?

So did you guys talk about where we're going to hike in December?”

“sass - i wouldn't mind hiking at le subtil's orignal suggestion of hoist lake. sounds really nice.

le subtil - how long would the drive be from grayling to glennie? under an hour?

running girl - if you have suggestions, we would really appreciate them. i'll start a new thread so as not confuse this one too much. see "Raising Money for Charity Hikes"”

“It's 60 miles from Grayling to Hoist Lakes.

Hartwick Pines, <10 miles, has 2 real nice dayhikes, but they're only about 3 miles each.

N. Higgins, and S. Higgins, each have decent dayhikes also.

The High Country Pathway is about 60 miles away N. also. Jordan is about 40, Manistee is about 65.

I was hoping there will be snow on the ground. If there was, I'd like to go x-country skiing. Grayling has a few places nearby with good trails.”

“We will bring our skis if there's snow.
There's actually a 12 mile loop at Hartwick pines, all the way around the whole park. RL researched a trail along the Au Sable. I can't believe you guys neglected to talk about this!! What was going on? Alot of fun and games and heiney gawking?! :o)”

“Sass - I believe some heiney gawking may have taken place. But, we were very busy tracking down endangered animails at Oak Openings. Picking a trail for the December hike was the last thing on our mind. By the way, listen to NPR, you'll be hearing about the Budodo Bird that we found! Very interesting stuff.

I think I will probably leave my skis at home. I don't think Brian has skis so I'll hike w/ him if everyone else decides to ski.

MORE TRAILS:

There's a trail at Wakelely Lake, part of the Huron Nat'l Forest. It sounds pretty cool. "special area designed for the protection and restoration of threatened loons and eagles." It's 10 miles east of Grayling on 72. It looks like its about a 6.5+ mile loop. On the map, it looks like the trails hook up to a bunch of others, but I don't have any other details.

There is also the 11 (approx) mile Midland to Macinac Pathway. It?s about 16 miles east of Grayling on 72. This is not a loop trail, however, and there is only one place to park. So, we?d be back-tracking when we decided to leave.

Loud Creek has hike/ski trails. I don?t know the total miles. It?s close to Mio.

Hartwick Pines sounds good as well. I have no preference.

Shore-to-Shore Hiking and Riding Trail. I don't know much about it. But I assume we could do a shuttle business.

I didn't realize Hoist Lake was so far from Grayling. Maybe I'll make a weekend backpack trip up there in the spring, Le Subtil.”

“Sass - we had other things on our minds.........and we were living in the moment!

I'm hoping for snow, too. It is on the fringe of the microclimate snowbelt there, ya know.

There're lots of trails close by. Wakeley Lake & Mason Tract paths are close together & hiking both is one possibility. Hartwick Pines is good.....heck, it's all good.”

“The trail Reformed found sounded nice to me. I guess we can decide Friday night. Everyone bring yer maps and trail atlas'!

Tarabull, I won't forgo the hike for skiing (TOO MUCH WORK and I fall a lot) but thought maybe after the hike or Sunday I'd do some skiing.

We got our info from the cabin guy today. You all want a scanned copy of the map emailed to you or directions typed here and or the address so you can do a mapquest search? Check out is Sunday at noon.

Heiny gawkers!”

“Re: Hartwick Pines

Yes, there is a longer SKI trail I forgot about. I've skied it. It may not be so interesting hiking.

One of the 3 mile trails I described was the AuSable River trail. I know it well - I hunt just off of it. I'll be there this weekend. Maybee my son and I will scout the x-country ski trail too.

Like CowPatty said - it's all good.”

“After hiking with you guys a few times, I fully trust you'll pick a great place, there probably won't be any Budod birds there, but that's OK, it'll still be a nice hike.

BTW - I knew I should have brought my G-String!”

“you're assuming it was your heiny being gawked at... and i thought it was mine.

sass - i'll take either scanned map or typed directions. i do a lot of driving in my job and have learned that the online map deals are NOT to be trusted.”

“Heiny gawkers! Shame on you ;-)”

“I dont own skis so if I come Im with you tara. I think that is the weekend right before exams though, so I might actually have to study or somthing.”

“Hanson Hills rec area is ONE mile from the cabin with 35km of trails (thats like 10 ft right???).

BTW I got the reservation confirmation in the mail today,YIPPEE!!!!”

“Hey, pencil me in for the December trip. It's like an 8 hour drive for me so I'll have to cut some classes but hey, I'll survive. Are we just doing day hiking? I'll survive with just a day pack?”

“Yes! A daypack will be enough. Do you want me to email you a map to the cabin and all the pertinent info?”

“Yea, could you? My e-mail addy is in my profile.”

“Sounds like there will be many more hineys to gawk at next month!

I'm with cow patty and le subtil, its all good. I've never even heard of most of these places, so I'm up for anything.”

“deathmarch99 - the more heineys the merrier!

As Sass suggested, we'll all bring our maps etc and the hike destination can be decided Friday night.”

“I called for some maps from the dnr today, should be here in time. I've gotta put in for a vacation day!”

“Hey, that reminds me, what time are you and birch heading up? We'll be going sometime in the afternoon. I just don't want to get their before you if you have the keys!!”

“We'll be leaving @ 1:30 to take Abby to Gma's house (all the way down to Mich Ave and Newburgh) and then away we go! My little brother (6'5/240lbs) is going to watch her until my mom gets home and he wouldn't agree to take her any earlier. The big wuss loves her dearly but is scared to death of her!”

“Don't forget to pick me up, Sassy! :) I'll try to get my hours in before Friday so I can scoot out early.”

“Perfect. We'll be leaving right around the same time.

I checked out the website for Hanson Hills Rec. And I have to say that I wasn't too impressed. Sounds like there is way too much going on there. Not to mention, we're too young to join their camp: Camp Gottawannahavesomefun.


However, they do have tubing/sledding hills. If there is any snow, that could prove to be a bit of fun! Think we could be lucky enough for snow? If so, bring your snow pants and moon boots, kids!!”

“Oooo sledding! I have snow pants actually! No moon boots but a pair of sorrels! I'll have to crawl around in mom and dad's attic and see if I can find my saucer sleds! I'll bring a can of pam to spray them down with too. Ever see *Xmas Vacation*? :oD”

“Start doing your snow dances!!!”