Michiganers-wanna hike with me June 21-2 3?

“I am a definite now. I am gonna pack tonite, cant wait to see some tters that I havent in a while.”

“so.... I should show up at the Seaton campground on Friday? ya?
I'm at Sunshine's today. I spent most of the day at beaches and driving around the UP of the UP. It's gorgeous here!!!”

“By all means, be at Seaton creek campground! You are the guest of honor ya know! Can't wait to see ya Cindylu. =)”

“Sight 5 at Seaton is the place, cindy lu. there should be a blue tarp on there to hold it for us. I am leaving the Detroit area around 11:00 / 12:00 ish which would put me there at around 2 or 3. this is shapin' up to be one heck of a shing dig!”

“I should also be there early afternoon if I don't get too lost!”

“Sass - what's up w/ your name? Is it just my computer or did everyone else see it show up as "SassaFRAS"?”

“After Birch got done messing with the computer last night, everytime I hit certain letters a different screen would pop up. So, I capitalized and got around the problem until I was ready to figure out what the HE!! he had done. He did other strange and not-so-wonderful things too. It was like an adventure with the dell. (SIGH)”

“its a typo - Sassafras accidently hit caps lock when she was entering the second a in her name on the login dialog - comes from sharing a computer I guess - its been so long since I logged in I would have trouble remembering my password”

“btw I have decided to come to this hike - so what if its a long drive - not sure when I will be there but I want to arrive before sundown so as to scout out a hammock site along the MRT.”

“Cool! Yea! We'll look for a strange man calling himself HOI, lol.”

“Great HOI! It'll be nice to meet some new people.”

“just look for a guy with a beat up white straw brim (western style) hat with the ECT patch on the front - that will be me”

“Yeah, I'm getting sick of hiking with the same old people.”

“Taking your saw, HOI?”

“I'll be leaving at around 1, should be at the site by 3 if I go FAST. :) Just kidding, see you around 5-5:30. I can bring my saw if you think it will be useful. Also, does anyone know about the footbridge I read about. Does it pose any problems for the dog or is it pretty solid? Can't wait to meet all of you that I haven't and see those of you that I have. Should be a great trip.”

“dhutch, the bridge is pretty big. Shane shouldn't have any problems with it. There're nice handrails and everything on it. It's called the Little Mac and is a suspension bridge.”

“bitpusher - I'll have my 21 inch Corona saw with me in the car but I am probably not going to be hiking with it since this is a hike and not a trail maint. trip. I'll be leaving the 5 footer at home however along with most of the other tools except for the rope and come-along - since getting stuck in the mud once the come-along is part of my car tool set now (grin).”

“Yeah, I'm getting sick of hiking with the same old people."
reformed lurker
12:55:23 PM
06/20/02

Nobody's forcing you to come along... ;)”

“Sure wish I could make this one!! I'm being transfered to Michigan but not in time for this hike.”

“Leatherneck! Say it ain't so!”

“Yes it is true bitpusher. I'm bing transfered to Milan, MI. Should be up there before school starts.”

“I guess the September Sipsey trip is out of the question then, eh? If so, too bad. But them Michigan folks seem like a nice bunch. I'm sure they'll show you plenty of nice places.”

“Just sent you an interesting e-mail
concerning Monte Sano.”

“Just be sure to say "Mile - in" not "mill - on." They were cultured in the 1800s, but not that cultured.

Oh, and we're getting the paperwork ready for you. We'll need prints and sample DNA for your entry into the Michigan Mountaineers. We're the first hiking club in the nation with a gene bank. We're ahead of our time.

Anyway, welcome to Michigan.”

“I am all packed now. 8 lbs total weight!!!!!!!! Thats not counting water or food or stove or shelter or purifier or beer or clothing....”

“I'm going no cook on this one.”

“leaving now - see y'all at Seaton site #5”

“First, I want to say that I hope that by us leaving that we didn't cause too great of concern. We tried everything that we could think of at the time to try to get or leave a message for you guys about what happened. I caught up to le Subtil, dhutch and Tarabull to let them know that SuperB hurt her knee and that we would see you guys at camp 5. We really tried to get there. We drove the access roads looking for the way to get into 5 for a couple of hours. Of course, we had no maps of the roads. We waited at Shalge Creek for 1/2 an hour, but I could tell that we were not going to cross paths. Some of the access roads were in too bad of shape to get my van in, so we decided to be safe and just go home. Her knee was hurt pretty bad. She was doing pretty good after the nice break Tarabull, le Subtil and dhutch and the two of us took. Then about 10 minutes after that, she tripped on a root and planted her foot with no bend in the knee with all of the weight on it and she was done. I've been bugging her about that damn knee for weeks now. She told me that everything was fine, she had good drugs and not to worry. I'm not really mad at her about this, (she feels real bad about this) but just real dissappointed with her. I don't think she will be out on the trail for a while, because I think that this time, she's gonna need to have it opened up and looked at.

I just hope that we ( I ) didn't cause anyone to worry. That's all I could think of on the way home. I hope you guys understand.”

“I hope y'all had a great hike.

Leatherneck, it will be great to have you up north! Michiganders, he is going to make an excellent hiking partner. Heck we have the cook -off winner amongst us!

Talk to you soon.

Birch, how was the race, ya didn't call or write. WTF?”

“Looking forward to getting up there Buddha Bear. It should happen before school starts.”

“I got home OK but I am still a bit weirded out by the drive:

1700 MI state line, 2030 OH, 2330 PA, 2335 MD, 1200 WV and 0230 Home in VA - 14 hours going (Friday PM traffic in MI slowed me down) and 13 hours coming back. MI traffic still as I remembered it - I think I averaged 80 mph on MI 4 lane roads. The hiking and the people were great. The trails were mostly great too but the sand tended to be a little harder on my feet than the more rocky trails I usually hike here in the east - developed one modest sized blister on one foot - not sure why. The people did however have one unusual to me trait - they tend to use real names to the exclusion of trail names - I still am not sure I have the people connected with the TT names (ie what was Mike's trail name again?). Friday night it got a little drunk out and then it rained. Saturday night I was hiking into campsite 5 the hard way (I should have started in the south to do that loop IMO) and when I started hearing thunder I quickly hung my hammock and got under cover - I spent the night alone about .2 south of campsite 7. Sunday morning I caught up with most of the people at campsite 5 and hiked out with them (sort of - I was draging for the end of that hike). As usual I slept well with the hammock. before leaving the trailhead I showed off my cook set - grease pot, alcohol stove and combined windscreen and pot stand. As we left we stopped at a restaurant
and stuffed face at the breakfast buffet.”

“You only picked up on one unusual trait?”

“I'm sure he would have picked up on more if he had spent more time w/ you. LOL”

“What begins well ends well

The drive was great. Good weather, music and company. I felt like I could have driven all day. Le Subti, Sass and I drove together to a trailhead about 8 miles north of camp and hiked in. We started in the evening and got in just before it got “a little drunk out”. Laqtis had brought along some pretty good snacks and beverages. Thanks again!! A few of us stayed up a bit later than planned… and, I, for one, had too much to drink. What about you Q? Anyway, I enjoyed the evening entirely.

It was a warm day on Saturday. Laqtis, super B, dhutch, le subtil, and I hit the south trailhead in the late morning and hiked the 7ish miles to camp 5. I had a little bit of a rough time due to the evening before (a bit dehydrated and not enough to eat). The trail was great. You spend most of your time following the Manistee River. Besides being gorgeous, it is also very inviting. So, when we arrived at camp, Sass and Birch took us down to the river to have a swim. That made the hot hiking worth every step. In fact, we jumped in for another just a couple hours later!

It was a large group at camp. Cindy Lu, Birch, Sass, Sunshine and the littlest sunspot, dhutch and shanedog, adventure girl and two of her friends, reformed lurker, le subtil, and myself. 8 tents in all.

Sunday was a short hike out and some car shuttling. The weekend ended with a very large, very enjoyable meal on the waterfront. And, I’m pleased to report, very little traffic on my way home. Went straigh to Max’s mom’s house for bbq ribs, corn, etc. They didn’t really mind my stink!!

Thanks to everyone for being such great people and enjoying backpacking as much as you all do!”

“Laq - We pieced together that story almost to the letter to explain for your non-reappearance. Hope SuperB is ok, that's the important part. Thanks again for putting together the fabulous Friday "frolic"? Had a great time. Hope to hike with you again.

HOI - glad you came up! You are truly a hiker extroardinare to come all this way.

Twas a great trip overall, thanks to this great bunch of "Michigan Mountaineers"!!!!”

“vra mph vas ots um fun. cep fur dem NINJAS. de bopperpols ur remembous. t vas HOT HOT HOT. ze bod ego wa a wirite.

:) :( :) :(”

“Hey, you guys are very welcome. My pleasure. I had a very good time meeting Cindy lu, HOI, Sunshine, Wyatt and you, dhutch! I wish I coulda been there the second day. You guys are the best to get "sloppy" with. My fingers are doing fine, a little sore (note to self: log my not look hot, but it might be.....). I'm glad that our absence didn't cause problems.

Great time with great people, as always.

Buddha - you were missed!”

“Aawww, Poor RL. Guess that means you're short 4 teeth? Hope all went well at the dentist!”

“Reformed, hope you're feeling fine. Be careful with those pain pills, lol.

Birch and I had an excellant time with everyone. I'm always so impressed that TTer's come from so far away for trips. Impressed and glad.”

“Actually, the wisdom teeth were too impacted, so I have to go to the oral surgeon for that. But I did get some other work done. They really are great at using the numbing agents. Much more local than I remembered.

Anyway...

Oh, yeah, HOI should get an award for driving that far. Cindy also gets a gold star.”

“Ut oh. Mine were impacted badly too. You have my sympathy. Be afraid RL, very afraid...lol. I'll start praying for you right now (snicker). =)”

“I miss all you people already!!!”

“We could start planning another trip for say.....mid/late July.”

“Hey, guys, I just wanted to say how much fun it is to hike with all of you.”

“Q... Not a chance in heck at you're gonna get me to strap on a backpack for an overnighter in July.

However... I could be up for a dayhike.... this weekend!!! I'll start a new thread, k?”

“Q I am up for an overnighter next month....”

“Let's rap about it. I've got some time now before I have to go back to work. As it stands, I only have one more trip planned for the year and that's not until August. Maybe a little High Country Pathway? I'll look at me books and see if anything jumps out at me.”

“I could be interested in an overnighter....”

“I'm in for mid to late July. Have a house guest until the 18th. I'll look at "me" books too. Someplace where we could almost rely on a breeze or something. Oh, what am I thinking, it's Michigan. We could either swelter or freeze in mid-July.”

“Why not someplace on the water so ya'll can jump in when it gets hot?”