Midwest Hikers

“Hi all,

I've got the next 2 weeks off work with no real plans, and would like to do a quick overnight or 2 night trip in Northern Michigan.

Probably on the NCT, possibly the section through Wilderness State Park or the section through Tahquamenon Falls State park.

I could do a Mid-Week or a Friday/Saturday trip.

Lets hike!!!

www.mfog1@att.net”

“NCT, I have a sweet place for to camp and hike, my place. The yard has never been nicer, cool breezes, no bugs, large shade trees (no widow makers) and you can hike back and forth from the kitchen and bath lugging drywall and flooring and a tub and cabinets etc.. it'll be an adventure.”

“Funny, but just last night, I was laying in the backyard, in my new Bivy sack & quilt, looking up at a Full Moon.

Got up, and went inside though and hit the bed, but tonight, I think, I'll sleep outside all night. I'll just have to watch-out, for the skunk's and raccoon's. There were 2 raccoons going at it just the other night, what a ruckus they can make.

I've also heard owl's calling each other back and forth, all this on probably 10 acres behind my house, in the city of Canton.

Gotta, watch out for the coyotes too, they might mistake me for a cat or dog, and try to carry me off? LOL
last edited: 7/01/07 12:27:59 PM”

“If you enjoy Birch's hike, you can come to our's too. Its further north, and less populated. I can guarantee there's no mosquitos either (the city sprays once a week!).

LOL!”

“BACK OFF SMILEY, HE'S OURS! ;)


NCThiker, we have owls nest in a pine across the street every year. Every year the mama pushes one owlet out of the nest.”

“I've never felt so wanted....... No fighting girls there is PLENTY of me to go around, sorry birch. LOL

Slept-out last night, and didn't realize it starts getting light at 4:30-5:00am

So, I was prolly only out there 3hrs watched the moon rise, and it sure was bright and a beautiful night as well.

Made me wish I was camping up in the UP, sleeping under the stars on a beach?

Got condensation in the Bivy, but it was never enough to even wet the quilt, which seemed to stay dry. Never felt cold either, with the quilt, but the real test will be at 32deg? (It was only 49 deg. last night)”

“Looks like I'll be doing a Solo, overnight hike July 8th & 9th

Staring Sunday July 8th, at the south boundary of Wilderness State Park,(Sturgeon Bay Rd.) hiking 16.9 miles total, eventually ending back at the French Farm Lake T.H.

Sunday nights camp will probably be just outside the eastern boundary of the park.

Anyone that wants to join me, could drive up with me Sat.night as well?

www.mfog1@att.net
last edited: 7/02/07 1:10:32 PM”

“Any suggestions as to good places to go and within a day or 2 of Chicago? Thinkbubelz & I will be starting out from Chicago in August and we're trying to figure out some options...

Looking into either driving from Chicago or flying from there for about 9 days...and then ending back in Detroit... we don't want to go too far if driving (cost of gas and road time will limit us--we don't want to spend all of our time on the road... )

Some friends are suggesting flying to South America or Central America if we decide to go out of the country, but we're wondering if there are any decent National Parks or other areas closer to Chicago that would be worth checking into? Thinkbubelz was thinking about checking out Wisconsin.”

“I think Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is the closest National Park; maybe the Bad Lands in South Dakota.

Mammoth has about 75 miles of back country hiking trails plus a dozen or so cave tours.”

“Red River Gorge In KY is a great place.”

“You have to go far, far North in Wisconsin to get anything good. The glaciers and farmers each made equal impact on the environment up there.

If you are willing to leave the country why not stay in the US and visit Alaska? Glacier? Yosemite?

Hike a section of the JMT... The PCT even!

Visit the Apostole Islands and tour them by kayak. A week easy esp if you drive.

Red River Gorge is great but I am not sure about 9 days of it. It rules if you climb and is a lot of fun but the place has been pretty raped by party packers and car campers. You can do a lot better with a week then the Red... Use your weekend trips for this.

If you can wait for the spring go to the Grand Canyon! Adventure for a lifetime there...

Spend a week hiking the AT perhaps. Ask those that have done this what was their favorite sectio and hit it. The Shennandoah is as close as Washington Dulles...

Visit Denver and go peak bagging for a week...

I would skip South America or Central America. Some of the best hiking and climbing are right here in the US. People come HERE to do what you want to do.”

“Black Hills of SD

Theodore Roosevelt NP-north and south units along with the Missouri Grasslands

Buffalo National River. There are two Civil War Parks, Wilson Creek and Pea Ridge, within an hour of the western part if you stay in Steel Creek campground. Two Wilderness areas, Ponca and Piney Creek. If you go here you must do the Goat Trail!
last edited: 7/07/08 8:51:10 AM”

“There's of course always the Smokeys. I can get there from Indy in about 8 hours so that's what, 10 from Chicago?”

“Hey everyone,
Thanks for some ideas. We'll check into some of them... :-)

Thinkbubelz & I love doing the National Parks. We are making our way around the country...and try to visit a different one every year during our annual vacation...

Have visited the following great places already, so we were going to try something either closer to Chicago (since we'd be there already) or Detroit (Where we live)....

Grand Canyon
Yellowstone
Grand Tetons
Denali
Olympic
Acadia
Zion
Bryce Canyon
Capital Reef
Muir Woods
Mt. Rushmore
The Badlands
Sleeping Bear Dunes...

Not that we've hiked these all extensively... LOL... but we are trying to visit different places to get different scenery, etc. Generally, we usually go car-camping and maybe 1 or 2 nights of backpacking to get a little of both... We also love doing day hikes...

We were thinking of Glacier National Park, but It looks like it may be a bit time or cost prohibitive to get there by car or plane this year. (We thought about the train, but I've discovered that I get a bit claustrophobic if I have to be on a train for more than 5 or 6 hours--not to mention that the cost is still incredibly high from the midwest...)

Thinkbubelz was looking at some places in Wisconsin for kayaking and camping and then maybe go through the Porcupines and the U.P. and back down to Detroit... but we don't know of anyone who's been up that way (in Wisconsin) before... so I thought I'd see what others had to say....

Unfortunately, I have to "break" the middle of my vacation to go back home and to my office for 1 day (kind of a bummer, but hey, I need to keep my job in this terrible Michigan economy) so that's why I need to find something that wouldn't be too far of a drive or flight so that we don't have to be rushing back to Michigan to my office...

The other thing, we usually vacation around the 1st week of September, so this early/mid August trip is throwing our rhythm off-- we don't want to go anywhere that's oppressively warm either.....

I've discovered that I've gone to 43 of the 50 US states... the only ones I haven't visited are:

Oregon
North Dakota
Nebraska
Kansas
Arkansas
Mississippi
Alabama

Obviously, the southern states are going to be WAY too warm to do any hiking in August, but has anyone visited anything interesting n any of these states?”

“Hmm... the Smokies... That might be interesting. Do you think it would be pretty warm there in August? We did Charlies Bunion a few years ago. Nice day hike. :-)

Also, wherever we go--it will be after my 60 mile Breast Cancer 3-Day walk... so I may want to take things a bit easy a day or 2 after my walk...”

“New to the area, huh?
---------------------------

You didn't really say what you wanted to do! I suggest Lake Geneva, Paw Paw Lake or Michigan City. Or Chicago; it is a beautiful city! There are great views from the tall buildings, wonderful museums. excellent zoos, fantastic music, enjoyable plays, swimming, dining, sports events, etc.

Explore the Indiana or Michigan Sand Dunes along Lake Michigan. The International Friendship Gardens along highway 12 are always worth a visit.

The Dells of Wisconsin are wonderful or how 'bout a canoe trip in the The Beautiful Chain O' Lakes at Waupaca, Wisconsin. There are 22 crystal clear glacial lakes, known as the Kilarnies of Wisconsin. See the many islands, points, bays, under water reefs, and pine bluffs.
---------------------------------------
Ha, well you did give some information while I was searching my mind. GSMNP has only a few mosquitos, quite unlike the northern states. And above 5,000 feet it is usually around 20 degrees cooler than down below.
last edited: 7/07/08 10:05:08 AM”

“nowslimmer--

We are pretty flexible in things we like to do. Basically, we both work in the city, so our vacation's a chance to get away from the hub-bub and relax away from the insane number of people and stress of driving, etc... We like to car-camp and to do some light backpacking (1 or 2 nights out)... As I mentioned before, we love the National Parks and try to add at least 1 a year to our list of places visited... :-) (BIg and small-- we've gone to many of the National Historical Sites as well.)


The canoing sounds really cool! ;-) I will have to check out the info no the Chain o' Lakes...

I grew up in Michigan, so have done lots of car-camping and some canoeing in Michigan over the years... (Love the mitten state!) :-)

For some funny reason, we haven't really gone to many of the other midwestern states... since we have to make this a little shorter than in years past (last few years, we've taken 15 days) and since we'll be visiting Chicago already, (my brother lives there, so we go there a couple of times a year) we thought it might make for a good take-off point for our annual trip...

Hubby has never traveled overseas--I have been to China, France, Italy and Switzerland... and we had heard that South America had a decent exchange rate... that's why we were thinking of going down there...if we could get a decent airfare. Friends of ours are going via Spirit Airlines to Columbia-- they are actually paying less for their airfare than my sister paid to fly in to Detroit from NYC!
last edited: 7/07/08 10:16:54 AM”

“The Superior hiking trail, along the north shore of Lake Superior is always a treat. There's lots of good day hikes and opportunities to car camp if your choose. You can slip over to Wisconsin and kayak in the Brule River, although there are lots of opportunities to kayak in Minnesota as well.”

“well, i see the smokey's is missing from your list...you have to visit the most visited of all the national parks ;)...you can canoe/kayak fontana lake (or is it reservoir)...i've never been there in august so I don't know what the temps are like but they do have that info on their site

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/”

“well, i see the smokey's is missing from your list...you have to visit the most visited of all the national parks ;)...you can canoe/kayak fontana lake (or is it reservoir)...i've never been there in august so I don't know what the temps are like but they do have that info on their site

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/”
thriftyhiker
11:29:26 AM
7/07/08

Oops, I've got a lot more places on my list that I haven't listed... LOL 16 years of places here and there... :-)

We've actually visited the Smokies before (Hiked on Charlies Bunion), although not for an extended vacation/camping trip.... That may also be an option.

Still have a lot more places to visit-- every year, there are more places on the National Parks system! ;-)

We've also visited the Finger Lakes out in New York as well as the Catskills (didn't have much of chance to hike there, unfortunately). New England is beautiful! Unfortunately, it's in the wrong direction I think for our trip this summer...”

“IMO you cannot beat Glacier in Auguest.”

“We keep thinking about Glacier, but I don't want to skimp on time if we go there... I'm thinking maybe next summer, when we can plan a longer trip... :-) (Or if we can find a good enough air-fare.)

BTW--has anyone flown with camping gear since they changed the rules on carry on baggage? How hard is it to carry gear these days?”

“If you leave the country how will you get back for that one day of work in the middle in Detroit that you talked about?”

“LOL-- I will come back and then continue my trip in the Midwest... if we go out of the country... :-)”

“OK, I skimmed this. Not sure if it's all decided yet, so will add my .02 with a couple ideas. And keep in mind, I'm a National Parks geek, too - not that there's anything wrong with that!!

You certainly can't go wrong with your National Park bang-for-the-buck in the Great Plains/Black Hills. Will list them off from south to north, of course you could do what you want of this, perhaps focusing on the Black Hills:

1. Scottsbluff Ntl Monument, Scottsbluff, Nebraska

2. Fort Laramie, Wyoming. (I messed up and didn't do this one when I did Scottsbluff or Agate Fossil Beds, so missed it on two different trips. DOH! Might be on my list this summer... will see)

3. Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, in the boonies near Harrison, Neb. Along the Niobrara River while it's still small; it's a National Scenic River. The site has fossils, plus a great display of Indian artifacts, gear, etc.

4. Wind Cave National Park, Hot Springs, SD. Great cave - excellent backpacking!! (then go see Custer State Park, which rivals -any- national park! High point SD by hiking to the top of Harney Peak)

5. Jewell Cave, west of Custer, SD. It includes a 3-mile or so hiking trail.

6. Mount Rushmore, Keystone, SD.

7. Head east to Badlands National Park, Wall, SD... Sage Creek primitive campground is EXCELLENT camping - look for the free-roaming bison there.

8. Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, with headquarters at the Cactus Flat entrance to Badlands. (enhance this tour with a stop at the Air Force Base in Rapid City, where you can pay to take a tour and actually get to go down into a minuteman missile silo, which was used for maintenance training. I learned this through GEOCACHING, lol! At the monument, you just see one ready for action. At another stop, you see the launch center)

9. Head back northwest to Devil's Tower, Wymoming. (OK, much as I'd like to, I'll stay off the gas and --not-- send you to Little Bighorn in Mont., although I loved it and highly recommend it. I'm into Indian Wars history, though.)

10. Head northeast to Teddy Roosevelt National Park in ND. Go to both units. (I've only been in the south one)

11. Continue northeast to Knife River Indian Villages (the only other park/monument mentioned here that I haven't visited, DOH!)

That's a fine tour you could pick up at any location. Double check your national parks site to make sure I didn't miss anything. And if you want info on other stuff in these areas, I can certainly help! :-) If you did Nebraska, there is a Homestead National Monument in the SE corner, where the settlers all took off when free land was given. It's on my "to-do" list. Also, on the way out, stop at my "local" park, Effigy Mounds National Monument, Marquette, Iowa.

OK, OPTION NO. 2 - Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Was just there over the Fourth of July. Did the Meyer's Beach Trail - hiking - one night (key word: "night." we left way late, goofed around looking at the sea caves at sunset and it got dark. We only got halfway back to the intended, marked campsite before we stealth camped.)

Then we took the ferry to Stockton Island for two nights. Campsite No. 17 is superb, especially if kayaking! No. 2 is also nice. We had No. 16, which was OK. (No. 19 is the farthest from the dock, around .65 or so of a mile away - kinda long when you're toting car camping stuff, lol)

Hiked 12 miles there in two days (that includes all the trips to the visitors center for ranger campfire talks each night, etc. and multiple trips with gear). There were another 7-8 miles of trails there we could have done.

It was really nice, but flies were biting and in the woods the mosquitos were bad. Overall, however, an excellent, relaxed Fourth. From the dock, we could see far-off fireworks in at least five towns.

Also, FYI, Manitou Island was closed due to a bad bear. We heard about that firsthand, cuz the ranger was relocated to Stockton when the island was closed. So you'd want to check on all that kinda thing. The Meyer's Beach trail was closed earlier cuz a mother bear was protecting a deer carcas she was feeding on with her cubs. She would bluff charge people. But the trail had been re-opened a couple weeks. Stockton itself has around 34 bears.”

“

"Any suggestions as to good places to go and within a day or 2 of Chicago? ..." pinkbubelz

Hmm. I guess all those sites are within a day or 2 of Chicago, if one flies.
Fly with Lizs!”

“Yes, the friendly skies... LOL, hi, NS!

You're forcing me to Mapquest now... (and I didn't want to have to draw that revolver, lol)

Chicago to Scottsbluff, NE: 14 hrs. 10 min. - 937 miles. Sounds like it's within a day or two :-P

Hey, all I know is I read NINE DAYS...”

“Lizs--

It's been about a decade (wow, I just realized that) since we went to Mt. Rushmore Jewell Cave & the Badlands... I actually liked the Crazy Horse Monument better than Mt. Rushmore... (more interesting!) never did get to Devil's tower... Our mistake on that trip was bad planning-- we made a commitment to be back on the west side of MI for a camping trip about 6 days after we started our journey from Detroit.... which resulted in driving back like crazy with no stops (I really wanted to see the Corn Palace in Iowa, but we didn't have time. LOL)

Thanks for the suggestions... We'll have to check into some of those!

I'm tempted to go out west again-- because I want to add ND and NE to our list of states visited. :-)

The Apostle Islands may also be a good idea-- we haven't really explored Wisconsin and it might be a little less expensive gas-wise (we have a mini van.) Although I'm still a bit wary about bears... LOL I just looked at the nps website-- it looks really beautiful! I just hope that the bugs aren't too bad... (both Thinkbubelz & I seem to get bitten like crazy by mosquitoes)

Thinking we might go around the lake and come back through the UP of Michigan-- then make a stop at the Sleeping Bear Dunes, which we haven't visited in a long time!
last edited: 7/13/08 9:17:47 PM”

“lizs - I just love to pull your leg, you beautiful doll, you!”

“So, how would you rate the Apostle islands compared to other sites around the Michigan area? We're still trying to make a final decision...”

“We're still debating, but at this point, it looks like we'll be going to the Apostle Islands and through Northern Michigan so that I can "land" in Lansing on Aug. 20 for my 1 day of work...

Maybe Thinkbubelz and I can even meet up with some of the northern Michigan TTers at one point in our trip!”

“Hey guys! We need to get some trips lined up for fall. Ideas? Return to the batcave?”

“I want to go to Jordan River!”

“I was kinda thinking about someplace in the U.S.”

“Doh, that's in Michigan, near Gaylord.”

“JRT, I'm always ready, and tentatively scheduled for first weekend in October, a 4 day trip, either through Trap Hills (32-40 miles on the NCT) or the Porkies. More solitude in the Traps, but better scenery and no road crossings in the Porkies.”

“fox river pathway.....”

“frp is cool. i would do it again. would also like to cross trap hills and jordan river off my list

im hiking the porkies the 20th-23rd of august, if anyone is interested

http://www.thebackpacker.com/trips/trip/1737.php
last edited: 7/25/09 8:07:54 AM”

“I'm a strong maybe for your Aug. Porkies Trip. I won't decide until probably 3-4 days prior. I like to monitor the weather forecast, although, they're not always very accurate. Biggest deal breaker for me would be a snap heat wave occurring over this time.
Rain I can handle, but I'd rather stay away from mid 80's to 90deg temps, which would probably be somewhat rare for mid-to late August in the U.P.
last edited: 7/25/09 8:24:30 AM”

“Forgot to ask, but is a there a meet time and place yet? I'm assuming possibly at the Lake of the Clouds Overlook.
One other thing, it would be easier hiking down from the overlook on the Escarpment trail heading East? then hiking up the Escarpment going west?
Which would mean hike the LSP trail first, which would get the road walk out of the way from the start, then onto the BCRT back up to the Overlook(start-point) then hike Down the Escarpment trail linking up with the Government Peak trail to the North Mirror Lake trail, then back up to the overlook/end.
Just my suggestion, but I'm down with any plan here, as its all good.
last edited: 7/25/09 8:43:51 AM”

“if you can come up wednesday night, i'll be at one of the campgrounds near the northeast visitors center

where we start the hike is going to depend on yogisan. if he cant get wednesday off, ive suggested starting the hike at the north terminus of govt peak trail, by the overlook trail, then hiking clockwise to lake of the clouds. otherwise, we'll probably start hiking at the lake of the clouds area”

“the KT would be nice to do in the fall, esp if you can catch the color change. lots of hills but there would be plenty of h2o and many good camp sites.

the jerry lake segment of the ice age trail would also be great. not a lot of hills, mile after mile of dense forest... tons of water. very nice and not as far north as the porkies or nct.”

“yogi, you have a facebook message”

“nct, that route sounds fine, unless yogi has to be a day late. if that is the case, we will actually be doing everything the same, except for the starting point”

“as a matter of fact, we can just go ahead and make that the tentative official plan”

“I will get wed off. I have not gotten back approval but have never been denied.”

“thats what she said”

““if you can come up wednesday night, i'll be at one of the campgrounds near the northeast visitors center

where we start the hike is going to depend on yogisan. if he cant get wednesday off, ive suggested starting the hike at the north terminus of govt peak trail, by the overlook trail, then hiking clockwise to lake of the clouds. otherwise, we'll probably start hiking at the lake of the clouds area”
crash bang
9:50:35 AM
7/25/09

If I attend, my plan is to leave SE Michigan Weds. at Noon, which I'm guessing would put me at the Porkies by 10.00pm Not sure if I want to stay at the CG or get a room, being I'd work a 1/2 day on Weds, plus with the long drive, a bed sounds better?
If the trip gets shortened by one night/day, then I would probably opt out, as a 10hr drive is a bit much for a 2night / 3 day trip?
last edited: 7/25/09 9:30:22 AM”

“All that gear and you are going to pansy out on account of a long drive and bad weather? I thought you were hard core dude but I wuz wrong?”

“nct, theres no chance the trip will get shortened. theres a small chance yogi will have to join us late, but i still plan on hiking thursday thru sunday”