Winter Hike

“For those interested, these are from one of our fishing guide books at work.


Ironjaw Lake: 46*10'14.70" N/86*33'18.86"W
Nineteen Lake: 46*10'17.62"N/86*32'49.80"W
Tom's Lake: 46*9'32.45"N/86*35.26"W
Swan Lake: 46*9'54.86"N/86*34'41.98"W
last edited: 1/08/09 6:14:11 AM”

“The bottom is supposed to fall out this coming week: arctic blast coming in will drop night temps to -25*. (forecasted Monday thru Thursday)


Issued by The National Weather Service
Marquette, MI
5:22 am EST, Fri., Jan. 9, 2009

... VERY COLD WEATHER EXPECTED MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY...

EXPECT THE COLDEST AIRMASS OF THE SEASON TO INVADE THE UPPER GREAT LAKES MONDAY NIGHT AND PERSIST THROUGH THURSDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL FALL BELOW ZERO BY LATE MONDAY NIGHT AND BOTTOM OUT AS LOW AS 20 TO 25 BELOW ZERO ON TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT AWAY FROM THE MODERATING INFLUENCE OF THE GREAT LAKES. THE MERCURY WILL STRUGGLE TO REACH ZERO DURING THE DAYLIGHT HOURS ON TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... ESPECIALLY OVER THE INTERIOR WEST HALF OF UPPER MICHIGAN. PLAN ON WINDS TO BE 10 TO 20 MPH DURING MUCH OF THIS PERIOD... RESULTING IN DANGEROUS WIND CHILLS AS LOW AS 35 TO 40 BELOW ZERO OVER THE INTERIOR WEST HALF ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY MORNINGS.
last edited: 1/09/09 4:07:08 AM”

“Thank God no one planned this trip during those days.”

“Let's just hope it doesn't bump back a day or two!!”

“Utoh... Mountainrunner just sold his -40 degree bag... bad timing on his part!”

“Thank you Tarabull for the scouting and posting the details of the trip in the update. Looks good.”

“I think, I'm going to sit this one out. We're going to have plenty of snow here down-state by Friday, so I'm hanging around the hood and doing some skiing at Mayberry SP, or I might head up to Big M, on Saturday and do a day ski trip.
Have a great trip, where ever you all end up going?”

“We might end up going to a hotel if the -40 wind chills stick around!


A couple of notes:

There is a LOT of snow here. 18"-24" easily. Snowshoes are a must for any travel.

Skiiers might be able to ski on some of the older snowmobile paths.

This is snowmobile country. They are allowed to go almost anywhere (with few restrictions) within the National Forest including along the road right-of-way. Keep your eyes and ears open.

There are two stores open through the winter that are a short drive north of 440 on H-13.

We could not find a source for firewood between Munising and the trail. If someone wants to grab some it would be a big help.”

“Today's forecast for nearby Trenary, Michigan calls for:

Friday Jan 16, 2009
High 10°
Low 2°

Saturday, Jan 17
High 18°
Low 10°

Sunday Jan 18

High 23°
Low 16°
http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/fitness/weekend/USMI0830?from=dayDetails_topnav_fitness

That is some inviting weather. No bugs. Food won't spoil. Little competition for camping spots.”

“If this coming weekend weather matches this past weekend it should be a super trip!

(the only bugs will be in wolfeyes' sleeping bag)”

“The closeset town to where we'll be hiking is Steuben, MI. That's where I'll be checking for forecasting purposes. Saturday and Sunday look good. Friday will be cooooold!! Low of zero, w/out the windchill!
last edited: 1/12/09 6:41:51 PM”

“Y'all be careful out there, be safe, and try and get some new bigfoot pics, I'm growing tired of the old ones!
last edited: 1/13/09 2:29:50 PM”

“The weather is still looking good for Friday afternoon through Sunday with all temperatures above zero. Assuming my car will start at -24 F, I will be leaving my cabin tomorrow morning at sunrise to get to the trail head parking lot at 1:30 p.m. EST. I will turn my cell phone on during the drive in case there are any last minute changes I should know about. My cell number is 708-227-5372. My car is a silver Ford Taurus with an Illinois license plate BCKPCK.”

“You could always start your car this afternoon and leave it running until morning.

We're still a "go" for tomorrow, hopefully departing MQT around 11:30 am and making a detour through Gladstone. If there are no delays we should be at the parking lot pretty close to the same time or just a bit later.

I'll program your number into my phone and probably give you a call tomorrow. (Very slim chance of cell service once you're on H-13, no chance once you're on 440.)

We'll be driving my burgundy minivan/luv-macheen.”

“The last trailhead directions I was following got a little vague at the end. When I thought I might be going wrong, I pulled up to a young lady walking on the road to ask for directions. The young lady turned out to be CowPatty who said the campsite was next to her tent less than 200 yards ahead.

You can't go wrong getting directions from CowPatty.”

“What's wrong with my directions????????? Wait---weren't you following Yogisan's directions to Seney?? That explains it.

CowPatty can find a needle in a haystack. Good thing she'll be leading Wolfeyes.”

“I think it woudl be more realistic to say we'll be at the trailhead at 2:30, NC.

And, I'm still watching the weather forecast. The last thing I saw this morning did have the air temps above zero but was still predicting windchill temps well well well below zero for Friday afternoon and Friday night. I have a really good winter set-up but I don't know if I will intentionally expose myself to those conditions.”

“What will you expose yourself to?”

“warmer conditions? ;-)”

“Very similar forecasts for both Munising and Manistique...

Friday: Mostly cloudy and cold, with a high near 8. Wind chill values between -20 and -30. West northwest wind around 14 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.

Friday Night: A 30 percent chance of snow, mainly after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around -1. Wind chill values between -10 and -15. West southwest wind 6 to 10 mph becoming south southeast. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.”

“See you folks in a few hours!”

“Great trip. Excellent planning by TaraBull and Nonconformist. More later. My photos:
Slideshow format:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/slideshow/569696444WxXhMe;jsessionid=abcz-aw5xCGsJ8POelT7r

Album format:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/569696444WxXhMe”

“It was a great time with great weather, scenery, people and food. Thanks to all who attended. I'll post up some trip info in a bit.

Nice photos Ed, thanks. Hope you had smooth sailing back home---looked a little snowy in some places!”

“The five and a half hour drive to the trailhead from my Wisconsin cabin was over snow packed roads almost the entire way. I could have snowmobilied to the trailhead.

The drive south to Illinois was a whole lot better.”

“Man that looks like it was a lot of fun! I would have been crawling into Wolfy's tent at 3am saying, "I think my feet are frost bit, let me stick them in your arm pits to warm them back up.".”

“

Pine Marten Run Trail

Here are the few photos I was thawed out enough to take.

I never thought I would eat cheese like a beaver naws a tree, but this trip, I did.

Had a great time, and it was nice to meet Prosecutor and hear all his "stories".

Thanks to Cowpatty for the company on the ride to and from!

Yo, Tarabull...I found some boot covers at Jay's in Gaylord on way home...all set there for next time...thanks for the warm feet.

Nigal...I kept my heat OFF for the weekend...Prosecutor had his furnace on before he went beddie-bye. That would have been the tent to crawl in.”

“I love photo #14 Wolf Eyes. Dave looks like he's ready to pass out. LOL!”

“My eyelids were frozen.”

“Nevermind... I just realized that NC posted (as me) the pics on the TR thread.”

“Man that looks COLD! Who forgot the hatchett? Those looked like some really big logs. lol.”

“A good base camp is at the lodge in a soft bed. But you don't get to sleep much, because you are up and out by 1:30, starting the long hike up the hill. The ski lifts don't start until far too late, or else you could ride the lifts on the south side.”