Well this is a rather belated post! I finally decided instead of letting it be delayed even longer because I didn’t want to sit down and make an amazing trip into homework by trying to write a long step by step account of everything, I’d at least throw my pictures into slide show videos for youtube. To keep things manageable, I separated them by day of the trip, and also didn’t include the bazillion pictures of tiny birds in trees I took to identify them in the main day segments, I separated out most of the bird pictures for a dedicated bird slide show, and just included the nice ones (as duplicates) in the day segments.
So what else to write other than I’m not going to give you a step by step journal?
I loved the hike, I want to do it again! We got lucky with campsites, because the one site that we had reserved that looked about like it could accommodate a hammock but turned out to be just not quite workable, we were able to swap with a guy in a tent who hadn’t set up yet. He actually was happy to swap as the site he had reserved had a bit of a slope and he said he literally thought to himself when he first arrived that it looked more like a hammock spot than tent. I am pretty adaptable about my sleeping in a tent, as long as it’s not in a hammock. I’ve tried and tried and still just can’t enjoy sleeping in a hammock. The best I have done is to tolerate it enough to sleep a few bits of the night while being frustrated the rest…
The pollen was pretty intense at the beginning of June, and it hadn’t rained as much as usual, so it apparently was floating around a lot more than usual and ended up in the lake and concentrating in various locations. It was pretty dramatic, there were spots where an inch or two of water could hide your toes as well as strawberry or chocolate milk. Luckily we were able to get water for our filter from areas which weren’t super saturated in pollen.
The ladyslipper orchids were out in force along many sections of the trail, which was super cool. I was like OOOOOH LOOK AN ORCHID…oh look, another…and another… and wow ok. Not that they weren’t impressive each on it’s own but the novelty eventually wore off.
We got lucky and didn’t really get rain while we were out, but we did get mosquitoes. Lots. And it was a little cooler at night than usual, but since I bit the bullet and decided to see if I could manage a down sleeping bag without somehow soaking it (I have always been scared of down because if it gets wet it’s pretty useless to keep warm). I got one which makes me super happy, I wanted to get one which was warmer than my synthetic bag as well as squashing smaller, and also one which wasn’t going to drive me nuts as a stomach, side, and very fidgety sleeper… And this one works well (sorry, no picture). It’s a Big Agnes W Sidewinder SL 20F bag, and I love it so much I get stoked about going to bed (more than usual).
I got lucky because I got pictures of a Black-throated Green warbler, which I usually just hear. It’s special because it’s one my parents taught me growing up to ID by ear, and I’m not sure we ever saw one, so getting pictures of one on several occasions which were good enough to ID by shape, color etc. was pretty gratifying. I also finally found out what makes a specific sound, one of the many sounds I’ve got in my mental catalogue as familiar and specific but of unknown origin, a dramatic and colorful Great Crested Flycatcher. The ravens at Chapel Beach have learned that humans at the campsites sometimes leave food unattended, so they seemed to spend a lot of time just hanging out around the sites, or flying along stopping at them to check. I kept thinking of cartoon baddies hanging around outside a bank and watching to see what the routines were so they could swoop in and make a big steal. Ryan got distracted with his food bag out of his pack but not yet in the food vault, and one took quick advantage of it while Ryan watched a deer. He came back to find one trying to fly off with the entire food bag, and when it gave up he found a hole pecked in and slobber on some stuff. I love the slobber, because I don’t think of birds as having any kind of slobber but I saw it when I got back from looking at rocks on the beach. I had already stashed my food bag in the vault before I went down to the shore because I’d noticed at least two chipmunks looking cute but also very very observant and cheeky about us in our campsite and the voice of the guy we talked with the night previously floated through my head about him losing at least a few things of food to chipmunks… but Ryan had been going to hang out in camp and relax that way so his bag seemed fine in his pack until he got distracted when he did get around to moving it. We actually ran into some other people while getting water that evening and I was quick to say something in warning about the ravens and the lady said they knew, one had already absconded with something from her bag too. We laughed because it wasn’t a tragic loss, just annoying and a poor habit for the birds in a “keeping them wild and keeping their nutrition closer to what their body is designed for” but it was funny how efficient and effective the birds were. I’m still fond of ravens though (and crows).
I’ve not seen the Pictured Rocks from the water except in pictures, but I think I prefer the views from the trail. Definitely, do not go into this hike without doing research, preparation, and practice, but it’s worth the effort and the effort is in a way enjoyable.
The number of mosquitoes was incredible and unusual both at home and on the trail this spring / early summer. A lot of people commented, and had theories. I think it’s probably to do with what a weird and fast spring we had and maybe the winter wasn’t as harsh as usual so maybe more overwintered successfully (however they do it, eggs, adult, whatever, I don’t know off the top of my head). Dragonflies were out in a few places, and I love them in general but they were extra welcome but didn’t seem to have made a dent in the mosquito population yet. Luckily the other more sizable biting flies, the black flies and other bitey arthropods hadn’t really been out much, maybe one or two. And the only tick we saw was literally on Ryan’s pack when we stopped to let his stomach settle before we began the trip from the visitor center (Grand Sable I think). The bus shuttle ride made him a bit car sick, poor guy. His pack had maybe seen the ground once when he set it down while settling in at the table, but it’s not like it had been dragged through a field, and there was a super obvious tick. I was decidedly expecting to see a TON because of how early the first one had appeared but I didn’t see any after that, which was fine by me. Ryan and I both treated a good portion of our clothes and some gear with permethrin, and that may have contributed to no ticks. It may have done something for the mosquitoes but there were so many, it didn’t stop all of them.
Bring a head net. Probably, bring a bug shirt. Bring something with long sleeves and a pair of pants. Hot is better than miserably itchy for days and days.
Ryan has the interest and patience to cook nice stuff while backpacking. I can’t face that, and prefer to eat stuff like instant mashed potatoes, ramen noodles (which I like crunchy so I eat them like a candy bar and then use the flavor packet like a broth in a water bottle). I eat spam slices, beef sticks and cheese sticks, protein bars, tuna or pulled pork pouches, and stuff like that. I really just can’t be bothered messing about with all that… maybe one day I’ll find it interesting and worth it. Ryan is really really good at it, and sometimes he gets full and instead of wasting food, I’m a willing leftover disposal device!
This of course isn’t a full account of the adventure, but it’s a bit of context for the pictures. I’ll drop in some links to the youtube videos…
Here come the main pictures organized by day.
Here are the last few, it wants some text between them.
And here is the last day, thanks for visiting and viewing- Addie.
FixedByDoc 