Going up north

Today is a holiday in the Moose household (and probably in the homes of many teachers). Today was the last day of school. Sure, there will be work obligations, but in the next 88 days I will not be responsible for teaching children, will not have to put on a tie, and will be free to pursue my outdoors pursuits wholeheartedly.
We celebrated our liberation by packing the jeep and heading north. This time to Michigan's upper peninsula. We'll stay tonight at the Driftwood Inn and Bar and then head further north and west for some camping and hiking.
Driving north on 127 and I 75 is a part of the Michigan culture. These highways are our escape route from the monotony of civilized life to the town, lakes, rivers and forests that blanket most of our state. The mass of people are trapped in and near the major cities comprising a small land area. The rest of the state is sparsely populated and home to what my wife affectionately refers to as "the pretty."
Close to 7 pm we made the trip across the Mackinac Bridge. Crossing the bridge is another Michigan tradition. I'm always amazed at the number of people that live in Michigan or visit our state that never see the Mackinac Bridge and make the crossing to the the wilds of the UP (upper peninsula). We drove across the bridge as we usually do, mouth agape, speechless, staring at the endless water to the west and the island shrouded in mist to the east. The water on the Lake Michigan side is a brilliant shade of blue. The water to the east an enchanting emerald green. Looking to the west it is possible to imagine the water reaching the sky itself. We couldn't be happier to be back up north.

Cat Sitter Found!

We got some great news this week in our preparations for the Long Trail.  One of our biggest concerns in planning this whole crazy trip are Hobbes and Sabrina, our two black cats.  Everyone tells you that “oh, cat’s don’t mind when you’re gone.”  Considering how aloof the average cat is, this would make sense.  Our cats, on the other hand, appear to love us.  That is, until we start packing.  Then the guilt trip begins in earnest.  Any sign of backpacks, or piles of clothes at all and they find a spot to sulk and glare at us for the rest of the night.  The longest we have left them in the past was 3 weeks when we went to Glacier National Park in 2010.  This year’s trip to Vermont will likely end up being 4-5 weeks, causing us to wonder if our cats will have gone on hunger strike by the time we return.  So you can imagine how excited we were to learn this week that our good friend from Iowa has decided to move back to Lansing and needs a place to live!  Uncle Steve (as we have referred to him to the cats) will be living in our house while we are gone, meaning they will receive plenty of attention.  They may not even notice we are gone!  

With this big detail worked out, the reality has set in that our big hike is getting very close.  We are scheduled to leave our house for Vermont in 20 days.  The piles of lists, maps, guide books and gear that have been a fun hobby for the past three months are suddenly urgent reminders that soon we will live a month with everything we need on our backs.  With a couple of shorter trips on the docket before we leave, we are left with only a handful of days to clear up the remaining details.  The good news, is that the cats are a pretty big detail!  

Hobbes and Sabrina:

Short's Brewery / Bellaire, MI

This was our first trip to Bellaire, which is pretty amazing when I consider how many times we have driven by on the other side of Torch Lake.  Bellaire is an odd place.  It is difficult to get to, whether you are coming from the North or the South, as you have to drive around a series of Lakes.  Its one of those "you can't get there from here" type of things.  On our drive into town (in the rain, of course) we were both surprised at how pretty the terrain was we were passing through.  It is very hilly and thickly covered in a mix of pines and hardwood forest with too many lakes to count.  The town itself is small, and feels like something out of New England, like a town you would find tucked into the Green or White Mountains.
The brewery is a unique experience, and definitely worth a trip if you've never been.  It is set in an old brick building located right on the main road through town (M-88).  There are two rooms, one with the bar and the other with a stage for live music.   On Saturday night the place was packed, so much so that we had to sit at a long table with other people.  You can always tell that a place has something unique going for it when people want to check it out enough that they are willing to sit with complete strangers.  Short's makes a bunch of brews and seems to hit or miss on many of them, possibly as a result of trying so many different things (I have tried Coffee Flavored Beer from there before, not good - it's still in our fridge!   We can't get anyone to drink it)  If you like pale ales and IPA's, however, they have several that are worth checking out.  The food was decent and the atmosphere lively.  The live entertainment was a bit of a disappointment, as one can only listen to so much ukulele!  Some of the regulars we talked to said that the bands that play most nights are generally very good.
All in all, our first trip to Bellaire was entertaining enough that we will likely make a return one sometime in the future.  This weekend was a nice change of pace before we spend most of this summer outdoors and our beverage choices consist of which pond or stream we want to filter out of.  Summer break is one week away.  Things are about to get real.

Rain, rain, and more rain

It's possible we may need an arc if this rain doesn't stop soon. Hopefully mother nature is getting it out of her system before we spend the month of July outside! Today has been the perfect day for two of our favorite activities: driving around in the jeep and eating great food. We started our day with morel omelettes at the 45th Paralell Cafe in Sutton's Bay. This place has only a handful of tables but fantastic breakfast food and great coffee. Next we took a scenic drive up M22 through Northport to check out the Grand Traverse Lighthouse. It's always cool to visit these Great Lakes lighthouses on cold, rainy days as it makes it much easier to imagine their necessity in the past. We drove down the west side of the leelenau peninsula, stopping for a short hike up to pyramid point. This is probably my favorite spot in the lower penninsula of Michigan. I've included some photos of the point below.
We drove back through Traverse City and stopped to warm up with some coffee and the best tomato basil soup ever at The Dish. This place specializes in fresh homemade soups, sandwiches, quesadillas and other cafe foods. Traverse City has no shortage of great places to eat, and this one is worth a trip. Now we are driving to Bell Aire to our hotel for the night and a visit to Short's Brewery. I'll post a report of the brewery later.

36 Hours in Traverse City

This weekend epitomizes our particular brand of crazy. The plan was to head to Traverse City for some whitewater kayaking on the Boardman River with the Lansing Oar and Paddle Club. Cold weather and marginal water levels forced the club to cancel the outing however. I have a High School graduation to attend Sunday afternoon, but other than that we have a free weekend with no obligations. So what do we do? Pack the Jeep and head North of course! We found cheap hotel reservations in Traverse City for tonight and in Bellaire tomorrow. We'll hit some of our favorite up north restaurants and squeeze in a little hiking in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. In all we'll drive over 500 miles and drop about $120 on gas for 36 hours of up north time. Add to this the fact that it's raining and 48 degrees and you have the recipe for a classic Moose and Mary trip. We are just about the only vehicle headed North on 127! I'll post some pictures of our hike and maybe a report on our visit to Short's Brewery in Bellaire tomorrow.

Day 2: Only in Michigan

It was a beautiful night to camp in the forest. The threat of severe weather the dark skies at sunset predicted never materialized and we both were sound asleep by 10. I almost slept through the night, waking only to the sound of a Barred Owl calling out. We woke up at 7 am to the distant rumble of thunder and a dark sky to the west. The race was on! We managed to get breakfast (oatmeal) and coffee cooked and downed before the first rain drops started falling. We finished packing as the sprinkles rapidly changed to a full-on rain.
The first two hours of hiking were spent with our heads down trudging through the streams that poured down the trails searching for the path of least resistance downhill. Midway into our hike, the rain let up and eventually stopped. Today's hike passed through some surprisingly hilly terrain. We spent most of the day climbing in and out of ravines, passing over some beautiful cascading streams. The trail would cross a tributary of the Jordan River on a footbridge and then switchback several hundred feet to provide a bird's eye view of the valley before dropping into the next ravine and starting the process over again.
Just as soon as we had pulled off the hoods on our rain jackets a second, stronger thunderstorm rolled into the valley. Time seems to move more slowly when hiking in the rain. The forest tends to look the same everywhere when the rain is pouring down and it's hard to carry on a conversation over the noise. Eventually, you realize you have no choice but to stare at your feet and keep putting one foot in front of the other. This was our mode of operation for the last hour of today's hike. By the time we climbed back up Deadman's Hill we could wring water out of our socks (and would shortly!).
Upon reaching the Jeep we peeled off our wet clothes and changed into dry ones, taking advantage of the abandoned parking lot. As we drove away in the rain in pursuit of a hot cup of coffee it was hard to imagine the sun would ever shine again. 45 minutes later we were in Traverse City and there was not a cloud to be seen! The car thermometer reads 80 degrees as we drive South. Only in Michigan! All told we logged 19 miles of hiking in two days and saw some pretty cool country for the first time. Here are some pictures:

Day 1 in the books

Hello from Pinney Bridge Campground. We hiked 9 miles today and actually made pretty good time. We were on the trail almost exactly at 10 am and made it into camp at 2:30. With a lunch break thrown in we averaged 2.5 miles an hour. That may seem slow unless you've ever had 35 lbs on your back! I'm mindful of our hiking pace with some of the big mile days we'll have on the Long Trail in July.
The trail today passed through a variety landscapes. We started out with a big descent down deadman's hill through a mature forest of mostly hardwood trees. The next hour or so was spent passing through a variety of marshes, swamps and beaver ponds. The trail did follow the clear flowing waters of the Jordan River for a while, which made for pleasant hiking. We had an up close view of a pileated woodpecker too. It flew across the trail less than 10 feet in front of us. They are pretty cool birds. Early settlers called them "thundercocks" because of the sound they make drilling into trees. Pileated's are an indicator of a healthy forest because they need large stands of trees to survive.
The campground for tonight is really nice. It has a hand pumped well, vault toilets and picnic tables, which is the backcountry equivalent of staying in a Hilton. There are a couple other groups of hikers staying here, one with a rescue dog named Winston. Looks like we'll have someone to chase off any nighttime visitors to the campground!
Currently we are hanging out in the hammock listening to the Tigers on Mary's phone. If only we had a cold beer!
That's all for now. Here are some pictures from today's hike: