Tag: michigan

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Day 33: Lost to Red Road

blaze

Just breaking camp, I’ve decided not to backtrack. There is a portion of the trail that is unmarked and I’m fairly certain I’m on it.

Its funny that, after being lost and getting rained on and bushwacking, I was SO excited to find not just a path but a blue blaze- I was on the trail! I took a picture of the blaze out of sheer appreciation. Then, almost immediately after regaining my way, I have to abandon them again. I’m still so glad I saw what I saw because it implies that I am on “the part of the trail that has no blazes” versus “the part of the world that has no blazes.” It’s a meaningful difference! Continue reading “Day 33: Lost to Red Road”

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Day 32: Marquette to Lost

marquette Tonight is the first time I’ve really been scared. I am going to sleep without knowing where I am and it is very unsettling.

I am lost on a series of meandering “unimproved roads” which are twisted winding gravel trails through anonymous woods that meet and split off again without any clues as to where they are going. It doesn’t help that it is raining. Still, it feels good to be back on the trail after my extended detour in Marquette.

As of today I’ve been on this trip for a full month. With every milestone comes renewed humility. I actually lost my way THREE times today. The first time I backtracked, the second time I took and alternate route, and the third time I bushwhacked until I found something resembling a road.

Continue reading “Day 32: Marquette to Lost”

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Day 29: Lakenenland

lakenenlandI am in the home of Tom Lakenen, having just showered, cleaned my clothes and rested in a bonafide Yooper sauna (cue choir of angels). Amazing!

I was ready to set up camp yesterday when a truck drove up. I was worried that the driver would yell at me for trespassing and I didn’t love the idea of him seeing where I slept so I was pleasantly surprised when he and his wife gave me some helpful advice. They said that in just 2 more miles was a place called Lakenenland, with metal sculptures and campsites. So I push on and found this incredible, weird, hippy white trash place that is having music festival today. That extra distance also made yesterday my longest day of hiking time-wise, though not the longest distance. I did make it 26 miles though so I have another marathon under my belt!  Continue reading “Day 29: Lakenenland”

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Day 27: Pictured Rocks hideaway to Big Buck Creek

yoopers

Last night I made out with a really hot guy. It was exciting, it was great. Suddenly he was cuming on my face- what the hell? It didn’t make sense, our bodies weren’t even oriented in a way that would make such a thing possible and our actions weren’t “advanced” enough to make such a thing possible.  hadn’t progressed that far yet anyway. I woke from a dream a stared into the darkness through the mesh film of my tent as light rain sprinkling down on me. Yup.

It was a difficult night of sleep. The noise of swarming mosquitos only inches from my face kept me up awhile. I tried to focus on the sound of the waves. When I eventually woke up in the morning, I was shocked to see multiple boats going by, including a tourist cruise ship not far from where I was sleeping! I thought I was being so stealthy by sleeping here but I guess I avoided the rangers but not everyone else. Ooops! I could imagine the passengers on board pointing to my disheveled figure on the shore and snapping pictures of the feral girl.

Continue reading “Day 27: Pictured Rocks hideaway to Big Buck Creek”

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Day 26: Something-Mile Beach to Pictured Rocks hideaway

picturedrocks-duneMy day today began on the beach, where I thought the trail was. Before long my path was blocked by a river, which forced me upstream to cross it, and there I found a beautiful, well-marked, well-groomed trail. I wonder how many miles of it I have obliviously skipped over. I wonder how far I wouldn’t gone if it weren’t for that river! t guess I’m just used to the trail being hard to follow so I didn’t think too much about following the beach. That, and I was trying to zone-out/crank-out the miles. That, and I don’t have a map (I actually avoided writing that in my own journal until now because I’m annoyed with myself). The whole day was filled with gorgeous scenery.

Continue reading “Day 26: Something-Mile Beach to Pictured Rocks hideaway”

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Day 25: Grand Marais to Something-Mile Beach

Screen Shot 2014-07-30 at 12.36.54 PMThe beach is swarming with flies. A couple-seconds of rest and then BAM! twenty of them land on me. I’ve hardly been able to rest all day because of them which is especially frustrating since my shin is still really painful. At one point, I tried to out-run the flies, that didn’t work. Then, in desperation, I picked up two handfuls of stones from the beach and released them while I spun around like a low-grade machine gun. That didn’t work either. A new  threat to my wellbeing on this trail- insect induced insanity! But at last it was time to set up my tent, no flies inside, and I am calm. Continue reading “Day 25: Grand Marais to Something-Mile Beach”

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Day 24: Muscullunge State Park to Grand Marais

photo 1I think I’m in a toxic relationship with the trail. It treats me so badly but I take it back every time! Even when I manage to stay on the trail it is often poorly marked, grown over, blocked by fallen trees. And every time I lose the trail, I curse it and get mad at it and resent it. But of course, when I see that first blue blaze again after being lost, I am flooded with relief and appreciation. I regret every negative thought I ever had about it. I didn’t mean it! Things will be different this time! Then I turn on myself- how much of my blundering is my fault? I am candidly looking at myself and wondering if I actually have common sense. Being out here alone, it’s hard to know if the trail is objectively difficult or if I am just being an idiot. Continue reading “Day 24: Muscullunge State Park to Grand Marais”

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Day 23: Lake Superior near Two Hearted River to Muscullunge State Park

Last night is the most scared I have been in a long time. Here’s what happened:

It doesn’t happen very often that the weather, bugs, and geography align in such a way that I can sleep under the open sky. Last night looked like it might be that kind of night. I set out my sleeping bag on my tarp next to the fire and tried to sleep. There were no trees above to block the heat radiating out into the night sky, nothing to blunt the wind blowing in from Lake Superior and it got progressively colder.

I laid my sleeping bag on the tarp to sleep. It was too cold for that so I set up my tent. Still too cold so I added the rain fly. Then it actually started raining. It didn’t help that I didn’t have my long underwear. All night I was cold, half-awake half-asleep trying to push though it. I’m not sure when but at some point, I realized I was wet. Continue reading “Day 23: Lake Superior near Two Hearted River to Muscullunge State Park”

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Day 22: Paradise to Lake Superior near Two Hearted River

beachA lot to think about today. I am sitting by only the second campfire I have made on this trip. I am on beach along the Lake Superior shore. I am totally alone and it is truly beautiful. Yesterday I suffered a major setback. I tend to worry about food and water and insects and getting lost but I should be focused on another threat- I am a worthy adversary to myself. Continue reading “Day 22: Paradise to Lake Superior near Two Hearted River”

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Day 21: Lower Tahquamenon Falls to Paradise

7-26_foamswirlI am marooned in a brewery next to the Tahquamenon Falls as the sky dumps down all around me. I ordered myself Falls Tannen beer and am contemplating my next move. I hardly slept last night. Crazy thunderstorms woke me up and itching feet kept me up. I guess I got poison ivy on my feet when I was trouncing around naked during my Day of Nothing.

I woke up this morning and walked around the trail network in the area before packing up. I felt guilty when I saw the path where the North Country Trail enters the camp because I got a ride here but it felt great to walk around without my pack on. I bounded up and down the trails like a little kid. The water in that area is a big frothy foam of water swirled up by the descent from the waterfall. Continue reading “Day 21: Lower Tahquamenon Falls to Paradise”