Another nice day in the Backcountry

June 15, 2009


Another 4 day trip to the favorite location, Nordhouse Dunes. The day started rather early (2:00 AM) to get me to the parking lot by 6:00 AM. Good trip up, did see about 15 deer on the drive into the parking lot. Great day for the pack in however, much to my surprise, when I got to where I wanted to camp, someone was already there, so I needed to move down the beach a little way.
So this was home for the 4 days and 3 nights.




Was nice and close to the beach, so getting water was not a problem. Was nice to set right in camp as be able to enjoy the lake.






The lake is higher this year than last year. They say it's up 13 inches from last year. This is the same shot that I took last year.

This is this year.

This was last year.

Sunset tonight was not the greatest. Hopefully there will be better ones this week.

June 16, 2009

Today was walk day, like always. Took a trip up one of the other trails just to see where is went. Nice trail, easy walk. this trail does come out at the beach right about where I thought it would. I think this trail is called Algoma, which comes out half way up the beach to the campground on the north end.





Strange, there were survey marker on my map but was never able to find any of them. At the end of this trail one was right along the trail.







Enjoy the sunset as I did.






















June 18, 2009

Today is pack out day. Early start was packed by 9:00 AM for the hour walk out. To bad, back to reality.

Latest Nordhouse Trip

What a great week in the back country. I really love this place and will continue to visit as often as I can.


Sunday 08/10/2008
The trip didn't start as nice as I would have liked. When I arrived in the parting lot, there wasn't as stop to be had. Took a side trip up Green Road to check it out and maybe find some parking there. Green road is the extreme eastern side of the area without any good parking spots that would put me close enough to trails.


Ended up parting at another trail head .1 miles from the parting lot. The real problem was that 100 yards down the trail I ran into Nordhouse Lake and had to bushwack my way back to the trail. Finally got out to the spot where I was going to set camp to find someone camped there. I moved up a bit as set camp, took a nap since I was up at 2:00 AM for the drive up. After the nap, the other camp was vacant, so I moved down as reset camp.


Once camp was set, I ventured out to the lake to get water. The lake was rather rough , so getting water meant that I was going to get wet. The lake has not warmed up much this year. I would guess it to still be in the high 50's maybe 60 degrees.







Sunset on Sunday was one of the best I've seen in a long time. I took a bunch of pictures, but this is one of the best. I always seem to take way too many pictures of the sunset. Living on the east side of the state, we don't get to see them that often so I take advantage.




Monday 8/11/2008


I figured that I would walk back out to the car and move it to the lot where it was suppose to be anyway. I didn't want to add the additional .1 miles to the trip out on Thursday. When I got to the lot with the car, I stopped to talk with the Forest Ranger. He was saying that with the big storm in June a couple of trails were going to be closed because of the trees down from the tornado that came through. He also said that the water was running through Lake Michigan Recreation Area at the height of the picnic tables. I figured I would walk one of those trail tomorrow to see the damage for myself.



The sunset tonight was another good one. The pictures really do not do it justest. We always try but seeing it in real life to always better.







Tuesday 8/12/2008


I did it again. I told myself that I was not going to walk the entire loop from my camp to the North end and back by Nordhouse Lake. But I did today. And yes, I will not do it again. I'll do a out an back rather than the entire loop. I did find the storm damaged trails and I think the Ranger was right. I can't see them trying to open a couple up, but the other two are still passable.




Wednesday 8/12/2008


After the long trip yesterday, I spent the day around camp to rest up for the trip out tomorrow. This poor Monarch butterfly. It had a broken wing and spent most of the afternoon making it's way across the camp. I lost sight of it after about 3 hours.







It's been a long time since I have seen the lake as calm as it was this week. It was still a bit higher than when I was here in May of this year. I guess it's still left over from the big storm in June.








Next planned trip is October of this year. This will be the last for the year. We will start over again next year.

Next Trip

Well I'm off to my favorite place next week. I'll be back in Nordhouse Dunes for a few days with a chance to try out the new pack.

The weater is suppose to be real nice, calm and cool.

I'll post the results of the trip when I return.

What Difference a Year Makes

Last year at this time I was fitting with the Deer ticks. This year I have treated my self with a new pack. This one is very close in size to my old external frame pack, but the new on is MUCH lighter. It's a High Sierra Explorer 55, I really like the features and functions of this pack. The only downside is that if the pack is not completely full, the top doesn't seem to fit exactly right. I'm going to have to experiment a bit.


Its funny, I packed the new pack with everything that I normally carry and the total pack weight has decreased to 32 lbs. rather then the 48 lbs with the old pack.

I have determined that with an internal frame pack, you need to pack as much as you can in compression sacks to minimise the space taken by the equipment.


I figure with compression sacks, I may be able to get both the bag and the small tent in the lower compartment. That will leave more space in the main compartment for the rest of the gear.

I also determined that I can get my old ThermoRest into a small stuff sack if a fold it in half that's going to save even more space in the main compartment.

This new pack is SO much more comfortable than the old external frame. Can't wait to use it on the next trip. That should be late July or mid August. We'll see.

Late May Trip

Another trip to Nordhouse Dunes the week before Memorial day week. Overall not a bad trip, could have used a little warmer weather though. Days ranged in the upper fifties and nights in the low to mid thirties.

What a difference couple of days make. This is the beach on Sunday when I arrived. Mid Fifties and really windy on the beach. Back a camp I was sheltered from the wind so the temps seemed warmer.






This was the beach on Tuesday. Calm and warm. Temps were in the mid sixties. It was worth the walk toward Au Sauble point. Didn't make it all the way, under estimated the distance like always.






Did make it far enough to see the top of the lighthouse though.

No pictures on Monday. Spent the day fixing the stove. I have determined the the MSR Whisperlite will not run on standard no-lead fuel. My day Monday was to pack out and go to town for White Gas. Makes all the difference in the world.



Real bummer, no good sunsets this trip. Maybe next time. Hope to be at the end of July or mid-August.

Nordhouse Trip

I just returned from a 4-day trip to Nordhouse Dunes. It's been a long time since the last time I was there. I think it was in 1995 with both boys. It's a great back country area however, it's a little bit crowed on the weekends.

Arrived at the parking lot at 6:30 AM on Saturday morning to a full lot. I had forgotten that this is bow hunting season. When I made it out to the beach there were quite a few people on the beach. I really wish people that visit the back country especially a wilderness area would pay attention to the rule. I don't mind people bringing there dogs but, they are suppose to be on leash. Most all I ran across were running free. It REALLY upset me to see a family riding there motorcycles down the beach, more than once. They were there both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday night was a great sunset. It ended up being the only sunset night for the trip. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights were cloudy just at sunset time. Because of the early morning and trip time I crashed early on Saturday.

I really abused myself on Sunday. Took a day trip from my camp at the south end to the observation platform at the north end. It was a couple mile walk up the beach. Once there I decided to take a trip to Nordhouse Lake, which about a mile and a half. Then from the lake back to camp, which was a coupe of miles. All tool I must have put about 5-miles on. The return trip brought me through the parking lot, which put me right at my car. I had parked at the far end of the lot and didn't realize that the trail started there. Sunday night after the sunset it cleared up nicely for a great start night. I didn't want to leave the spot I was in to get my camera to take night sky pics (Maybe next time).

Monday was a day laying around camp recovering from the long walk on Sunday.

Overall the weather was great, with the exception of Tuesday night. It was pretty windy all day but, around 5:00PM it really got bad. I think it was gusting to 50 MPH. I ended up with every layer I had on and when the sun went down, it really got cold. Rained off and on all night and I awoke to wind and rain for the pack out on Wednesday.

I will make the trip again. Next time I want to spend more time in the interior to check it all out.

P.S. I'll post the rest of the pic's on my Flickr Bar the you can see at the other Blog Life Behind the Dust Pan (may take me a couple of days).

New Pack Home

I made the plunge and invested in a new home for my pack alone trips. This one is a bit smaller than the old one but, it's a lot lighter than the old one.

You've been asking about the spec's, 7'-5" X 4'-10" with a 3'-6" ceiling height.

With this tent, my pack weight has decreased by 5 pounds. That's a real benefit when I'm packing by myself and have to carry all the weight.

I will get it a real try on my October trip.

Can't wait.