Isle Royale National Park Trip - One Vacancy for VA Backpacking

This notice is for the Virginia Backpacking Group: I'm leading a seven night Isle Royale National Park hike in September for the Old Dominion Appalachian Trail Club.  I have a six person limit, and one of my six just dropped.  So I can add one more to the current group (three women, two men).  If you are interested, leave a comment to this post with your email address (or contact me on the Virginia Backpacking Meetup Site through Brian).  We are beginning to make our reservations now, so don't delay.

Here are some details:

IRNP is the least visited national park in the Lower 48.  It is a large (45 mile long) island in northern Lake Superior.  There is abundant wildlife, and seeing moose will be almost certain.  That time of year, there won't be biting flies and there could be some fall color.  Weather will likely be cool and uncertain.  We will be hiking for 8 days and 7 nights, and averaging about 7 - 11 miles each day.  Everyone will have to carry their gear and 7 days of food.  We will try to camp at a different place every night, but will have the option of staying over if we particularly like a spot.  We will have plenty of time to relax, observe wildlife, study nature, paint, draw, fish - whatever you enjoy.  It is a spectacular place, and if it's not on your bucket list as a hiker, it should be!

Travel: We will take the ferry from Copper Harbor, Michigan to IRNP on 9/14 and take the ferry back to Copper Harbor the afternoon of 9/21.  Plan on flying (or driving) for arrival 9/13 and departure 9/22.  I've reserved a cabin for the women and a chalet for the men the nights of 9/13 and 9/21, and have reserved a shuttle from Houghton where the airport is to Copper Harbor for the afternoon of 9/13 and a return shuttle for the morning of 9/22.

Costs: airfare is about $450 - $600 round trip including checking a bag.  The shuttle cost is $90 each way, plus tip, split evenly among the riders.  The cabin for the women is $136 for each of the two nights, the chalet for the men is $120 for each of the two nights.  These costs will be shared evenly by the people staying in each.  Plus, there is an optional $10 charge per person for sheets and towels.

Plan on money for a couple dinners and breakfasts.

The round trip ferry cost is $126.

Clues to my Next Adventure

I'm planning my next adventure, pouring over maps and trail information.  I'll be going later this spring.  Can you guess where?  Here are some clues...

1. The state I will be hiking in was, until 1863, part of one of the original 13 states.
2. This state is known for its mountains, coal, moonshine, and a very famous and deadly feud.  It is "wild and wonderful."
3. John Denver thought this place was "almost heaven."
4. The city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was founded where two rivers meet to form the Ohio River.  I will be hiking in a national forest that has the name of one of those two rivers.
5. Within that national forest is a wilderness area.  At nearly 48,000 acres (19,400 hectares) , it is the largest wilderness area east of the Mississippi River.
6. As a wilderness area, the 70 miles (112 km) of hiking trail contained within are not blazed.  You have to find your own way, and cross the numerous streams without any foot bridges.
7. This area has a unique botanical area on its southern border known as the "something" Glades.  It has plants that would normally be found more in Canada.
8. The "something" Glades and the name of the wilderness itself are the name of a fruit.
9. Which fruit?  Well, it is small, red, and kind of tart, and grows in boggy and acidic areas.  Think Thanksgiving!
10. The wilderness area has a large black bear population, as well as stands of red spruce at its higher elevations, which reach 4,600 feet (1,400 meters).

Planning a Mini-Adventure

One of my hopes this year is to go backpacking at least three times, and I am starting to plan the first of these, a single night, 14 mile loop in the Laurel Forks area of Virginia.  This is a rugged and remote portion of the George Washington National Forest on the West Virginia border.  The area has some similarities to Canada in the vegetation and even some of the wildlife.  Although it is not a wilderness area, it is not swarming with people either.  From what I have read, I am not likely to see another person on this trip.  There is a trail system that, depending on the account you read, is either fairly well blazed or inadequately blazed.  There is a major stream that will have to be forded twice, and it will be at least knee deep, and maybe even deeper than that in the spring - and bone-chillingly cold!  But the reward will be a great camping spot very close to the stream.  The bad new is that within minutes of breaking camp, I will have to wade across that ice-cold stream for the return hike.  There are no grand views, I think, but lots of beaver ponds, the potential to see wildlife, and some great forest hiking.  It sounds like fun to me!  How about to you?

I am thinking of going in the next five to seven weeks, essentially early spring.  The area is no doubt buried in snow right now, and I want to pick a time when it is not snow covered.  I don't know if that would be late March or early to mid-April.  I've asked a friend if he wants to go but haven't gotten an answer yet.  I am hoping he does, as it would be more fun with another person than going by myself.  But no matter, I am planning on doing this hike either with someone or alone - unless the weather just is horrible or I find a better trip to do.  I will also need to potentially alter my route on the fly if I get to the stream and it is dangerously high from spring runoff.  That would be disappointing, but better disappointed than drowned, eh?

Later in the spring, I am planning a much grander trip that I will discuss later.  So the Laurel Forks hike will be a great starter for my 2014 plans.

So Disappointing!

A couple of weeks ago, I discussed how I was planning a four day backpacking trip with two other guys.  We even picked our spot out recently.  All seemed set.

Then, a woman I work with left a couple of weeks ago for a new job, and last week, I was assigned one of her projects.  I had my first meeting with the customers last week, and they were discussing a three day pre-implementation exercise on a Friday to Sunday.  As fate would have it, it is the weekend I am - was - going backpacking.  So much for that.  I can't just disappear off the face of the earth for four days while the project team works day and night over three days!

That was the only weekend we three could all go, so while I urged the other two to go forward with it, I think they are cancelling too.  It is too bad.  I was really looking forward to a few days in the fall up the mountains, camping out by the trail, and this in really disappointing.  I can't wait to be retired when my time will be my own!

Well, so be it.  There will be other trips.  Right now, I am thinking of just picking a weekend when the weather looks OK late in the fall and make a last minute decision to go backpacking by myself one night.  Shenandoah National Park would be the likely location.  Better a short trip than none at all.  Time will tell if I can pull that off or not.

Planning a Long Hike

The guys who I went backpacking with in June on Shackleford Banks and I were talking the other week about doing a fall trip "somewhere" (which is a great place, by the way!)  We are thinking of maybe a 4 day trip, carrying all of our gear and camping out along the trail for three nights.  But where? 

We've been discussing this lately more and more, and decided that we would each pick a spot this weekend, and then we will discuss the three choices next week and come to a decision.  We are thinking about a place that would be rugged country and within a five hour drive, which could mean up to western Pennsylvania, somewhere in the Blue Ridge or Allegheny Mountains of Virginia, or a number of places in West Virginia.  So part of this lovely fall weekend, I'll be thinking about my proposal for this trip.  I may even get in a hike before work starts again, but given 12 miles for Team in Training early tomorrow, it may not be a long one - or it may not even happen.

It will be interesting to see what we come up with.  I may have to gear back their enthusiasm a bit.  They were coming up with the Adirondacks (best case an 11 hour drive) and the White Mountains in New Hampshire (best case 14 hour drive).  I kept saying "four to five hour drive, guys!"  We shall see, though.

Heading to Shackleford Banks!

If you carefully worked through all of my clues, you may have figured out my destination for my little adventure: Shackleford Banks, a nine mile long uninhabited barrier island that is the southern-most part of Cape Lookout National Seashore. Uninhabited, that is, except for 100 wild horses, many birds, an occasional loggerhead turtle, and millions of biting insects. There is no water that is drinkable by humans. There are brackish ponds that the horses drink from, but they are too saline for us. So we each will be carrying about 28 pounds of water and Gatorade, which should last us the 50 hours we will be on the island.

The original plan was to go Friday morning and come home Sunday, but the "Andrea"changed that. We have to take a boat over and back, and they were not going to be running Friday. So instead, we will catch a boat over about 9AM Saturday and come back to the mainland about noon Monday. That should give us time to explore all nine miles of the island, and its many ecological zones: maritime forest, “ghost” forest, wetlands, dunes, and beach. Depending on the biting flies and mosquitoes, we may end up being on the beach a lot. There is supposed to be spectacular seashells here, and so I will be looking hard for those. We may also try a little fishing in the surf, and hopefully some star-gazing at night. And if we are incredibly fortunate, maybe we will see a female loggerhead coming up to nest late one night.

Once the boat drops us off, I see us hiking no more than 2-4 miles with our heavy packs. We’ll find a good campsite, set up our tents, and leave the drinking water (most of it) and food behind as we explore. My pack weight will go from about 54 pounds to maybe 15 at this point. Because of the heavy amounts of water we need to each bring, we are carrying minimal gear – no sleeping bags, for example, and no rain gear. The lows are expected to be about 75 and the highs 85. So my sleeping bag liner should be good enough to sleep in, and a little emergency rain jacket should do if a sudden downpour comes up. We are carrying one stove and one first aid kit among the three of us. None of us plans on cooking anything other than an instant meal in a bag, so we won’t have to carry precious water to wash dishes. I am bringing a warm fleece and an emergency “space blanket,” just in case. And there is no need to carry a water filter, as there is no fresh water to filter - although, I would not be surprised to find some fresh water pools after the soaking rain of last Friday.

I will be bringing my camera, GPS, and binoculars, of course. I hope to see some great wildlife, collect some cool shells, and take some nice photos while I am out there those three days, so look for some updates later this week.

Clues For My Next Adventure

I've worked out my next little mini-adventure, and am planning my gear for the trip.  I'm going later in June for three days and am planning this with two other guys.  It will be a fun - but at times difficult - trip.

I thought I would put out a new clue every 1-3 days and see if folks can hone in on where I might be going.  I'll update this post every few days with the next clue.

Clue # 1.  I'll be in the Tar Heel State, and hiking to a place where I have never been before.  This means that this trip will count towards three of my hiking goals for 2013: hike 10 places I have never been; go backpacking at least twice; and hike in a state I didn't hike in during 2012.

Clue # 2.  The Tar Heel State, and its neighbor to the west, the Volunteer State, have the highest mountains on the east coast of the USA.  Go on a multi-day hike in those mountains, and you will gain and lose thousands of feet of elevation.  But for my destination, although I'll be hiking some 20 miles, my elevation gain and loss will be measured in dozens of feet, not thousands.

Clue # 3.  I always bring a map and compass when I backpack.  But in this case, they are not necessary, and I won't bring them along.  Even though the area I am going to, managed by the National Park Services, is about 2,500 acres and has no marked trails, it would be impossible to get lost.  I will still bring my GPS so that I can mark our campsite if we explore at night and so I can map where I have been to show on this blog later.

Clue # 4.  Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.  We'll literally be surrounded by water, but there is no drinkable water (by humans) where we are going.  Each of us will carry our own water for any drinking or cleaning up, thus, cooking will be at a minimum on this pack trip.  I will carry 12 or 13 liters of water, which will translate to 26 - 28 pounds.

Clue # 5. Unless you walk on water - I don't, even without a heavy pack - a boat is the only way to get where we are going.  You can take a kayak if you are experienced enough to handle potentially rough weather.  I am not, so I'll be arriving and departing by water taxi: $25 round trip but well worth it.

Clue # 6.  Based on satellite images of this area, it looks like there is a well defined sandy beach for its length to the south, running west to east.  Behind this, there is an area of dunes.  Behind this is an area of what appears to me to be a mixture of meadow and open lands and low trees.  And finally, to the north, there is another coastal zone, probably muddy, backing up to a sound.

Okay, so if you have followed these clues, you are probably thinking - correctly, I should add - an island.  But which island?  Here are some more clues...

Clue # 7. There are no humans living on the island, even seasonally.  With no drinking water, that would be tough.  As far as I know, the only structures on the island are a boat dock and an outhouse near the boat dock, on the islands western end.  This is where the boat we are using to get out there will drop us off.

Clue # 8.  Despite no humans, the island is not uninhabited.  There are about 100 wild horses living on it.  They are believed to be descendants of horses that came ashore in the 1600's from Spanish shipwrecks.  They have adapted to drink from ponds of brackish water that humans cannot tolerate.

Clue # 9. I would have to be amazingly fortunate, but there is a chance that if I up late one night, I could see a loggerhead sea turtle returning from the sea to get the next generation started.

Clue # 10.  My final clue is this satellite image of the island.