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Backpacking In The Sleeping Bear Dunes
was backpacking in the
Sleeping Bear Dunes. It was Backpacking On The Beach
March, so when I made it
through the woods and over the After eating, I hiked to Lake
dunes, I'd have miles of beach to Michigan, and sat up on a large
myself. It was an over-nighter, a sand dune. I watched the waves
chance to test new ultralight push ice up onto the empty beach.
backpacking equipment. I hiked Coyotes began to howl in the
the wooded hills quickly, distance, and the clouds rolled
enjoying the cold air. in. I was on the beach looking
for petoskey stones when the snow
Halfway through the forest, I began. Backpacking in March has
stopped to cook noodles. The its risks.
cheap 3-ounce pot was from a
dollar store, and it worked fine. I was in running shoes, and it
I was happy, because from the would be below freezing that
catalog descriptions, the night. In northern Michigan,
expensive titanium pots are all March is definitely part of
heavier, probably because they're winter. My feet stayed warm while
too thick and with too many I hiked, but I hadn't planned on
gadgets. them getting wet. At least I had
a pair of warm, dry socks for
I had to use a small twig-fire sleeping.
when my homemade alcohol stove
didn't provide enough heat. I Ultralight Backpacking Equipment
later learned that isopropyl
alcohol doesn't burn as hot as It was the first time I used my
the alcohol used for a gas GoLite Breeze backpack, which
additive, but the twigs worked in weighed only 13 ounces. I was
any case. hiking with about nine pounds on
my back, and that only because I and I thought that was light. I
threw in some canned food. I was poured alcohol in the cut-off
going light, but I knew the bottom of a pepsi can (my
forests here and felt comfortable 1/2-ounce backpacking stove) and
with my abilities. made tea. After some crackers I
was soon hiking in my mostly-dry
My down sleeping bag was a shoes, along the Lake Michigan
17-ounce Western Mountaineering shoreline.
HighLite. It was the first time I
would use it below freezing (It Backpacking Lessons Learned
hit 25 degrees fahrenheit that
night). Fortunately, it wasn't I ended my trip that afternoon,
too windy. with a hike to the village of
Empire, seven miles away. I was
At the edge of the forest, behind mostly satisfied. Only two
the dunes, I set up my small problems: My tarp was too small,
tarp. I piled pine needles and and the alcohol I brought was the
dead bracken ferns under it, wrong type.
finishing just as it became dark.
This made a warm mattress, and I After backpacking in Michigan for
slept well, listening to the years, I know it well. I know
coyotes, and to the waves pushing where to find dead grass and
ice around in the lake. bracken ferns, for example, to
make a warm mattress in a few
In the morning I was happy to see minutes. Knowledge, obviously,
only a dusting of snow. My can be as valuable as expensive
one-pound sleeping bag had been backpacking gear.
warmer than my three-pounder -
About the Author:
Steve Gillman is a long-time backpacker, and advocate of ultralight backpacking. His advice and stories can be found at http://www.TheBackpackingSite.com
Source: www.isnare.com
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