Hiking from The Lake of the Clouds

Friday - August 12, 2011

The next morning, Jamie and I woke up to the sound of our neighbors, Susanne and Darren, getting out of their tent. We quickly started deflating our air mattresses and packing up everything else in our tent. I hadn't had too much practice repacking everything, so I didn't know how long it would take; and, I didn't want to make everybody else wait. While it didn't take as long to pack up as I feared, I was still glad that I got an early start. About the time we got everything inside the tent packed, it started to rain. It rained pretty hard for about a minute or two, then turned to a light drizzle. But we were able to shake most of the water off of our tent and get it packed up. We ate our breakfast of champions (poptarts) and then got everybody loaded into the cars. By this time, the rain had mostly stopped. Before hitting the trail, we had to make a short trip to the ranger's station to pick up our backcountry permits. After that, we headed up the road to the The Lake of the Clouds where we snapped a few photos. The overlook of the lake is located on the top of a tall cliff, known as the escarpment. It was very scenic.

Below is a picture of our entire group, all nine of us.

And then me, my wife Jamie, and my brother Jon.

From there, Darren, Mike, Jon, and I left the others to drop off one of the cars at where we were ending the trip so we wouldn't be stranded. We drove about 45 minutes west, dropped off Darren's Jetta, and drove about 45 minutes back. Right before getting back to The Lake of the Clouds, I dropped Darren, Jon, and Mike off at the trailhead of the Lake Superior Trail along with everybody's gear. I then went back to The Lake of the Clouds, picked up Jamie, Justin, Nicole, Susanne, and Kelly, then went back to the trailhead. By this time it was about 11:30. Everybody put on their packs, and we were finally off. The hiking had begun.

We were hiking mostly down hill over rocks and roots as we made our way to the shoreline of Lake Superior. We hiked a couple miles before we decided to stop for lunch. We had lunch on some rocks overlooking the lake. It definitely felt good to take the pack off.



Our lunches for the trip consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches, cliff bars, homemade trail mix, and a few fruit snacks. After the mornings of hiking, it tasted like the best food in the world. After one last glance of the shoreline, we were off hiking again.

I think we hiked roughly 8 miles that day. We stumbled accross our campsite in the early afternoon. The campsite was located on the shore of Lake Superior.

There was a butterfly at the campsite that wouldn't leave us alone.

While hanging around the campground, Justin went and caught a frog. Then, my brother Jon decided to share with us a very interesting and unusual fact about frogs. Apparently if you rub a frog's belly, you can put it in a trance. So Justin immediately started rubbing the frog's belly, and it worked.

Yep, still rubbing the frog's belly.

I would like to note that no frogs were harmed in the taking of these photographs.

After that, Susan and Darren treated us to a dinner of chicken and pasta. We cleaned the dishes and packed up our food. When out on backpacking trips like this, you need to store your food in a place where animals (like bears) can't reach. So most campsites have a bear pole a little ways off into the woods. If you were wondering how much food it takes to feed 9 people on a backpacking trip, it takes a lot. On top of that, we have to carry it all.

We spent a little while on the shoreline before we called it a night.

One day of hiking down. So far, so good.

A Long Awaited Trip: Backpacking the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park

Last summer a group of friends from church planned a backpacking trip. After discussing it over with my wife, we decided that, although we wanted to go, we did not have enough vacation days to take off for the trip. After seeing our friends' pictures and hearing their stories, I realized that we should have gone. It looked like they had an amazing time.

So, I determined that we would go on the trip that was being planned for this current summer. All through out the year, my wife and I began accumulating gear: packs, a tent, sleeping bags, hiking boots, and all the other miscellaneous gear needed to spend an extended period of time in the wilderness. As the year progressed, the plans for the trip started to finalize. Our group decided that we were going to hike in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, located in the far western reaches of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. As the date for the trip crept closer, I got more and more excited.

And then, the trip came and went in a flash. I have to say that it was one of the most amazing trips I have ever done in my life. At times it was painful and tiring, but it was well worth it. We saw some amazing views and had fun laughing with friends. But now the trip is over, and I'm left looking at photos remembering all the good times. So I decided that I'm going to re-live those awesome few days by recapping each day on my blog over the next few posts.

Tuesday and Wednesday - August 9 and 10, 2011

We didn't actually leave until Thursday, but Tuesday and Wednesday were quite crazy and require some mentioning. On Tuesday night, Jamie and I were starting to lay out most of our gear and making some of the meals that we were assigned for our trip.  We had two breakfasts that we had to provide for our group, so for one of them we were making breakfast burritos (Thanks to Paul and Dawn for the idea). We got them all made and wrapped in tin foil. But when Jamie put them in the freezer she noticed that the freezer didn't feel too cold. We decided to wait over night to see if it was just on its defrosting cycle. The next morning we checked, and the burritos still weren't frozen. As well, some ice cube trays no longer held ice, but rather a slushy mix. Crap, our refrigerator was broken. As many pointed out, it was better that it broke before we left instead of coming home to a bunch of spoiled food. But still, we had to scramble to find a repair man that could come that same day. I found one and made an appointment with a window of 2-4. So, I got to leave work early that day. This gave me time to do some last minute things around the house before we left, especially as the repair man showed up at 3:55. But, he immediately knew what was wrong and had the part in his truck. The fan motor in the freezer broke. Actually, he had repaired the same thing on our neighbor's refrigerator. About 30 minutes and $200 later, we had a working refrigerator. The rest of that night was mostly spent packing our gear for the upcoming trip. I also had to go to my parents house to pick up my brother Jon, who had driven all the way from Virginia to come on the trip. After getting everything packed, we watched some Man vs. Wild with Bear Grylls to get us in the mood. We each took one last shower and then went to bed. It took me a while to fall asleep because I was so excited.

Thursday - August 11, 2011

We woke up a little after 5 in the morning. While we were eating breakfast, Justin and Nicole, another couple who went on the trip, showed up. We were all going to ride together and meet the other two couples up North. We got everything loaded up in the Pathfinder and were off by around 6 am.

What can I say, driving the Western Upper Peninsula takes a very long time. But we made pretty good time. In Kalkaska, we had to stop at McDonalds and get some breakfast sandwhiches for a snack ( Holy Crap... over $8 for just 3 egg McMuffins??). We decided to break up the drive by stopping at the Mackinac Bridge and taking some pictures. I definitely needed to get up and walk around after driving almost 5 hours.

After the short break, we were back on the road and had to drive across the bridge. I have to admit, despite all the times I've been to the U.P. snowmobiling with my Dad, this was the first time that I actually drove myself across the bridge. While going across, I had Jamie take some photos of the bridge through the sunroof.

We spent another hour or two on the road before some of us got hungry. So, my brother and I suggested stopping in Newberry and eating lunch at Timber Charlies, a place I've eaten at many times on snowmobile trips. I'm not sure what everybody else thought about the place, it's a little rustic. But I enjoyed the food and am thankful that everybody else agreed to indulge Jon and I.

After lunch, we had the very long drive across the U.P.

I think we managed going the rest of the way with only making one more restroom stop. At about 6 pm, we arrived at the Union Bay Campground in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, just west of Silver City and Ontonagon, MI. There we found the rest of our group: Darren, Susanne, Mike, and Kelly. We checked in and set up camp. After getting all set up, we decided to go out and get some dinner. Now for those that have never been up in that area, your dining options are very limited. We chose to eat at The Porkies Pub and Grub located in the AmericInn Hotel in Silver City, mostly because we thought the only other restaurant in town was closed. Let's just say that the service there wasn't very speedy. It probably took about 2 and a half hours for the whole ordeal. I especially enjoyed the part where they waited 45 minutes after I ordered to inform me that they didn't have what I wanted. But eventually, we all got more or less what we ordered. And I do have to admit that my replacement burger was very tasty. After all of that, we went back to the campsite and decided to watch the sunset on the shoreline of Lake Superior. One word.... Spectacular !!

After the sunset, we sat and talked around a pic-nic table for a while, got asked to party with some guys (one of which was wearing a Viking helmet) and eventually went into the tent to sleep.

So far the trip was going great, and it had barely even begun.

V-B-S

During the week of July 25-29, our church had its annual Vacation Bible School (VBS). My wife and I had the job of being the photographers for the week. We had a lot of fun taking photos. There were some challenges, such as low-light inside the church and kids that are constantly moving. But overall, I think we were able to overcome these difficulties. We took well over 2,000 pictures. Some were throw-aways, but we also got quite a few good shots. Though the sheer volume of pictures made picking which to edit a little over-whelming. Below are some of the photos that caught my eye while shifting through the shots that I took.

For those of you not familiar with VBS, it is a week in which our church reaches out to the kids in the surrounding community. There is food and games, and the kids generally have a blast. But more importantly, it is a week where they can learn about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 Buses are sent out to pick up kids that need a ride. I think we had about 300-350 kids each night.

The kids are broken down into age groups. Each group has adult leaders and a flag. The flags make it easier for the kids to find who they have to follow.

There is a virtual army of volunteers helping out for the week. Some are leaders. Some pass out food. Some operate games for the kids to play. Every volunteer helps to make the week possible.

Outside the church in the parking lot, there is almost a mini carnival where the kids can run around and play games during their play-time. One of my favorite games is the dunk tank.

 

As well, there is a time where the kids sit down, and the gospel is shared with them. The speakers come up with unique and interesting ways to get the kids attention. One of the ways they do this is by having themes for the different nights. One of the nights was fire night.

 

Another night was weapons night. On this night, someone brought in the ULTIMATE weapon. But when handling something so powerful, you have to make sure you have good security

and take the proper precautions to ensure this powerful weapon is kept safe.

The kids learned that the Bible is the most powerful weapon available. It has the power to change lives, defeat Satan, and destroy sin within us.

Another theme night was water night. This was by far my favorite night in terms of taking photos. The light was amazing that night. It was fun to see the immense joy on the kids faces as they played in the water.

A fire truck was brought in to rain water over the parking lot. I think the pictures do a good job of displaying how much the kids enjoyed this.

Of course with all that water, there were plenty of puddles.

Also as part of water night, the workers washed the kids feet just as Jesus washed the disciples' feet.

At the beginning and end of each night, the kids met in the auditorium of the church to sing and watch a play put on by some of the volunteers. The play happened in Dynamo City, where a team of super heros, the Dynamo team, was entrusted by the Sacred Count to protect the city from the evil Volta and Electro. It was fun to watch the kids get more wrapped into the story each night. 

During the play, the Dynamo team was betrayed by one of their own into the hands of Volta. Lumino, the son of the Sacred Count, sacrificed his life to try to free the Dynamo team. But Lumino comes back to life and releases the Team from their shackles, a powerful metaphor for what Christ did for us on the Cross. That's why I particularly like the above photo.

The message got through to some of the kids, and that definitely makes the entire crazy week worth it.