Backpacking the Peninsulas: South Manitou Island

Picking up from where I left off on the last post...

After killing some time in Leland, we were able to board the ferry. The only other ferry I'd ever been on was the Jet boat ferries that go to Mackinac Island. This ferry was not nearly as fast. Also, we had to make a stop at the North Island first to drop off some passengers, which added to the length of the ride. But we still had fun. We had a great group of guys on the trip, so we took the time to talk, laugh at stupid jokes, and tell crazy stories.

After our quick stop at the North Island, we launched again and headed towards South Manitou. Early in the day, the rain had stopped, leaving us with just cloudy skies. On the boat ride between the North and South Island, there were a few more intermittent showers. Most decided to head below, but a few of us decided to stay on top so we could catch the view as we got closer to our destination.

After an hour and a half or so, we finally pulled into the dock at South Manitou.

Once off the boat, every body had to line up and help unload all the gear. It was like a good old fashion bucket brigade. You kept passing the bag down the line until it came to its rightful owner. Once everything was off the boat, we had to go check in at the ranger station. At the station, we had to sit through a quick 10-15 minute orientation where we were basically told to keep the campsites clean and watch out for the chipmunks.

With that done, we hoisted up our bags and headed down the trail to our campsite at the Weather Station Campground. Just a little ways down the trail, we passed the South Manitou Lighthouse.

One of the nice things about this trip was that our campsite was only about a mile and a half away from the dock and the ranger station. Because of the short distance, you really didn't have to worry about weight as much as you would on a normal backpacking trip. I ended up bringing a bunch of extra stuff that I normally wouldn't have brought. As well, people who didn't own backpacking specific gear weren't precluded from coming. We had people carrying a cooler, camp chairs, a full sized camp stove, and a twelve pack of Coca-cola. In the end, we ate better and were more comfortable at camp than any other trip I'd been on.

 (Duffel-bagging it)

After the short hike in, we quickly set up camp and explored the surrounding area. Just a little bit from camp, there was beach access to Lake Michigan. From there, we had a great view. To the left was a view of the lighthouse and to the right was unspoiled beach and water as far as the eye could see.

A few of the guys decided to go for a quick swim.  I decided against it since I had to start making dinner for everybody in just a little bit. But still, I stayed on the beach and looked for Petoskey stones. One of the guys made a cairn.

Later, back up at camp, we were just finishing dinner. Suddenly, the sky opened up. In the down pour, we quickly scrambled to gather up our gear to keep it from getting soaked. With all my pots and cooking gear still dirty, I ended up doing dishes in the rain. In my haste, I quickly threw my food bag on our food line and ducked into the tent to escape from the torrent. In the morning, I would find out that I placed my food bag too close to a tree. Consequently a chipmunk was able to jump from the tree to my food bag, chew a hole through the bag, and eat part of one of my sandwiches.

(Hiding out in the tent during a rain storm)

In the morning, the rain had stopped.  Two of the guys got started working on breakfast. I have to say that it was the best breakfast camping I've ever had. There were eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast. As well, the guy who brought all the Coke's shared some with us. It was amazing.

After breakfast was all cleaned up, we headed off for a long day hike.

(Florence Lake: A lake on an island in the middle of another lake)

A little ways down the trip, we made it to the wreck of the Morazan, a ship that ran aground in 1960. First, we had to go down a steep bluff. I slipped on the way down once or twice.

Once we made our way down to the beach, a few of us decided to try to swim out towards the wreck. We made it a good ways out when we started to notice the current slowly dragging us out. At that point, we realized that swimming out to the wreck probably wasn't the smartest decision. So we had to fight the current and the waves to get back to the beach.

After the ship wreck, we continued down the trail through a cedar grove. The grove is one of the few stands of trees in the state that were spared from logging.

Past the cedar grove, we continued to the western edge of the island to the sand dunes. We decided that the top of a dune was as good of place as any to stop and have lunch.

 After lunch and visiting the dunes, we headed back to the east side of the island.

We made a quick stop at the campsite, and then a few of us went to the bay to go snorkeling. The original plan was to snorkel by a shipwreck called "The Three Brothers", but it was too wavy at that spot. So we settled for looking for Petoskey stones near the dock.

After snorkeling for a bit, we headed back to the campsite for dinner. The rest of the night was spent either around the fire at the campsite or down at the beach. In the morning, we had another great breakfast; this time it was pancakes. We didn't have a ton of time that morning. So we quickly packed up and headed back to the docks to catch the ferry.

We did have a little time before the ferry got there, so we decided to set up the hammock.

 Our tickets said to be at the docks by 11, but the ferry didn't get there till later. We made a game of guessing when the ferry would actually get to the dock. I won with 11:26.

Once the ferry arrived we loaded up and headed back to the mainland. 

Overall, it was a great weekend. We had a great group of guys and there was a lot of fun things to check out on the island. My one complaint was that the trip was too short. We only had one full day to go exploring. There was so much on the island that we didn't get to see. I guess I'll just have to go back again some time.

Let's Go Exploring

Growing up, my favorite comic strip to read was Calvin and Hobbes. My brother and I had a big ol' book of the strips, and we would spend hours and hours reading and laughing. Probably the piece that rang most true to me about the comic was when Calvin and Hobbes were off in the woods exploring. We had a few acres of woods behind our house, and I loved to go and find new places in those woods. All grown up and I still love to go exploring. I like taking the long way home. Sometimes, I intentionally get lost and then try to find my way back. As a photographer, I've found many great places off the beaten path to photograph.

The comic strip below pretty much sums it up.

Over Labor Day Weekend, a group of friends and I had a short backpacking trip planned to South Manitou Island. We didn't have to meet until Friday up in Leland. Instead of getting up early to make the drive on Friday morning, my close friend Jamin and I decided to give ourselves extra time and leave Thursday night. There were a lot of places that I've been meaning to stop and check out, so I figured this was the perfect chance. We had no schedule and no real plan. If we wanted to stop, we stopped. If we wanted to turn, we turned. It was great.

So I got out work a little before noon on Thursday, headed home to finish packing, and then picked up Jamin at his house. Right from the get go we set off on a less than direct route. We wandered through cornfields for a while and somehow ended in Coopersville. After we made it to M-46, I decided to head back to the main road of US-31.

The first place that I wanted to stop and check out was Manistee. I've driven through the town a couple of times, but I'd never been through the downtown or seen the lighthouse there. So we drove through town, stopped at a park on Lake Michigan, and walked down the pier. Oh yeah, we also stopped and got a quick bite to eat at an A&W.

Always exciting when you can climb something.

After our short jaunt in Manistee, we loaded back in the car and headed north on M-22

A little ways down the road, we saw a sign for a scenic overlook, the Arcadia Bluffs Overlook. So we decided to pull off and stop. I'm really glad we did. There were some great views. We spent like five or ten minutes soaking it all in.

After that quick pit stop, we kept heading north along M-22 till we got to the town of Frankfurt. We checked out the beach, pier, and lighthouse. I was really impressed by the small town. It looked like a great place to take a summer vacation.

After we were done at the lighthouse, we went to a local bar and grill, the Villa Marine Bar, to get dinner. I had a great pub burger. Jamin had steak and shrimp. With full stomachs we headed down the road again to yet another lighthouse, Point Betsie.

With our last lighthouse behind us, we made our way to the Platte River Campground. By the time we got there, it was starting to get dark. So we quickly set up before the night closed in on us. Once we were all set up, we decided to go for a quick hike in the dark with our headlamps. We only went a little ways down to the river, but it was still fun.

In the middle of the night, we woke to the sound of rain pelting against our tent. In the morning, we laid there for a bit hoping for it to stop. The rain slowed a bit, so we quickly packed up. We wanted to do some hiking that morning and were determined to not let the rain stop us. We were recommended a trail by one of the rangers, so we headed down the road to find it. Just a short bit up the road, we found what we were looking for. We parked our car and went down the Treat Farm Trail in the pouring rain. Even with a rain jacket and gore-tex boots, I still got pretty wet. My pants were soaked. Down the trail, the woods opened up to an old barn and farmhouse. We ducked under the porch of the farmhouse to shake off the water and just watch the rain.

After getting rained on, we were hungry for breakfast. We had some eggs, bacon, and pancakes at Joe's in Empire. After that, we started to make our way to the town of Leland, where we would meet up with our group and catch the ferry to South Manitou.

We weren't in Leland long when our friends arrived. We checked in with the ferry service, but had some time to kill before the ferry would leave. We used that time to check out the historic fish town in Leland.

I had a great time exploring, and the weekend was just beginning.

But more on that to come.