Camp Changeups.
Written in Hiawatha National Forest, just outside of Munising in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
As often goes in our adventures, today ended very differently than we expected. The goal yesterday was to set up camp in a central location to many of the great hikes and waterfalls that we have heard surround the Upper Peninsula [referred locally as U P] of Michigan. We planned to set a base camp and explore for at least a few days.
We found a nice free campsite in the National Forest. It was fairly secluded, but still had the security of a few occupied sites within earshot. It wasn’t the most epic spot, but it was very pleasant, and surrounded by trees and ferns. There was even a waterfall about a mile and a half along a nice trail starting at our campsite.
With the exception of the neighboring camp trailer using a chainsaw to cut firewood in the evening, everything was calm, quiet, and comfortable until about 4AM. I woke to the sound of extremely loud, baying dogs. They barked nonstop all morning. Around 8am I had enough, and got in the truck, determined to find the source of the ridiculously obnoxious barking.
It was not hard to find. The culprits were all tied up outside a tent trailer 50 yards from our campsite. It comprised of 10 shorthair pointers, all tied up individually to various trees. The dogs seemed pleasant enough, but, of course when you leave TEN dogs outside all night, they are going to bark! I got weird vibes from the tent trailer, and it didn’t seem like the kind of person to leave an entire pack of animals outside would give one iota about other people’s cares, anyway, so I drove back to our campsite.
Since the day’s goal was to drive into Munising to research the best trails, and do a hike or 2, we decided to check out a couple other spots along the way, just in case. The first spot we checked out was sooo much better that we decided to immediately move camp.
It was about a 45 minute drive between camps, so we decided to leave Leah at the new campsite while I packed up and grabbed the trailer. It was a beautiful sunny day, so I took my time and enjoyed the drive, and finished an audio book while packing up camp.
On my way to the new site, while I was meandering down the gravel forest road, I noticed much darker clouds ahead. Sure enough, before long I had the wipers going full blast, and even then had to slow down a bit to see the road! I wondered if Leah was experiencing the same storm, but was glad we had left our backpacking tent with her as a means to better claim the new site.
By the time I got to the new camp, the clouds had passed, and the sun was out again. Judging by the wet ground, it had rained here, although I hoped it was much less of a deluge than what I experienced on the drive. I couldn’t find Leah at first, and was surprised to see no evidence of a tent anywhere (it was set up when I left).
Fortunately, Leah found me within a minute of my arrival, although she was soaked head to toe. Apparently, the storm came on very suddenly, and inconveniently 10 minutes after she had put away the tent. She thought I would be there any minute, and we wouldn’t need the tent once the trailer arrived. The storm had been even worse for Leah than on my drive, with lightning and thunder immediately overhead, coupled with torrents of rain so thick you could barely see! The saving grace was 2 nice ladies a few sites down, who offered use of their shelter to Leah and the dogs until the storm passed.
Aside from being soaked to the bone, Leah was in good spirits, so we proceeded to set up camp. Our new campsite is sooo much nicer, and, so far, lacks any semblance of noisy neighbors. There’s a nice lake a stone’s throw from camp, and I was able to enjoy a paddle around the glass-calm lake amidst a gorgeous setting sun.
