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Backpacking In The Sleeping Bear Dunes
By Steve Gillman, Thu Dec 8th
I was in the Sleeping Bear Dunes. It was March, sowhen I made it through the woods and over the dunes, I'd havemiles of beach to myself. It was an over-nighter, a chance totest new ultralight equipment. I hiked the woodedhills quickly, enjoying the cold air. Halfway through the forest, I stopped to cook noodles. The cheap3-ounce pot was from a dollar store, and it worked fine. I washappy, because from the catalog descriptions, the expensivetitanium pots are all heavier, probably because they're toothick and with too many gadgets. I had to use a small twig-fire when my homemade alcohol stovedidn't provide enough heat. I later learned that isopropylalcohol doesn't burn as hot as the alcohol used for a gasadditive, but the twigs worked in any case. Backpacking On The Beach After eating, I hiked to Lake Michigan, and sat up on a largesand dune. I watched the waves push ice up onto the empty beach.Coyotes began to howl in the distance, and the clouds rolled in.I was on the beach looking for petoskey stones when the snowbegan. in March has its risks. I was in running shoes, and it would be below freezing thatnight. In northern Michigan, March is definitely part of winter.My feet stayed warm while I hiked, but I hadn't planned on themgetting wet. At least I had a pair of warm, dry socks forsleeping. Ultralight Equipment It was the first time I used my GoLite Breeze backpack, whichweighed only 13 ounces. I was hiking with about nine pounds
onmy back, and that only because I threw in some canned food. Iwas going light, but I knew the forests here and feltcomfortable with my abilities.My down sleeping bag was a 17-ounce Western MountaineeringHighLite. It was the first time I would use it below freezing(It hit 25 degrees fahrenheit that night). Fortunately, itwasn't too windy. At the edge of the forest, behind the dunes, I set up my smalltarp. I piled pine needles and dead bracken ferns under it,finishing just as it became dark. This made a warm mattress, andI slept well, listening to the coyotes, and to the waves pushingice around in the lake. In the morning I was happy to see only a dusting of snow. Myone-pound sleeping bag had been warmer than my three-pounder -and I thought that was light. I poured alcohol in the cut-offbottom of a pepsi can (my 1/2-ounce stove) and madetea. After some crackers I was soon hiking in my mostly-dryshoes, along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Backpacking Lessons Learned I ended my trip that afternoon, with a hike to the village ofEmpire, seven miles away. I was mostly satisfied. Only twoproblems: My tarp was too small, and the alcohol I brought wasthe wrong type.
After
in Michigan for years, I know it well. I knowwhere to find dead grass and bracken ferns, for example, to makea warm mattress in a few minutes. Knowledge, obviously, can beas valuable as expensive gear.
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