Backpacking In The Sleeping Bear Dunes

I was hiking in the Sleeping Bear Dunes. It is March, so when I did it through the woods and dunes, I would have miles of beach to myself. This is an excess of White Night, an opportunity to test new equipment ultralight backpack. I increased the wooded hills quickly, enjoying the cool air.

Halfway through the forest, I stopped to cook noodles. The cheap 3 ounces of pot is a dollar store, and it worked well. I was happy, because the catalog descriptions, the expensive titanium pots are heavy, probably because they are too thick and too many gadgets.

I had to use a small twig fire at the house of my alcohol stove did not provide sufficient heat. I later learned that isopropyl alcohol does not burn as hot as the alcohol used for a gas additive, but the branches worked in all cases.

BackpackingOn The Beach

After eating, I walk to Lake Michigan, and sat on a large sand dune. I watched the waves push on the ice to the beach empty. Coyotes began to howl in the distance and the clouds rolled in. I was on the beach, looking for Petoskey stones when the snow began. Backpacking in March has its risks.

I was in running shoes, and it would be below zero at night. In northern Michigan, March is certainly part of the winter. My feet stayed warm while I work, but I had not planned to be wet. At least I had a pair of hot, dry socks for sleeping.

Ultralight Backpacking Equipment

It was the first time I used my backpack GoLite Breeze, who weighs just 13 ounces. I was hiking with about nine pounds on my back, only because I threw in some canned foods. I was going to light, but I knew that the forests here and felt comfortable with my abilities.

My sleeping bag down a 17-oz HighLite Western Mountaineering. It was the first time I use it to below zero (it hit 25 degrees Fahrenheit at night). Fortunately, it is not too much wind.

At the edge of the forest behind the dunes, I set up my small tarp. I piled pine needles and dead bracken ferns under it, like finishing it became black. This is a warm mattress, and I slept well, listening to the coyotes, the waves and push the ice around the lake.

In the morning, I was pleased to see a dusting of snow. My book from a sleeping bag was warmer than my three books - and I think there was light. I poured alcohol in the cut-off of a pepsi low as possible (my backpack stove 1/2-ounce) and tea. After some crackers I was in my hair especially hiking shoes along the shore of Lake Michigan.

BackpackingLessons learned

I finished my trip in the afternoon, with a hike in the village of Empire, seven kilometers. I was mostly satisfied. Only two problems: My canvas was too small, and brought the alcohol was the wrong type.

After hikingin Michigan for years, I know. I know where to find grass and dead bracken ferns, for example, to make a warm mattress in minutes. Knowledge, of course, can be as valuable as hiking gear costly.