Odd conversations

So Jesse provides us with a lesson about what kinds of conversations need to be had when planning to hike the Appalachian trail. It follows:

Buying 6 months of expensive cat food for your cat sitter costs over 300 dollars. Explaining that your cats will be living with your mother to the check out lady makes you 1) awkward as all get out, and 2) makes you less of a man.

He has a list of modifications for this blog post. If he wants to edit it, maybe he should post his own blog posts.

More soon!

Things I learned at deer camp

Its the second week of deer camp and all the boys are here...

I've lived out of state for a long time. Nine years. This is the beginning of my third year back in state. As such, its the third year I've put forth real effort trying to bag my first deer. Sorta. My gramps died the first year I was home, so after taking time for the funeral I didn't have much available for hunting. The second year, my teaching load was rough. So this year was the first, ever, I've spent more than for our five says in the woods.

Nothing. And,.my heater gave out. On the lucky side, I had my wool gear to test in the varied temperature extremes found in Michigan deercamps. It was 68 at points opening weekend, and less than 10 at others. And I was sitting motionless in a particle board blind. Yep, I'm lucky to have a blind and land to hunt on. Not the point. I got to test my gear!

1) wool is warm. I loved it. I was worried about it being uncomfortable but I was pleasantly surprised.

2) it doesn't hold stink. I have read about this phenomenon, but I didn't believe it. There are lots of smelly things at deer camp. Cigarette smoke, campfire smoke, few showers, gear that hasn't been washed in years, etc. and yet, I never put on my wool under layers and thought "oofta, this needs to be washed desperately". Hiking daily is a different story, but I was surprised as hell.

Thanks, deercamp!

A long overdue announcement

Okay, so, last week I watched one of those local Ted X things a friend of mine posted on Facebook. Now, I'm not hip to this Ted x jive, nor do I seek a lot of external inspiration. I mean, nature and family rejuvenate me, but as far as listening to other people's insight, I don't venture too far from my best friend Josh's council.

Anyway, perhaps because I had a shitty month or so, or because my boyfriend is finishing up his dissertation and I've got to have inspiration enough for two, or because I really respect the life choices of my friend who first posted the video, or because I just couldn't convince myself to write my dissertation anymore, I put in my earbuds and gave a listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSR4xuU07sc

And it struck a chord.

I've got my own closet to come out of. And for me, it's hard.

Imtakingnextsemesteroffandhikingtheappalachiantrailwithjesse. 

Okay. Again. I'm going to take a semester off of my phd program and hike the Appalachian trail. A nearly 2200 mile journey across 14 states from Georgia to Maine.

This post isn't my first admission. I've told my advisor, and she's supportive. I've told committee members, they are down. I've shared it with other grad students in the department, huzzah. Jesse has told his family, and they are stoked (even if we will miss the birth if his twin nieces). 

I wasn't surprised by this next fact. I've been dreading telling my parents. I told them. They are not supportive. That was my closet. My cousin doesn't get it, but she wants me to be happy. The guys in my family, they love me but don't really think its a good idea. My mother shhhhed me, and when I bring it up the tension is palpable. She told dad (cuz that's how it works in the family), and he's flat out told me no. 

I'm a 29 year old woman who has made all the grown up, right decisions for pretty much ever. I've always wanted to do a hike like his, and I am finally in a supportive relationship with a person who wants this adventure as much as I do. The opportunity has knocked. I see that it's selfish to put aside my phd for 6 months and do something that won't directly further me as a person professionally or personally in the traditional sense. But this adventure will further me personally, in my own offbeat way

And I don't think I've ever done something directly against my parents wishes. i knew I wouldnt find support for this endeavor from them, but I guess I wish they had surprised me, because they always do support me. And in the end, I know they still love me regardless. But man, at least half of the stress I've had for the last 2 months has been wrapped up in coming out of my Appalachian trail closet. Not because I didn't know how they were going to react, but because I did. I knew I would get told 'no' and for once, I wasn't going to do as I was told. I knew this, but it doesn't change how much it hurts. (and yes, I also know I'm 1/3 of the way thru my life and still seeking approval, but I was raised to respect, so to me, this is a byproduct of that)

And I'm nervous and excited and scared and a whole bundle of things, and I'd like to share that with them. Hell, they are the reason I moved back to Michigan. But for right now, I'm planning, packing, and prepping for the trail. 

Adventures in smart wool

With the cold weather coming our way, and considering Jesse has been using my lightweight synthetic  base layers (one of which I've owned since 2000), we've decided to invest in our base layer system. If you're us, the question almost instantly becomes 'wool or synthetic?' my synthetics have treated me well, got me through rugby tourneys and rowing regattas in early march and late October. But I think I've grown to want more out of a base layer. I want it to keep me warm after the regatta, to support my desire to stand outside in my own sweat and not freeze to death. My lightweight synthetics weren't doing the job for me, they were stopping short of my desired finish line.

But wool is expensive, and it might be scratchy, and how does it fit? I mean, I've never had $100 to invest in a tshirt. Enter the Moosejaw base layer sale. Finally, wool priced within reach. Yet, the fit and comfort remain unanswered questions and the Moosejaw near us doesn't have any wool to try on. Luckily, Playmakers, another store in town, does. Playmakers is the store you love to shop in. The staff is great, the selection is amazing...but of course if you're a graduate student, the cost is a bit out of the range of your budget. I hit up their sales like no ones business, and were it not for the previously mentioned sale at Moosejaw and associated reward points, I would have walked away with a $120 piece after 20 minutes.

So after stopping by the local Moosejaw and Playmakers, Jesse and I spent a solid couple of hours picking out our base layers. I desperately wanted a shirt with thumb holes, but the weights were too high for my purpose. Jesse settled on a steel grey smart wool piece with fabric weighted at 195. I got the same in black, but was torn between the smartwool and an arcterx piece of similar design. So I decided to buy them both and return the one I liked less. Apparently (though I've never had cause) you can return Moosejaw items purchased online right at the store. But now I'm in a bind. I really like the fit of both! The arcterx piece is a blue color, which I appreciate since most everything I own is in earth tones. And I think I'd like to try them both out to see if they work as well winking sweat away. 

(the two choices... with my unmade bed and very fat cat for scale)

I'll ponder this some more, but i think I might just keep both. After all, they were on sale. Plus, now that I know how cozy these shirts are, I feel like I'll want both. I mean, rifle season starts on November 15, that's at less a couple weeks of wear, right?

Meanwhile, Jesse was curious as to how comfy the wool was on his skin (something about smartwool socks itching his sensitive man feet if he slept in them) and he's now in his 50th hour of consecutive wear. Just testing it out. Scientists.

Packs float...who knew?

Over the summer, Jesse and I also did some hiking on the MCCCT. It follows the Au Sable river for quite a while, and despite the very few other blog entries I've read by hikers re:this trail, it was quite nice. I can imagine that if you're sharing the trail actively with horses and their riders, you might not be as thrilled, but there were places to camp all along our stretch of trail (which was near Byron Lake and on the NatGeo map of Huron National Forest) and it was great. There were 2 or 3 campgrounds along our section, so we got to chat with others outside enjoying themselves, too. We hiked out about 8 miles from the car...

This is where I have to stop and explain how brilliant Jesse is (whether I like to admit it or not). You see, it was the 4th of July, and while we were happy to be hiking, it was hard to watch the drunken people tubing down the river all lazily and not be a little jealous. So, Jesse suggested that we only pack hiking essentials and leave our camping gear at a site chosen near our start. Which left them nice and light for packing 1) beer, and 2) uninflated tubes. We got to a road about 8 miles up that people were putting in at, with a town with a bar only 1/4 mile from said bridge. I stayed back and inflated the tubes, Jesse went to the bar to grab some to-go beer.

Then, we threw ourselves and our packs into the water, tied them all together with guy line, and used mother nature to carry us back home. Turns out, the packs float nicely and make a GREAT table for resting a 12 pack of beer on!

I'd have given a lot for a picture of this endeavor, us floating down the river in hiking pants with packs as rafts...but alas, no waterproof camera. Trust me, it's on my list now.

Gonna take a sentimental journey

Over the 4th of July, Jesse and I chose to sneak away from our sets of parents for a few days and go hiking and camping for a few days. We spent our time in Huron National Forest in the northeastern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan.

We hiked a lovely loop in the Hoist Lakes Trail System, starting at the trailhead off F32 and traveling northeast on the trail. We got a late start, having had breakfast with my parents at our cabin in West Branch. We took a nice break at the other trailhead about 8 miles later, and ran into the Forest Service guy who was checking the parking lot there. Word to the wise: the signs at the trailheads say that there is water on the trail, but they took the wells out a while ago. We decontaminate water with bleach (one drop per liter) and filter solid bits with a bandana so it wasnt a problem. 

I was ready to stop at the lake 2.5 miles in from the second trailhead. There was a gorgeous campsite at the northwest corner of the southern lake, just past a 

Iittle bridge that traversed the stream connecting the upper and lower lakes. But there were a few different groups of people at the lake already, and we still had hours of sunlight, so Jesse suggested we go further, maybe to 'no name' lake, and camp there. There weren't designated campsites on no name, but we are pretty good stealth campers, so we thought we'd give it a shot.

No name lake was a mosquito-filled cesspit. Some respite from the heat, but we weren't sleeping there. The lake was nicely sized, but had bog-like growths reducing it to half its size. Great for fishing, I suspect. But we couldnt get water there, and we would need more before morning, so we continued on. 

We hiked a little over 14 miles to Byron lake. Boy was it worth it! Only about 1.5 miles from the trailhead from which we had started hours earlier (talk about the long way around, eh?), since the trailhead was on the lesser used road, nobody was there. But the lake was pristine. There was a big fire pit and some fishing line/hooks from someone else who must frequent the spot, but we had the lake to ourselves. 

We jumped in to cool off and rinse 14 miles of hiking off of us, then made camp right on the beach. Check out our campsite!

                In the next entry, I'll describe to you our brilliant day hike along the Michigan shore to shore trail near here. There was a touch of epic...

Virtual Memories

I've learned a lot of things this summer. I'm not going to talk about that, though. However, I also made a few neat discoveries about the area around me. But...I don't remember things well, I get distracted too easily to journal, and the interwebs has lots of pretty PDFs to share. Also, I lose things, so the idea of the magical ether gnomes storing info for me, and allowing me to add posts  from any one of the zillions of devices via methods only previously dreamed of (dude, seriously, you can text a post....), well, it's pretty magical.

And I had a couple of not great weeks. Culminating in a 7am trip to the e.r. vet for my cat, Darwin.

After he and I woke up from drug-induced naps, I decided that recording past and future journeys here will solve a) the problem of the forgetting and the storing the logistics and the planning future trips and the remembering those trips, and b) it'd make me happy to have this record.

Finally, and most importantly for, dear reader (catch the reference? If not, you need to sit yourself down with Harry potter and an Internet connection), I've found out some awesome things about natural areas in Michigan, the state I currently call home. If you like Michigan and nature (and/or beer), I've got deets. Ones that have been tricky to learn about except from other bloggers, helpful but not always finished or up-to-date. I'm gonna try to fix that in my explorations.

So, check in often. I go on weekend journeys and random excursions, and am planning some big trips in the future!