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.