This past weekend, Squirrelbait (Aaron) and I had an impromptu winter hang up at Reid Lake Foot Travel Area, in the Huron National Forest, north of Glennie and due east of Hoist Lakes. I rolled into the lot around 2:45 and got on the trail by 3. The parking lot was empty and by the looks of the trail and the fresh snow, it didn’t look like they’d had much use. Squirrebait was and hour or more behind me, so I headed in. Temps were in the high teens, the sun was out and after 10 minutes I was already feeling pretty warm. After about 20 minutes, I hit the intersection and could see my destination on the south side of Reid Lake. It was a nice under 2 mile hike through the woods, dragging my pulk with my gear for the weekend.

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...5&d=1422902212


By 3:45 I rolled into my campsite, got my gear all setup, got a fire going and heated water for some hot cider. By now, it was getting to the low teens and the view across the lake with the sun going down was amazing.

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...6&d=1422902222


https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...7&d=1422902231


When it was getting close to dark, Squirrelbait made it to the site with his pulk and set-up next door. We had some dinner (alpineaire chicken gumbo) and spent the rest of the evening just hanging around the campfire and enjoying the woods. The winds were calm and the temps dropped to a low of 7 on Friday night.

Here’s some views of the camp with the my SLD Winter Haven 12 and Squirrelbait’s supersized SLD Winter Haven with the 14’ ridgeline.

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...9&d=1422902312

Saturday morning was pretty cold when we got up, but by noon, it was in the mid 20’s. We pretty much spent the day just hanging out around the fire, drinking coffee, eating way to much food and cutting wood. We went on a short hike and did some exploring.

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...8&d=1422902240


By about 8:30, it was hiker midnight, so we called it a day. The overnight weather forecast called for decreasing temps in single digits with wind gusts. It held true, because in the morning it was 7 degrees and felt a lot colder than it did the previous morning. It was also starting to snow a bit. After some hot coffee and a fire, we decided to pack up and head down to Glennie for a breakfast at the Chat n Chow.

The only time we saw anyone was Saturday night, when a cross country skier with a headlamp was out on the trail across the lake. The weekend provided a great opportunity to get out and enjoy the woods of northern Michigan. It also helped us dial in our gear, prior to the Green Timbers Hang the end of February.