Every year on Memorial Day weekend my wife and I head 6 1/2 hours up north to a small piece of property we own in the upper peninsula of Michigan. We meet up with family there and have a good time camping. This year the rain caused us to head back after two nights rather than the intended three night stay, but we still had a great time. The UP is my favorite place on earth and if you've never been, do yourself a favor and schedule a time to go exploring up there. Beautiful country.
The highlight of the weekend for me was that after trying to talk her into hammock camping the past few years, my wife finally agreed to give it a try. I set her up in my Warbonnet Blackbird XLC under my Simply Light Designs Winter Haven tarp. I wanted to make sure she was toasty warm as she gets cold easy, so she got my winter Wookie underquilt and 20 degree top quilt from Hammock Gear. Night time low temps were high 30's or low 40's and damp. I knew the top and under quilts would have been like a sweat box for me, but it was perfect for her and she slept like a baby both nights. She's agreed to do some short, hike in camping trips as long as she can sleep in the hammock again.
My set up for the weekend was my Simply Light Designs Trail Lair, which has replaced my Blackbird XLC for my go to hammock. I find it just a little bit more comfortable for me as a big time side sleeper. I used my Warbonnet Mambajamba tarp, a Hammock Gear Econ 0 degree under quilt and a Wilderness Logics 40 degree top quilt. I've found 0 and 20 degree under quilts to work for me in a wide range of temps as long as my top insulation is light enough. I too slept like a baby.
Camp.
Morning coffee was made with the help of my new GSI stainless steel kettle, on top of my beloved Firebox Nano and Trangia stove. Not exactly an ultralight kit, but I really love the Nano and had been wanting to try a kettle for no reason other than they look cool hanging over a campfire.
It might look like my wife and I took a ride on the four wheeler and came across a nearby logging operation, but no. I cut all this wood with a dull pocket knife, in a blizzard, blindfolded, while fighting off hungry wolves and trying to keep a blind porcupine from trying to mate with my leg. True story.
One of our favorite things to do together in the UP is to go for rides in our Polaris Ranger and just explore. There's so many trails and dirt two tracks that you could ride for days and never hit the same trail twice. This picture makes the road behind us look paved, but it's gravel and one of the main roads running through the nearby national forest. Lots of old logging roads to explore branching off of this one.
My wife managed to find a few of these tasty little treats.
Last but not least is this random pic I had to take of a piece of logging machinery. I should have taken more pictures of the area that was logged. It always impresses me how much logging they can do with just one or two pieces of big equipment. Our little ten acres is all woods right now but I want to put a cabin on in within the next year or two. If I could borrow this beast and it's operator for just an hour, I could do a lot of work that will take me several days.
All in all it was a great weekend with my much better half. Looking forward to my next trip north.
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