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  1. #1
    Senior Member Dblcorona's Avatar
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    Upper Peninsula, MI or what I did this summer

    My trip report of our vacation last week.

    So vacation this year was a little smaller in scale than the last couple of trips out west. This was a week long tour of the Upper Peninsula of MI. Thought I would keep it in the state this year. Plus my wife invited along my daughter's friend and her mom. Neither had really done much camping so my hopes of doing a decent amount of backpacking fell to the wayside. So the report is really more car camping than backpacking.

    Left Saturday morning for Tahquamenon Falls State Park. One of our favorites. This was a 6 ½ hr drive. We had a site reserved in Rivermouth campgrounds. My hope was during the trip, the women and girls would be using our Nemo Asashi 4 person tent and I would be using my WBBB. So the first site I got lucky and there where trees to use. Weather was good, mosquitoes where voracious. We checked out Whitefish Point, Upper Falls, the island at the Lower Falls, and devoured a wild blueberry pie from the Berry Patch in Paradise, MI. One of the best I've ever had.


    P1000168 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    P1000195 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    P1000187 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr

    Monday was a quick drive over to Munising and set up camp at 12 Mile Beach at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Nice site, 2 good trees, what else could a guy ask for. We went over to Sable Falls and hung out there for awhile. We where woke up by a thunderstorm Tuesday morning. Tried to get packed up before it hit, but we lost. We packed up and spent some time at Munising Falls before heading out for the Kewenaw Peninsula.


    DSC_3201 B&W web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    DSC_3210 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    DSC_3245 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    DSC_3232 b&w web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr

    We got to McLean State Park which is right on the west side on Lake Superior. We where greeted with 20-30 mph winds with gusts of 50mph and no trees to hang the hammock. We set up the Nemo to dry out, which didn't take long in that wind, and set-up my back-up plan. My Tarptent Rainshadow 2. I was on the ground that night. Had some great pizza at Ambassador in Houghton. Highly recommend it. Some of the best thin crust pizza I have had. This was just a stopping point to the Porkies. We packed up the next morning and ran north to the Jam Pot. A small place ran by monks. Great little place and had a great time talking with the monks.


    DSC_3274 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    DSC_3291 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr

    Heading to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. We are staying at Union Bay campground for a night, then backpacking into one of their cabins for 2 nights. This was a compromise. I had planned on doing much more till we added the extra people. The cabin (Wood Camp Cabin) was a 4 person cabin and 2.5 mile hike in. This meant we didn't have to carry too much in. I was going to be using the hammock with the girls in the cabin. The hike in was uphill the whole way and though nobody had too much problem with it, they sure pooped out fast once we got there. A ranger came by to drop off water. He said everything was dry for at least 2 miles around the cabin. He also said that they have a bear causing a little trouble at the cabin. The weekend before he ripped the screen off a window trying to get in. This unsettled the girls a bit. That the claw and bite marks on the cabin didn't help either.

    The mosquitoes where again really bad. Even with repellent on, they still did the hover around your head trick. The next day we did a bit of day hiking. Went out to an overlook and went searching for thimbleberries. Man those are good. That night we heard something walking around. Freaked the girls out enough that I had to stay in the cabin with them. Not sure how that helped, but they all said that it made them feel better. My back was not happy. The hike out was easy with the downhill grade the whole way. Stopped and took showers and headed to Indian Lake State Park for the night before the drive home. Got some trees there and had a great nights sleep for the drive home.


    P1000231 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    P1000233 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    P1000236 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    P1000241 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    P1000244 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    P1000240 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    DSC_3295 B&W web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    DSC_3299 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    DSC_3303 p web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr


    DSC_3311 web by Kevin Ridge, on Flickr

    I used a 1.7dbl WBBB, a Lawson Equipment Cuben Tarp, my DIY UQ and my new DIY TQ. Everything worked great. I was using Bloomgorge's Tarp Cross and Tarp Key. They couldn't have been easier to use. Could deploy the tarp is about 2-3 minutes.

    Well if you made it this far, thanks for reading.

    Kevin
    "We don't stop hiking because we grow old,
    we grow old because we stop hiking."

    -- Finis Mitchell,

  2. #2
    Senior Member Redoleary's Avatar
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    Wow! Beautiful shots. Sable falls is one of my favorite places. Thanks for sharing.
    Good luck,
    RED

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    Deep peace without end to you.
    adapted from - ancient gaelic runes

  3. #3
    Senior Member bloomgorge's Avatar
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    you're pretty sick with those disposable cameras...good stuff
    http://smartoutdoors.webs.com/ elephant trunks, tarp keys and crosses

  4. #4
    Senior Member Les Rust's Avatar
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    Thanks for the trip report and especially the really good pics. Great blend of black and white and I love those sunset pics. Great thing to spend family time outdoors.

  5. #5
    Senior Member mbiraman's Avatar
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    Great pics Kevin. I especially like the B&W and the last couple of WF pics. How did you do them??
    bill
    " The mind creates the abyss, the heart crosses it."

    “The measure of your life will not be in what you accumulate, but in what you give away.” ~Wayne Dyer

    www.birchsidecustomwoodwork.com

  6. #6
    Senior Member
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    Looks like a nice trip! Thanks for sharing!

  7. #7
    Senior Member Dblcorona's Avatar
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    How did you do them??
    Very slow shutter speeds. A sturdy tripod and nobody walking past you helps a lot. I was shooting right around 1 sec exposures. I also use a graduated neutral density filter to balance things and help darken it up to get those slow shutter speeds.
    "We don't stop hiking because we grow old,
    we grow old because we stop hiking."

    -- Finis Mitchell,

  8. #8
    Senior Member sr1355's Avatar
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    ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL PICS KEVIN...... Looks like everyone had a fantastic time....
    Happy Hangin'

    Paul - Master Fabric Welder @ UGQ

    >>>VISIT UGQ OUTDOOR HERE<<<

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  9. #9
    Senior Member TZBrown's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sr1355 View Post
    ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL PICS KEVIN...... Looks like everyone had a fantastic time....
    +1 on that. Great photos and great memories made

    TZ
    Life's A Journey
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    Woo Hoo!....What a Ride!

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  10. #10
    Senior Member mbiraman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dblcorona View Post
    Very slow shutter speeds. A sturdy tripod and nobody walking past you helps a lot. I was shooting right around 1 sec exposures. I also use a graduated neutral density filter to balance things and help darken it up to get those slow shutter speeds.
    I should have been more specific. Those last couple of WF pics look like their half B&W and the odd bit of color and i thought this was some kind of effects.
    " The mind creates the abyss, the heart crosses it."

    “The measure of your life will not be in what you accumulate, but in what you give away.” ~Wayne Dyer

    www.birchsidecustomwoodwork.com

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