Category: Vehicles

Trucks, vans, cars, motos, bikes, boats, and any other #adventuremobile #adventurerig

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Keweenaw Peninsula

In May we had the opportunity to take a long awaited 4-day trip to the western portion of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula aka the UP (or “Yoop” in local slang). It was an amazing trip that did not disappoint, and really spiked our interest to see more of this vast region!

First place we headed was to the Porcupine Mountains.  We did a quick drive around the Wilderness State Park and cruised through to the other side to see the Lake of Clouds.  Unfortunately, it was getting late and we hadn’t eaten lunch yet (which meant hangry was right around the corner for me), and we had a fussy baby on our hands. Then we realized there was a fee to get back there, so we decided to see it another time.  I’m sure we missed an incredible picture op and view from all the descriptions and the pictures that we have seen.  But, it gave us something to have to go back for!  Headed out of the park towards Houghton, we stopped along the coastline to feed Kaylee and make some lunch in the form of carnitas tacos. They were delicious and the view was incredible!!

The one thing we noticed about Lake Superior was that it reminded us of the ocean.  It is HUGE, has the waves of the ocean, the breeze of the ocean, but lacked the smell, the salt, and crabs scurrying around.  We decided instead of pushing through we had better find somewhere nearby to camp.  We came across the Ontonagon Township Park where we were able to camp right on the beach. I highly recommend the campground if you are in the area.  We walked around, explored the beach and after making dinner, we settled by the fire and watched the sun go down.  We ended the night with smores before headed to bed. We slept like babies to the sound of the ocean lake. We didn’t even need the sound machine for Kaylee.

Lake Superior Fun Facts:

·  Lake Superior contains 10% of all the fresh water on the planet Earth.
·  It covers 82,000 square kilometers or 31,700 square miles.
·  The average depth is 147 meters or 483 feet.
·  There have been about 350 shipwrecks recorded in Lake Superior.
·  Lake Superior is, by surface area, the largest lake in the world.
·  It contains as much water as all the other Great Lakes combined, plus three extra Lake Erie’s.

The following morning we had some bacon and eggs cooked on our trusty Tembo Tusk skottle and then packed up to continue up north.  We drove through the town of Houghton where we stopped at the Suomi Café, known for Finnish food, and tried their famous Pasty and Pannukakku.  They were both scrumptious (write up of this café will be under our Good Eats section soon on our site at Lone Star Adventurer).

After stopping for our snack, we hit up the Quincy Mine across the river from Houghton in Hancock, MI, before continuing our journey to High Rock Bay.  Once again, pressed for time, we only perused the outside of the mine.  The Quincy Mine was founded in 1846 and was the country’s leading copper-producing mine from 1863-1867.  Mining operations have been closed since 1945.  On the premises, you could see remaining hoist houses, shaft houses, and even able to look down one of the mining shafts.

We left the mine and were given a tip to check out the Gratiot River County Park located off Gratiot River Shortcut Rd in Allouez, MI.  It is was trip down a couple mile long dirt road trail that suddenly opens up to a beautiful view of Lake Superior’s 8,489ft sand, slate, and cobble shoreline.  There are several dispersed campsites back here if you are lucky to nab one.  We walked the beach and found lots of interesting rocks.

After checking out the area, we backtracked to the US-41/I-26 and towards Eagle Harbor where we checked out their lighthouse.  The red brick Eagle Harbor Lighthouse sits on the rocky entrance to the harbor and is a working lighthouse as it still guides mariners across the northern edge of the Keweenaw Peninsula.  The original lighthouse was built in 1851 and was replaced in 1871.  It is said that you could occasionally see the northern lights displaying their beauty from here.

Following this, we stopped at the Jampot (a must see stop if you are in the area) which is a Catholic monastery of the Byzantine Rite operated bakery.  They offer a variety of jams, jellies, preserves, fudge, and baked goods including giant muffins, lemon cakes, delicious peanut butter & jelly brownies and one of the best fruitcakes we had ever had.  I could literally eat this every day!

 

We came across a few waterfalls on our travels, one of which was right before the Jampot on the right.  Leaving the Jampot, we headed even further north.  Refueling in the quaint village town of Copper Harbor, we hit the dirt trail to High Rock Bay.

With no cellular service and going off of Gaia maps and friends’ gpx tracks, we went down the trail for what seemed like over an hour until we reached the stop sign at the end of the trail.  We were going to camp right at the point, but because the wind was strong and cold off the ocean lake, we chose to go a little further back, but did manage to take in a photo op first.  We had some dinner and watched a movie on our good old iPad (peaking out the window at the beautiful view due to the freezing wind chill) and set out in the morning to walk around and explore.  Before leaving the next morning, we worked our way down another very tight trail to check out the Keweenaw Rocket Range.

The Keweenaw Rocket Range is an isolated launch pad located in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula.  It was used between 1964 and 1971 for launching rockets for meteorological data collection.  NASA, along with the University of Michigan, conducted the project to collect measurements of electron density, positive ion composition and distribution, energetic electron precipitation, solar X-rays, and Lyman alpha flux.  The collected data was later to be compared to five other sites in the US.

We knew our trip was coming to an end, but we still had one more night and we didn’t have a set plan for it.  We stopped by to check out the Gay Bar in Gay, MI that people were telling us to visit. When in Gay, you go the Bar.

We decided to work our way closer to home so that we could get back home in Illinois semi-early the next day.  We ended up stopping in the Ottawa National Forest nestled along the Sturgeon River before hitting the pavement for good.

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Snowbike Project – Part 2

THE SOBERING REMINDER

The winter of 2017-2018 has been a rough one.  Snowfall has been well below average in the Southwest, and that’s made for scary conditions both in terms of snowpack stability (lots of avalanches) and hazard coverage (stumps and rocks).  The sad truth is that since the New Year, two individuals I’ve known personally who were both experienced winter backcountry travelers have died while backcountry skiing and snowboarding.  I’m not sharing this with you to try and scare you away, but to point out the fact that winter backcountry recreation can be very dangerous.  Yet the backcountry is also one of the most enjoyable places on earth, which explains why folks seek out the peace of the wilderness in every season.  If you want to snowbike in the backcountry and make it home at the end of your ride, then you need to have the gear, knowledge, and training to safely ride in backcountry avalanche terrain.

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE MORE TO LEARN

Snow science and snow safety are two disciplines that I would strongly encourage you to approach with the mindset of “there is always something to learn.”  You can get a doctorate degree in snow hydrology, so no, that’s not an embellishment on the amount of learning potential.  There’s also a great reason to continually practice with your avalanche gear, because if someone in your party is buried in an avalanche, seconds can mean the difference between a successful rescue and a body recovery.  If that someone buried is you, you’re going to want highly skilled buddies coming to your rescue, so make sure the folks you ride with are on the same level of training and preparedness.

Standard avalanche kit consists of a shovel, probe, and transceiver which is commonly called a beacon.  I’m personally a big fan of carrying the biggest shovel I can fit in my pack, so I’m currently carrying Black Diamond’s Evac 9 shovel.  Yes, it takes up more space and weighs more than other options out there – but when it comes time to dig, I can move snow much faster and dig more effectively than if I were using a tiny shovel (have you tried to dig a hole while standing with a foot long shovel?  It doesn’t work so well).  Probes are typically available in aluminum and carbon fiber—I own both, and use both, so I’d say it’s a matter of preference.  Just make sure your probe can be assembled quickly and will lock into its assembled form.  Beacons could take up a number of articles to cover completely, so I’ll just say that I’ve been using the Peips DSP Pro for the last few winters, and have been really happy with it.  Having the ability to mark multiple buried beacons is a huge help when searching in a multiple burial situation.

Yet the most important feature on any beacon is going to be the skill of the operator using said beacon.  So practice with your beacon of choice to the point that using it becomes an instinct. Then go practice some more.  If you ski or snowboard, many ski areas have beacon basins where you can do practice searches on beacons buried by ski patrol.  If you don’t live by a ski area, have a buddy go bury a transceiver in a backpack for you to go find.

Airbag backpacks are also becoming much more common in the backcountry because they reduce the chances of burial, and have the potential to protect the wearer from injury.  Black Diamond has taken things a step further with its Jetforce line of airbag backpacks that can also create a pocket of breathing air, should a burial occur.  Jetforce packs use a battery powered ducted fan to inflate their airbags where other brands use CO2 (Jetforce is an accurate name, the thing sounds like a jet engine when you deploy it).  Black diamond’s packs can be deployed multiple times on a single battery charge (CO2 packs are a one inflation per cartridge deal), which is a comforting feature when you consider that Mother Nature isn’t limited to only one avalanche per day.

Lastly, carrying radios is a great way for your group to communicate, especially when moving through hazardous terrain one at a time.  Many places have adopted radio communication plans so that multiple groups in the same area can communicate and make plans that do not risk the safety of other groups.  Once you’ve picked up all of your avalanche gear, it’s time to go take an avalanche class.

GO TO SCHOOL

A level 1 class from the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE; pronounced air-ee) is an excellent way to learn about backcountry decision making, avalanche rescue, and avalanche terrain identification.  Level-one courses will have a classroom element and a field element so you can apply what you’ve learned in the classroom by analyzing real terrain and digging actual snow pits under the guidance of an instructor.  Snow pits allow you to see every layer in the snowpack and to gauge how stable the snowpack is with a number of different tests.

Another great resource exists with avalanche information centers, such as the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) which provides weather and avalanche forecasts, snowpack discussions, and detailed reports whenever backcountry travelers are involved in an avalanche.  Consult Google or your local ski or snowmobile shops to find out where to get good avalanche information.

LEARN FROM OTHER’S MISTAKES

When you’re in the backcountry, pay attention to what’s going on around you.  The weather can change in an instant, and a calm bluebird day can turn into a blinding blizzard in minutes.  Keep an eye on which way the wind is blowing and how the wind may be scouring snow from one place and depositing it another.  Is the sun causing the snow to melt in certain areas (that will freeze at night) while shade is keeping other areas fresh and fluffy?  Snowpack can change significantly from aspect to aspect.  During a recent ride, we happened upon a perfect example of how wind-loading + shade + a bad snowpack had caused a really bad day for a snowmobiler.

This slide happened where the wind loaded snow on a Northeast facing aspect that receives little sun.  The weight of all that additional snow brought in by the wind strained a weak snowpack (note the cornice on the top and the increase in thickness of the snowpack at the top of the slide, called the crown, at the top left). When a sled came ripping into what looked like a great untracked hill the snowpack let go.  Backcountry travel in avalanche terrain is a slow process, so take your time and make good terrain assessments.  YOLO around one time too many and you might not get to go home.

The same feature shot hours apart.  In the morning the weather was perfect bluebird calm, but the afternoon got quite stormy.

GOOD GEAR MATTERS

In the blink of an eye an awesome day in the backcountry can turn into a serious situation, which is why having good riding gear is so important.  It may be warm and sunny in the morning, but should an afternoon storm roll in, or worse yet, should you get delayed by several hours or worse (a mechanical or a really stuck snowbike), having gear that will keep you warm and dry is critical.  You may be totally comfortable with just a cotton hoody when the sun is out, but how will you stay warm if you end up having to spend a windy night in the backcountry?

Klim’s Valdez parka and Havoc bibs have extensive venting that can be opened up when conditions call for just that cotton hoody, and when it gets cold and nasty these two pieces can be closed up becoming a veritable waterproof shield that can be layered over all the insulation layers you need.  The Togwotee gloves can be run as a shell in warmer temperatures, or used with the included fleece liner when the weather gets cold.  Likewise, the Adrenaline GTX BOA boots worked so well that we didn’t notice them, because our feet were just that comfortable.  From standing on the pegs to hiking exposed rocky ridge lines, these boots worked great.  Rounding out this excellent riding gear setup are the Oculus googles that provided fog-free performance 100% of the time we were riding.  Yes, good gear costs more, but when it comes down to it, I’ll gladly pay more to know that I’ll be warm and dry, no matter what the weather decides to do.  Cold, wet, and several hours from the truck is a special kind of miserable.  Do yourself a favor and buy good gear the first time around—that way you can get out and enjoy more days in a season instead of having to wait for those warm and sunny days.

Timbersleds are amazing machines that will have you saying “worth it” minutes after you first get on one.  Their ability to easily access terrain that has traditionally been the realm of expert backcountry snowmobilers and backcountry travelers means that more riders are heading into avalanche terrain who may not have the proper gear and training.  So please, get proper avalanche gear and good riding gear.  Take an Avalanche class.  Go dig pits and do practice beacon searches.  Read the reports and forecasts from your local avalanche center.  Pay attention to what the world is doing around you when you’re out there, and realize that some days, it may just be a better call to go ski in bounds at the resort.  Most importantly, when you’re out there enjoy every minute of it—because powder days never last long enough.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Timbersled provided demo units for this series of articles.  The motorcycles and all other accessories are owned by the author.  Klim provided all of the riding gear used for this project at no cost to the author or American Adventurist.  Likewise, Black Diamond provided the Jetforce Packs at no cost to the author or American Adventurist.