Backpacking Northern Highlands American Legion State Forest, Boulder Junction, WI, October 2-4, 2015

Family picture at Concora Rd Trailhead

The Northern Highlands American Legion State Forest (NHAL) offers a number of recreational opportunities, including boating, fishing, hiking, biking and winter activities. I previously wrote about a day trip we took on one of the canoe routes we explored in the NHAL. I look forward to further exploring some of those routes on multi-night trips, but we promised our daughter canoe camping was over for the season. Instead, we planned a backpacking trip on the Lumberjack Trail near Boulder Junction, WI.

Bridge over White Sand Creek Rd

The Lumberjack Trail (pdf map from WI DNR) is the only backpacking opportunity the DNR lists on its website of the NHAL, although there are probably others. The trail is about 12.5 miles long, including a figure 8 loop that offers 4 and 6 mile hiking, biking, skiing and snowshoeing opportunities. The trails are classified as intermediate, which I assume is rated for winter sports because it's an easy hiking trail that is wide and well-maintained. There are a couple stream crossings, but there are sturdy bridges, so there is no fording necessary. There are no established campsites, so if you want to camp here, be prepared to explore off trail for a suitable campsite. 

June 15-18, 2015, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Bryson City, NC

Deep Creek

Since we've gotten back into backcountry camping, my wife and I have been wanting to take a real backpacking trip. We've done a few walk-in state park sites with our daughter, but we know from our day hikes that she's not up for more than a few miles without major complaints and delays. We made plans to leave her with my mom in Chattanooga as soon as school ended for the summer while we backpacked in the Smokies. Despite having lived a good portion of my life in Eastern Tennessee, I had never spent any time in the backcountry of the the Smoky Mountains, so I got pretty excited about the idea.

Bryson City, NC

I kinda wanted to stay away from the busy areas of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, TN, so I decided we would try to find a fairly easy loop on the North Carolina side. The Deep Creek area offers a number of campsites fairly close to the trail head, and there are a number of opportunities for loop routes. After much contemplation, we chose a few campsites that would make up about a 20 mile loop, and our plans were set. 

October 4-5, 2014, Governor Dodge State Park, Dodgeville, WI

As the days are becoming shorter and the temperature begins dipping down to the freezing mark, it appears that we have likely hung the canoe up until next seasons (literally, since I store it from the garage ceiling). Hopefully, as our skills improve and we compile cold-weather gear (such as wet or dry suits), we may take to paddling later into the fall. For now, though, are fall camping trips are primarily terrestrial. Looking for some reprieve from the unusally crowded October campgrounds, we picked out a short-trek backpack site at Governor Dodge State Park. Lorraine and I are planning an early summer backpack trip in the Smokies, so we were also looking to sort out our backpacking gear.
We decided we would hike a 3 mile loop sans packs, then backpack to our site afterward. Many of the trails at Governor Dodge were closed due to a tornado that hit earlier in the year, so we settled on the Lost Canyon Trail almost by default. As we like this area, it was really no compromise. The trail starts near Stephens Falls, which is a favorite for our daughter. We spent some time exploring the spring house and snapping photos of the falls before taking the Stephens Falls trail to the Lost Canyon Trail. The easy 3 mile hike took us more than two hours with all the stops and foot dragging, but it was a nice stroll through the small canyon, which was mostly protected from the cool winds.

I think sometime around 4 o'clock or so, we finally hit the trail to the campsite. We had never been to these sights before, so we weren't sure what to exptect. The trail was wide and dry, although it seems like it would be prone to becoming muddy in the rain. When we checked in at the ranger station earlier in the day, it seemed like a good idea to pick up some dry firewood since I expected dead and downed burnable wood near the sites to be picked over this late in the season. However, the bundles at this park were substantially larger than they are at most parks, so the burden of their weight had me rethinking whether we even would need a fire. We decided to drop the wood about a third of the way in and retrieve it later (maybe!). Without the awkward heavy bundles to weigh us down, the remainder of the trail was pretty easy even with our packs. Our lightest tent able to accommodate all three of us weighs 8.5 lbs (complete with the stakes, footprint, etc.), plus I agreed to sherpa the night's water supply, so my pack wasn't exactly light at about 45 lbs. Still, my new Kelty Red Cloud 90 handled the load really well, and I'm quite please with the purchase, although I think I would like to compliment it with a smaller, lighter pack someday. Lorraine's pack weighed in at just over 20 lbs and Amber's was between 9 and 10lbs. We were pleased to find a fairly secluded, good-sized campsite waiting for us. After weighing our options between to obvious tent pads, we chose to place the tent on the one with the lesser chance of falling trees and limbs, although it was a bit more exposed than the other pad. 

 With the tent location choice made, I left Lorraine and Amber to put up the tent while I retrieved the wood. I figured I could load one bundle on each shoulder and hike the both back in one trip, but they proved to awkward to balance that way, so I dropped one, figuring I could come back (or not) for the other. Seconds later, I ignored a faint call from a hiker behind me only to hear her calls of "Sir" become louder. I turned around to see if she was addressing me, and turns out she was offering to carry the other bundle. I certainly could not ask her to do so, so I gave her plenty of opportunity to change her mind and accept that it was not necessary, but she was pretty insistent. I was quite grateful for the offer as carrying the wood was the only time I felt exerted on the entire trip. She insisted that it offered her a good chance for a workout. As often as I am dismayed by the thoughtlessness of many campers, I encounter thoughtful, kind and generous people on the trais, water and campgrounds. I'll have to remind myself to pay it forward.

We had plenty of time to get camp setup and a fire started before dark. Although bears are not a concern in the park, raccoons certainly are, so I even set up my first ever food bag hang, It went really well, although I only got the food about 8 or 9 feet off the ground, which would certainly not be enough for avoiding a bear. Still, it gave me a little confidence in my technique and how much rope I will need. For canoe and car camping, I take hundreds of feet (probably close to 300 ft) of 3 mm polyester line, and I really like how well it works. For backpacking, I decided to try some thinner, lighter 1.75 mm Dyneema line, which is supposed to have a tensile strength of 450 lbs. Fifty feet of this stuff weighs only 0.9 oz and proved enough to hang a food bag, although I will probably bring another 50 ft of something of similar weight. The only downsides I found to this line are that 1) it's expensive and 2) the thin line is not very comfortable on my hands to pull tight. Still, I'm loooking to lighten the load for backpacking, so I think this will be my new go-to backpacking rope. Anyway, for supper, we had a Mountain House beef stroganoff, along with some cheddar cheese, summer sausage and pita bread. The Pocket Rocket stove seems like a winner, at least for boiling water. Amber and Lorraine also roasted marshmallows. Once again, Amber was ready for sleep an hour earlier than at home, so she and Lorraine went to bed around 8:30. I stayed up about an hour watching the fire.

The overnight temperatures were forecast for the low 30s, so we weren't sure how we would handle it since we usually only car camp in those temperatures and often have extra blankets ready. This time, we wanted a test of our gear and clothing, so having extra blankets a 1-mile round-trip away offered us a good chance with a relatively easy safety valve. I usually only sleep in the tent with shorts, but I decided to add socks and a fleece shirt. It took my bag about 30 minutes to warm up, then I had no problems sleeping. I think with long underwear and a hat, I could be fine down to about 20 F. Mostly, though, I was worried about Amber, but she apparently stayed nice and warm all night, although we had to keep putting her back on her insulated sleeping mat. She was layered up and slept deep inside her Eureka Azalea 15 F sleeping bag. Lorraine was the only one who got cold, so she may have to make some minor adjustments to her layers or get a warmer bag for these occasions.

 Sunday turned out to be a really nice mild fall day. Lorraine collected twigs and small branches while I got a nice fire going, and we took our time packing up camp. Lorraine had visited a neighboring campsite and found it littered with food and burnt trash. She picked up what she could, and we packed it out along with the rest of our gear but not before getting in one last photo opportunity of us with our packs. It's amazing how energetically Amber hikes on the way out compared to the way in, although she did slightly wear herself out and had to take a quick break. We promised a trip to the playground in exchange for good behavior, so after dumping our garbage we let her play at the Cox Hollow campground playground. By about noon, we headed back to Madison, where we had lunch at Laredos and did some browsing at REI before going home.

September 5-7, 2014, Buckhorn State Park, Necedah, WI

It's nice to have a long Labor Day weekend, and I like to take advantage of the extra day, but it's just usually way too busy and hectic to camp or canoe at the state parks. So, this Labor Day we took care of chores and the home front with the expectation of a two-night-post Labor Day camping trip somewhere nearby. The parks didn't seem to clear out as I had remembered after Labor Day as most of the more desirable campsites within a couple hours of Madison were taken. Lorraine decided to book a site at Buckhorn State Park, which is a fairly good-sized park with lots of shoreline. Some of the sites are even on the lake, but we were not able to secure one. Nonetheless, we planned on getting some paddling and hiking in this weekend.

I took off work a couple hours early on Friday afternoon to get a jump on the weekend and to help us get to camp before dark. After picking up the kid, packing the car, watering the garden and feeding the cat, we were on the road around 5 pm. We decided to hit a Wendy's drive-thru on the way, and I paid for it later that evening with nausea. Anyway, the drive was uneventful, and we made it to our campsite, A4 by 7 pm and quickly setup the tent and tarp. Right before leaving, the forecast looked to suggest we might get some rain just as we were setting up camp, but fortunately, we only got a couple drops and a nice rainbow. The site appeared to once have been part of a group camp area, as evident by the signs and a communal fire pit. The site was not bad, but we've definitely had nicer. It's on a loop with four other sites, and would be ideal for a multi-family group. We built a fire and got a little time to relax before heading to bed. Bedtime was not entirely peaceful as we were "blessed" with the jubilation of a Christian group's kumbaya celebration on one side and a drunken party on the other along with numerous train whistles throughout the night. Nonetheless, I slept pretty well.

 Surprisingly, I was up around 7 am with the expectation that we would do some fishing and paddling in the morning. However, Amber just could not wake up, so Lorraine and I enjoyed a rare opportunity to chat without being interrupted by whining or demands. After an hour or so, I started craving the bacon, egg and cheese sandwich Lorraine had promised me for breakfast, so I started waking Amber. It's amazing how much better she sleeps in the woods compared to home. She finally became responsive around 9 am, then we ate a delicious breakfast. By the time we got cleaned up and ready to head out, it was approaching 11 o'clock. Time for lunch! Just kidding. Amber really wanted to try her hand at the kid's fishing pond, which sounded good to me. We picked up a couple dozen nightcrawlers and park at the trailhead to the pond. There were plenty of biting fish, but they were all really small. Despite feeding them more than a dozen worms, we weren't able to hook a single fish. Man, I really am a lousy fisherman. I have a lot of excuses and theories, but I guess it boils down to me not knowing what the heck I'm doing. The closest thing we came to catching was a turtle that Amber half-way reeled in before it shook loose. She was thrilled, so it was worth the couple hours we spent. Lorraine wasn't interested in fishing, so she walked the trail around the pond with camera in hand to photograph the scenery and wildlife.

I figured we better eat something before heading out for a paddle, so we went back to camp and had lunch. I made grilled cheese for Amber and grilled ham and cheese for me, while Lorraine made herself a cheese quesadilla. I started to make Lorraine's lunch, but I guess she saw the uncertainty I had about how much cheese to add, and she jumped in and made it the way she likes. I added some Fritos (which were supposed to 
go with the chili we forgot at home) to
my plate and had a pretty tasty lunch. After cleaning up, we headed to the canoe launch despite Amber's protests, which we subdued by offering her a bribe of a trip to the playground afterwards in return for good behavior. We started in the section that is supposed to be an interpretive trail accompanied with a brochure, but we paddled that section last year and were underwhelmed with the guide. For example, the place labeled #4 on the map begins as "Underwater life: Underwater lurk thousands of fierce predators" Uh, ok. How's that different than every other place we've canoed?

Anyway, it's not a bad paddle, but the loop is short, so we decided to head for the day use island marked on the park map. Amber did not like paddling out onto the lake as it was slightly choppy, but it was nothing dangerous or anything our boat couldn't glide over. Besides, most of the way there was shallow enough for us to stand, and much of it was only a couple feet deep. The island seemed pretty nice, but there must have been 50 people enjoying the lake from boats or by playing in the shallow water around the island. We circled around it, and headed back toward the cove toward our starting point. There were some ducks and geese to view but nothing too exciting, although the lake seemed like a decent recreation area. Later when exploring the shoreline around the park, it became clear to me that part of the reason so many people choose that island is that the beach and campsites along the mainland have water quality issues, sometimes with the pea-soup-like growth that is common in late summer. Uggh! Our paddle ended up being 3.7 miles and took just under 2 hours. If Amber enjoyed herself a little more in the canoe, I would have liked explored some of the waterfront campsites, but our trip was a decent compromise. Upon returning to the parking lot, we noticed a fresh scratch on the passenger side of our van and suspect some bewildered paddlers we encountered may have been responsible.As promised, we spent some time at the playground and explored some of the shoreline near it. Amber swang a little, negotiated a make-shift obstacle course, fleetingly wrote her name in the shoreline sand laughing as it was washed away by the waves and played some pretend until she decided she would rather be back at camp. It was already evening, and I think we had a fairly full day of outdoor recreation, so I was ready to wind downBack at camp, I built a fire, and Lorraine boiled water for a Mountain House Chicken Teriyaki with Rice, which Amber and I shared. Of course, Amber continued her gentle demands, asking for minute rice and a pudgie pie. After catering to Amber, Lorraine finally got a chance to eat, and she opted for a cherry pudgie pie cooked on the fire. Amber eventually got a couple marshmallows over the fire before being ready for bed. I stayed up a few more hours enjoying moments of peace between drunken howls and screams of our neighbors and unsettling campfire songs from the church group. I finally had enough around 11 and fell asleep quite quickly, although somehow my mat was shove in the corner, and I kept waking up feeling claustrophobic. I finally crawled out of my bag and moved my pad to a more comfortable location. I was awakened many more times throughout the night and could never quite be sure what woke me, but every time I woke up I could still hear the drunken neighbors, even at 3 or 4 am. I sure hope the crowds thin out this fall.

Sunday morning my alarm went off at 6:30, but I just couldn't do it. We had plans for a morning hike and to try to get back home for a birthday party, so I felt pressure to get moving. Still, I slept another 45 minutes before forcing myself to wake up and start putting away sleeping bags and mats and trying to get Amber started for the day. She kept asking if we could stay one more day, but we both needed to get back to work on Monday. Still, it's great to hear her asking for more camping and outdoor activities. I took a break from packing for oatmeal and bacon. Thanks honey! The tent was wet with condensation, but we decided to pack it up anyway. We were packed and ready to hike by around 9:30 or so. We decided to hike the trails leading to the waterfront campsites on the west side of the park. We've been talking about easing our way into backpacking as a family and are also looking for some local canoe camping locations, so we wanted to scout out these sites, which are accessible by foot or by boat. Some of the sites were pretty nice, but a few had almost no shade, so I'm glad we took the time to look at these. We ended up hiking almost exactly as much as we paddled in just about the same amount of time. Interesting. Our GPS track is shown below. We probably would have hiked out of there a little faster, but Amber decided she no longer was interested in the birthday party. Since we weren't rushing back, Amber wanted to stop at the observation tower, which I did not find very exciting, but she seemed to have a good time.

We were all hungry, so we decided to have a sit down lunch at Buckhorn Cafe. Wow, they have some big burgers. We stuffed ourselves with an appetizer, burgers and dessert. Shortly after leaving, Amber changed her mind and wanted to attend the party. Although we wouldn't be back in time, the hosting family already told us it was fine if we wanted to stop by after the party hours to play in the bounce house, so Amber and Lorraine did just that as I unpacked the van. Wow, I was exhausted, but didn't feel like I should be. I guess I can't give up my trips to the gym if I want to have the energy for some real adventures. The weather was great, and I look forward to some more trips this fall, although I have mixed emotions about missing college football.

May 30- June 1, 2014, Whitewater Campground, Kettle Morraine Southern Unit, Whitewater, WI

I left work a couple hours early on Friday to get a head start on the weekend, loaded up the van, fed the cat, watered the garden, and we were off by about 4:30. After checking in and picking up four bundles of firewood for $22, we found site 775, which I reserved a week prior. The site was a little small and buggy, but it was heavily wooded and nicely secluded from most other sites except one right across the street and one next to it. We managed to setup, eat a dehydrated meal (Mountain House Chicken and Rice, which I found bland but the ladies liked it), and start a fire before dark. I’m getting better at setting up the tarp, and it helped to have so many treese available. I also started adding a slip not to the trucker’s hitch for easy take-down or adjustments. Lorraine seasoned the new pudgy pie iron, and Amber got a Cherry filled pudgy pie. It was still warm at bedtime, but I managed to fall asleep without too much trouble.

Amber and I slept in until just after 8am on Saturday, then we had an oatmeal and bacon breakfast. After cleanup, we hiked the orange Nordic trail, which would have been really nice if someone would have cooperated and not acted like a spoiled toddler at the early stages of the trail. Lorraine ended up getting ahead of us, and the kid’s behavior improved, possibly because she was getting all the attention. I must say she looks like a natural fit in her new nylon convertible hiking pants. It must be dragonfly mating season as we saw hundreds of dragonflies, many of which appeared to be mating, although I don’t know anything about dragonfly mating. We saw quite a few wildflowers and only four other people. It must have taken us two hours to walk 2.5 miles, and by then it was over 80 °F. We decided to drive up and check out the Ottawa Lake beach, and the air conditioned ride was nice after a hot walk. We were surprised how far it was from one end of the Kettle Morraine Southern Unit to the next, taking about half an hour to drive one way. Ottawa Lake seems like a nice, small lake, and the beach was crowded. We didn’t drive through the campground, but the grounds seem well maintained with updated buildings, so it’s understandable why it seemed the campground was popular when I was looking at where to make reservations. Amber fell asleep on the way back to the campsite, but my hope that the nap would improve her disposition was not fulfilled.

We had tortilla pizzas for lunch, and I must say they were a success. With non-refrigerated pizza sauce and a way to transport/cut the cheese, this definitely will make the cut for backcountry meals. After a short rest after lunch, we gave into demands for a swim at the beach. The beach was fairly nice, but it was incredibly crowded and was full of college-aged “kids” drinking beer and partying. They weren’t really rowdy and there were plenty of families, so we indulged the kid for awhile. Afterward, we looked for a place to launch the canoe. There’s a perfect little pier next to the beach, but it was occupied by a couple dozen of the partying kids, so we headed to the boat ramp. It was a little busy and not the best place to launch a canoe, but it wasn’t too bad. We paddled toward the no-wake (NW) section of the lake past the beach, and it was OK, but the lake had more of a party feel than a nature scene, although we had hopes because Lorraine spotted an eagle when we were playing at the beach. I wanted to tour more of the lake, but Amber begged to go back, and there was a fair amount of wake from the boats. I wasn’t going to get the relaxed, quiet paddle I wanted either way, so we ended the paddle after about an hour.

Dinner was hot ham and cheese on the skillet and pudgy pies for the ladies. As much as I love sweets and donuts, I don’t much care for pudgy pies, so no need to pack on the calories for something about which I’m so neutral. I did eat two ham and cheese sandwiches, though. We had another nice fire, and we all went to by about 10:30, which is much later than Lorraine usually stays up.

We were worried about rain on Sunday morning, so we packed up early (for us), ate breakfast and broke camp before playing. While Lorraine did the dishes, I watched for cars at the bottom of the hill while Amber practiced her new-found skill of braking on the scooter. She finally figured out how to control her speed going down the hill. We were finally ready to leave the campsite at the break of 11am. Holy cow, how are we going to trip in the Boundary Waters if it takes us until 11 to break camp. Granola bars for breakfast? Anyway, we finished off the trip with a few minutes at the playground, a few minutes of fishing, some nature art, and a 0.8 mile nature trail hike. We enjoyed the campground despite the absence of flush toilets and showers, but the beach and recreation areas were just too crowded. This would be a park for the spring and fall before the busy summer crowds.