We're actually going to Chicago first for three days because I have a conference. We'll fly out Friday, and when we fly back to Detroit on Sunday, we'll leave from the airport for the upper peninsula. I'm lucky to have the whole week off for vacation. Unfortunately Sara has to work 4 days straight starting next Thursday. That gives us from Sunday to Wednesday to hike the 42-mile trail.
We've already started preparations. I've got the itinerary all set out. This time, we're spending the first night (Sunday) in a hotel in Munising. Monday morning we'll go to the Munising Falls Interpretive Center to get our campsite permits when they open at 9:00 AM and catch the ALTRAN shuttle to Grand Marais at 9:30 AM. The shuttle normally runs from June 16 to September 30 for twenty bucks a head, so we had to arrange a special trip since we're going early. That'll cost an additional $35, but it's still cheaper than any cab service. I almost forgot to call to make the reservation. That could have been disasterous because they require pre-registration and pre-payment. Since ALTRAN doesn't accept credit cards, the check had to be in the mail today, which I was able to arrange despite being on-call in the hospital.
If all goes well, our shuttle will arrive in the Grand Sable visitor center on Monday around 11:00 AM. We'll get our gear all set and hike the first leg, 7.5 miles, to the Au Sable Light-house. We'll have a late lunch at around 3:30 PM, then hike another 7 miles to Seven Mile campground. We'll set up camp, eat dinner, and sleep. Tuesday morning, after breakfast and packing up, we'll set off on the 16-mile hike to Mosquito. The last leg will be 12 miles from Mosquito to the Munising Falls Interpretive Center, and after a few Motrins, we should be on our way home by around 3:30 PM.
We've also been busy getting food together. We're thinking of lugging some heavier food like marinated chicken breasts to grill over a campfire for Monday. The rest of the food is all home-made and dried with a Nesco food drier.
Recipes include home-made spaghetti for Tuesday night's dinner, with dried home-made sauce, dried beef, and dried noodles. I'm still working to perfect this one, but rehydration does take a full-boil, a few minutes simmer time, and about 10-15 minutes stand time. No-bean chili is for lunch Tuesday, with tuna and crackers for lunch on Monday and Wednesday. We'll allso pack in raw eggs to make scrambled eggs Tuesday morning. On Wednesday oatmeal will have to suffice. For snacks, I've cut up a whole pineapple, six small tangerines, four apples, and a grape-fruit and dried them. I also dried some lime wedges to drop in our camelbak for flavored water, admittedly an experiment, but one I hope will work well.
We've also been preparing ourselves. Last weekend we went on a 5-mile day-hike at Stony Creek, a local metro park, with full-weight packs. Sara's been working out 3-4 times per week. I went on a solo three-day, 36-mile hike on the Waterloo-Pinckney trail a few weeks ago when it was pretty frigid. I think we're physically much more ready than last time.
With regard to gear, we're taking the same Osprey Atmos and Aura back-packs and rain-covers. We added a second 3.0L CamelBak. We're leaving the old Sierra Design's Lightning tent behind in favor of a new REI Quarter Dome T2.
This will give us 2 doors, more head-room, and two vents for the same weight.
We'll take the same REI Lite Core 1.5 sleeping pads and REI Sub-Kilo sleeping bags, though Sara now has a Kilo-Plus which we'll throw in the car in case it's supposed to be really cold and she wants to carry the extra 11oz of insulation.
 REI Kilo Plus -5 Sleeping Bag - Women's Regular |  REI Sub Kilo +20 Sleeping Bag - Regular |  REI Lite-Core 1.5 Self-Inflating Pad - Women's Regular |  REI Lite-Core 1.5 Self-Inflating Pad - Regular |
We both picked up new boots. My Merrell Pulse II's gave me awful toe-bang on the Waterloo-Pinckney trail, so I picked up a pair of Asolo Fugitive GTX boots on sale. Sara bought a pair of North Face boots at an outlet; I hope those do okay for her because they made her toes numb in Colorado and caused a lot of blisters on the 5-mile Stony Creek hike.
We both bought full rain gear (Arc'teryx Beta SL jacket with REI Ultralight pants for me, and Marmot Precip jacket with Arc'teryx Alpha SL pants for her). We tried to pick up matching sets of rain-gear, but you get what you can when sniping for low prices on eBay.
 Arc'Teryx Beta SL Rain Jacket - Men's |  REI Ultra Light Pants |  Marmot PreCip Rain Jacket - Women's |  Arc'Teryx Alpha SL Rain Pants - Women's |
Otherwise, I'll be taking along the trusty wool sweater for insulation and Sara's got a new 800-fill Patagonia Down Sweater Vest.
We both picked up a pair of The North Face Paramount Convertible Pants and we'll bring along the same REI MTS long-underwear. I'll bring my Patagonia Capilene 3 Zip-Neck Top in case I need another layer. Sara may bring an REI or Columbia fleece too. We're leaving the heavy parkas behind this time, but we'll each bring a pair of light gloves. We're taking the same First Need Deluxe water purifier and Primus Eta-Power stove, although we've added a smaller 1.7-liter pot to it. This time there will be no "Wanda," as we'll know where we're going and verify our position with a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx. Other standards include LED headlights for both of us, matches, first-aid kits, and other routine stuff. Oh, we'll also take a much smaller camera this time, rather than the digital SLR we borrowed last time!
All in all, we're more experienced, more prepared, lighter, and leaner this time out. I think it will be a great trip, and I can't wait to get back out on the trail.
-M
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