Backcountry

Saturday, July 24, 2021 – Buckshot Cabin, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, Michigan

We were really in the backcountry. Of course you can get much, much deeper, but we were 2 ½ miles from where we parked the car with no power, no running water, and no cell signal. It was paradise.

I woke up with the sunlight, as usual, and the sky was heavy and gray. It started raining shortly after sunrise and rained for a couple of hours. We stayed inside, had some coffee and instant oatmeal for breakfast, and read.

When the rain stopped, we loaded up a day pack and set off continuing down the Lake Superior Trail past our cabin. The trail connects to backcountry campsites and eventually to other cabins, but we did not go that far. We went about 2 ½ miles to an empty campsite with a great view of a small island just offshore called Lone Rock. We lunched on trail mix and beef jerky, then hiked back to our cabin. No bear or wildlife other than a few birds and some other hikers on this hike.

After our hike, Chrissy spent the rest of the afternoon resting and reading. I spent the afternoon gathering firewood, fishing, reading, and writing a little. Yes, I said fishing. I brought along a collapsible fishing pole and some tackle (adding to the weight of my pack) in hopes that we could augment our dinner with fresh fish. But it was not to be. I never even got a nibble, but thoroughly enjoyed casting my line out into Lake Superior over and over again. We brought dehydrated food for every meal, but not the pre-made MRE or “astronaut food” style. I have eaten plenty of those and they are OK, but we brought pre-cooked dehydrated beans with instant rice for dinner. It was very good and very efficient on my backpacking stove, but would have been better with a fresh fish filet.

On Friday night the biting flies were pretty thick and were quite an annoyance. But on Saturday a nice breeze blew all day and into the evening and it kept them pretty much at bay. We enjoyed sitting out by the fire and even cooked our beans in the coals rather than on the stove. As the sun got low in the sky we walked down to the water’s edge and watched it sink into Lake Superior.