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Ultralight Cooking
On my first break, halfway through the for est, I cooked noodles. The cheap 3-ounce pot was from Walmart or the dollar store, and it worked fine. From the catalog descriptions, the expensive titanium pots all seem to be heavier, so I was happy with this discovery. They probably make the expensive ones too thick and with too many gadgets.
I did have to use a small twig-fire when my homemade alcohol stove didn't provide enough heat. I later learned that isopropyl alcohol doesn't burn as hot as the alcohol used as gas additive. The twigs worked okay though.
Hiking On The Beach
After lunch, I hiked to Lake Michigan and sat up on a large sand dune. I watched the waves push ice up onto the empty beach, while I listened to the coyotes howling. I walked down to the water and looked for petoskey stones, without luck. Then the snow began. Hiking in Michigan in March has its risks-and its rewards.
I was hiking in running shoes, and it would be well below freezing that night. In Northern Michigan, March is definitely part of winter. My feet stayed warm while I was hiking, but I hadn't counted on them getting wet. for tunately I had a pair of warm, dry socks for sleeping.
It was the first time I had used my GoLite Breeze backpack, which weighed only 13 ounces. My pack weight was only about nine pounds total, and that only because I threw in some canned food. I was going light, but I knew the for est here, and I knew my abilities.
My sleeping bag was a 17-ounce Western HiLite. It was the first time I would use it when the temperature was below freezing (It hit 25 degrees Fahrenheit that night). for tunately, it wasn't too windy.
At the edge of the for est, behind the dunes, I set up my small tarp. I piled up pine needles and dead bracken ferns under it. This made a warm mattress, and I slept well. My one-pound sleeping bag had kept me warmer than my three-pounder used to.
In the morning there was only a dusting of snow. I poured a little alcohol in the cut-off bottom of a Pepsi can (my 1/2-ounce stove) and heated up some tea. I ate some crackers and hit the trail.
Later that day I ended my trip with a hike to the village of Empire, six or seven miles away. I was satisfied with what I had learned. Only my cheap tarp (and cheap stove fuel) had disappointed me. It was too small, mostly.
After hiking in Michigan for years, I know it well. So I know where to look for dead grass and bracken ferns, for example, which can be used to make a warm mattress in a few minutes. Knowledge, obviously, can be as helpful as expensive gear.
Related page:
Michigan Backpacking
- Three Unknown Places
The Ultralight Traveller's Guide | Ultralight Hiking In MIchigan