Survivor

Well, I survived....I went camping the in the U.P. and was not eaten by a bear, nor did I fall off a cliff....though both things were possible. Keri, my friend from the PA program, and I drove up to Marquette to meet our classmates, Dan and Luke. Both live in the U.P., but Dan is from Marquette, so we met at his house. When we arrived, we dropped off our stuff and promptly headed out to tour the town and go hiking. The area is so gorgeous and the day was perfect for outdoor exploring. We hiked about ten miles back into the woods on hiking trails and then climbed a peak called Hogsback; the peak is about 1600 feet up...just a couple feet short of killing my sorry, out-of-shape butt. The climb, (and muscle cramps, profuse sweating, and near vomitting), were soooo worth it though...the view was incredible!

Looking back toward Marquette.

So glad to have made it to the top...loving the breeze!

Between Luke and Keri....Happy hikers!

Looooooong way down!

Almost rested enough to head back down....almost.

After we climbed, carefully, back down the hill and hiked back out to the car, we headed into town. We headed to a local microbrewery. We each had a beer and decided to do an impromtu bar crawl. We hit four more bars, having a beer at each, and then had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. We then headed back to Dan's dad's house for a bonfire. When we got there and got all settled on the edge of the yard near the woods, Dan and his dad told us all about the bear they saw in the yard the morning previous; I spent most of the evening jumping at every noise. Worries of being a bear's midnight snack aside, it was a really fun evening. By midnight, we were all pretty pooped so we put the fire out and headed to bed.

The next morning, we got up bright and early (i.e. 10am) and packed up to head out. Luke drove and stopped along what looked like a nice wooded area. Dan and Luke marched us out into the woods to check out our camping spot. We followed along behind and stopped short when they showed us where we would be camping...a gorgeous beach surrounded by sandstone cliffs....the only problem: we had to climb down the cliff to the beach....a 1200 foot descent. We picked our way down the hill to check out the beach, without breaking any bones or sacrificing any dignity by tripping and rolling the whole way down. The beach was even more gorgeous than we thought....sunny and warm with just a little hint of breeze. The boys, gentlemen that they were, offered to climb back up to the car and transport down all of our gear while we soaked up some sun. Honestly, it was probably a smart move on their part, because two treks down the hill for me and Keri probably would have resulted in at least one broken ankle, but a sweet gesture none the less. They managed to haul our 50 pound duffel bags, sleeping bags, pillows, and other various crap along with their bags and our camping gear, down to the beach....even made it look easy. We set up camp, changed into our swimming suits and then Keri and I layed out towels to soak up some rays while the boys ran off to explore and swim.

The beautiful beach!

Loving the U.P.

Waiting for the boys...

<3 sandy toes <3

Yay for tans!

Hatchets and machettes...good for chopping firewood...and bear protection.

Dan gathering firewood... "I am man...hear me roar!"

Luke and Dan

Tucked in a hole in the sandstone cliff

We wandered the beach all day and enjoyed the sun. I was really nervous about the bug situation....I was warned that the bugs and flies were REALLY bad this time of year, but there were hardly any. I think the slight breeze was enough to keep the bugs at bay....or it might have been my super-de-dooper heavy-duty chemical-based bug spray. Either way, there were a few flies, but nothing to worry about.

We built a campfire on the beach and roasted hotdogs and made s'mores for dinner. We sat around the fire and chatted over some adult beverages, and took in the beautiful night sky....so many stars! We finally crawled into the tent around 1 or 2 and all promptly cashed out....busy day made for easy sleeping. We woke early this morning to a light rain, but waited it out and were able to pack everything up and head out by 11am. The trek back up the hill laden down with our stuff was quite interesting. We finally made it back to the top and took our dirty, greasy, unshowered selves into public for some breakfast. We went to a great little restaurant that makes all of it's dishes fresh from local sources; it was sooooo good.

After breakfast, we headed back to Dan's house, unloaded Luke's car and reloaded our stuff into our car. We exchanged goodbyes and Keri and I headed out. We took the scenic route home, along the west side of the state, hoping to stop off for the afternoon at a beach, but we left a little too late and had trouble finding a public beach. We finally scrapped the idea and headed home; we got back into town around 8 and I promptly hopped in the shower...mmmm hot, running water. I loved the U.P., but wish it were closer...I want to do some more hiking and climbing, but don't think driving 6 hours to do so is very practical. I'm sure I could do some hiking around here, but I don't think it will be the same..rather flat in these parts. I guess I will just have to wait for our next roadtrip to the beautiful upper peninsula!