Name: Laura
Email: message me here!
Hometown: Ann Arbor
Arrival Date: mid-May
Departure Date: a week later
Coming From/Via: Copper Harbor
Itinerary: under construction, but the organizing principle will be campgrounds I haven't stayed at yet
Notes/Other: it's been a few years since I've had a ...

I'm not familiar with requirements out west, but I'd be surprised if they are as strict as this.


in the jurisdictions I visit, when bear-resistant food storage is required, the requirement is either an approved bear canister or a food locker. (The bears have figured out how to outwit hangs ...

that looks superfun! Planning ahead and preparing---which you're doing---will enable you to frame and execute contingency plans if it makes sense to do that. For triangulation purposes, here are a few more thoughts.

In addition to omitting Little Todd, another "zero day" option already built into ...

arrgghhhhhh! Does the Voyageur ferry materials for operations at Windigo, or is the Ranger a critical link in the supply chain for that?

got me!

that does look . . . safer. I hope that there are still dock dogs!

At 2 pounds, 4 ounces, it's not light, but it's also not going to be what keeps me from accomplishing any of the things I want to do. Plus, finite limit on how much food I can take, so maybe I'll wind up coming in with less weight!


A bear canister is also an invaluable opportunity to hone your ...

ps where in Wisconsin? The Voyageur (from Grand Portage MN) is more convenient to the Feldtmann loop than the Ranger from Houghton.

+1 on Feldtmann Lake (and side trips up to the ridge, so you can look back on the lake and see even more moose, and to rainbow cove). If you can eke out an extra night, do the whole Feldtmann loop!

I circumambulated Mt Rainier on the Wonderland Trail a few years ago. They have bears. (Also glaciers.). Camping is allowed only in designated areas. Each area has a fixed tetherball-type pole about 12 feet high, with 4 or 5 hooks radiating from its apex. The foot storage protocol is to keep your ...

there's the Waterloo-Pinckney trail in SE Michigan---a little over 30 miles, point-to-point, with several backcountry sites along the way. The terrain is low-key midwest glaciated, plenty of pothole ponds, little hills, and wetlands. Even though it's moose-free, I like it quite well. I think I put ...

It’s cool that you can pitch the XMid without the fly! Condensation isn’t a picnic—one of my backpacking mates negates the weight she saves by sleeping in a single-wall trekking pole tent by lugging along a humongous towel to wipe it off with. But my bigger reservation is that if the fly and the ...

Owing to circumstances beyond my control, I was seconded in August to a wildlife photography expedition. The objective: Fish-eating grizzlies in Alaska. Mr torpified was understandably concerned that I’d perish. So I brought my Garmin InReach along to send him reassuring messages at the end of each ...

Kelly wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2025 4:17 am
Both Adotec and Ursack bags are on the list. Neither are cheap but they are compliant.

Also one of them has a leading contender for greatest product name of all time: the ursack minor!

I'm one of those who's deficient at eating while hiking. It's worse in the Sierra, with altitude as an exacerbating factor. Often, all I can stomach is ramen. Although not a freeze-dried meal in their own right, these ramen enhancers---they're at least visually a decent approximation to the ...