7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Reports or links to reports on trips.

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7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by thesneakymonkey »

Well. We did it. We finally made it back to the island. Full trip report incoming, for now I’m posting from Soumi restaurant after disembarking the seaplane. The island was wild and fun as usual. Can’t wait to share more, but ope! Our food just arrived. Mmmm
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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by thesneakymonkey »

https://imgur.com/a/nGGTH3M
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Husband enjoying not eating oatmeal
Last edited by thesneakymonkey on Sun Dec 12, 2021 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by thesneakymonkey »

Full trip report still incoming. But here’s the trailer to the new video series!


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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by torpified »

"playback on other websites has been disabled"...and when I click through, I get dumped in what looks like a generic you tube page.

Looking forward to the TR!
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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by thesneakymonkey »

torpified wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 6:57 am "playback on other websites has been disabled"...and when I click through, I get dumped in what looks like a generic you tube page.

Looking forward to the TR!

Hmmmm works on my end. That’s odd.

Here’s a different way of copying the link in

https://youtu.be/My388uI03RM
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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by torpified »

thesneakymonkey wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 5:55 pm

Here’s a different way of copying the link in

https://youtu.be/My388uI03RM
that one works for me! Thanks.
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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by thesneakymonkey »

We began our adventure by driving up from mid Michigan (LP) to the UP, crossing the mighty mac. We found ourselves spending an evening near pictured rocks and did some touristy things (all the stuff we missed when we thru hiked the lakeshore trail in 2019). After spoiling ourselves with food and views we spent the next day driving even further into the yoop to get to the Ramada near the seaplane base. Spending one evening here and doing a last pack before our flight the next morning.

Day 1: We arrived to the seaplane base fairly early but found out they wanted to depart even earlier so we did a final weight on the packs and boarded fairly quickly after our arrival. As we stepped on the plane I wondered if we had locked the car....haha I'll have to wait a whole week to find out. Sent a quick text out to the family and coworkers that we were going off grid and we would talk when we got back. We shared the plane with two other folks and the pilot. The flight was uneventful and smooth despite the fog. The island came into view and flying into windigo was a new experience for us (flew into RH last time). As we approached I could see our destination for the evening from above (Feldtmann lake). We landed smoothly and disembarked. I strapped on my pack and realized we had FINALLY made it back to our favorite place ever. We made the short trek up to the visitor center to check in and get our permits (the orientation was much more involved this time, but was cool!). We admired the newly constructed store from a distance (not open yet) and hurried off after buying some fuel. We knew we'd be back to admire the familiarity of windigo in a few days. We made our way back down by the seaplane dock and this time turned off the trail and up towards feldtmann. The trail seemed familiar, almost tobin like, but also new. We trekked for a bit going uphill a little at a time. Taking breaks as we were out of hiking shape (unlike last time), and it was already pretty hot out. The observation point was BEAUTIFUL. My camera did not do any of those views justice. That one view was worth the whole trip. Just being back was wonderful. We made it to camp uneventfully and found a nice private tent site with easy access to the water. After spotting a large leach we decided to not go for a dip. We were hot and tired so we made dinner and relaxed the day away listening to all the wildlife and soaking in the island life. A family of rabbits/hares seemed to like our site and made several visits throughout the afternoon. We hit the sack early and had an excellent warm sleep.

Video link for those interested:


https://youtu.be/QRN2QgTsggw
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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by thesneakymonkey »

Day: 2 (unbeknownst to us this was our hardest day)

I awoke with a start in the tent, Matt was still sound asleep snoring. Did I just hear a moose?! or was that Matt snoring?? wahh wahh *moose grunt* OH YES THAT'S A MOOSE. *frantically finds glasses and camera* ZIIIPPP goes the tent zipper. I trot down to the lakeside as Matt still blissfully sleeps unaware of my antics. I squint out at the lake....oh crap! There he is. A large bull is moving quick from the lakeside near our site to the other side of the bay. I filmed a little before realizing I needed a different lens and needed to wake up Matt. I dart back and wake him up so he can see the moose and we both enjoy watching the bull eat and stroll through the water. After the moose wandered off, we ate our usual oats and coffee and got all packed up. Off onto the trail we went. We met an obstacle almost immediately as the boardwalks leading out of camp were broken and leaning. Good thing I drank a lot of coffee! We navigated fairly quickly all the way to the firetower without too much difficulty. We talked with another hiker that had come from the opposite dirrection. He said the trail was "overgrown". We believed him but figured it couldnt be any worse than the minong or what we had already done. Boy were we wrong haha. The weeds were some of the most overgrown we have ever seen. At one point they were over my ears. The pollen and the grasses and the seeds really affected Matt's allergies and the sneezes began. Between the heat and the allergy ridden weeds we trudged the last five in a half miles to camp. I finally spotted the camp sign in the distance and raced up to it in victory. Matt was just a short ways behind me and I was positive he could hear my woooping in joy. WOOP WOOOP! Matt gave me a woop woop back so I continued into camp and made a B-line for the water. Ohhh did it feel great! We were there alone except for one other small group of guys. We selected site 5 (one of the shelters) and set up camp and went straight back to the beach to relax. We stayed there until hunger took over and made some dinner. Bean and cheese burritos were on the menu and they hit the spot. We enjoyed an excellent sunset and retired to bed after dark.

video link for those interested:

https://youtu.be/9BBza7OavpA
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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by torpified »

Nothing like an out-of-season trip report to boost the holiday spirits! Keep them coming, sneakymonkey! I can't wait to hear how the crossing of Senter point went!
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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by thesneakymonkey »

torpified wrote: Sun Nov 28, 2021 7:56 am Nothing like an out-of-season trip report to boost the holiday spirits! Keep them coming, sneakymonkey! I can't wait to hear how the crossing of Senter point went!

working on the next one now! Stay tuned for more. Senter point was an adventure :shock: :D and AWESOME
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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by thesneakymonkey »

Day: 3 Siskiwit Zero Day

We planned to watch the sunrise but well we slept in instead. haha. Tired out of shape hikers I suppose. We whipped up a quick breakfast of instant oatmeal mixed with a carnation instant breakfast and some coffee. I say "we" because typically it's Matt's job to make the breakfast while I break camp and pack up. But since we were staying for a day and had no hiking planned, I joined in on the breakfast making. We enjoyed our breakfast and had plans to spend the day at the beach planning our attack on senter point. The group that was there with us, decided to head out to island mine as more and more rangers with groups of volunteers showed up to do some trail maintenance. We stuck to our plan and relaxed on the beach, taking a bit of advice from the ranger who checked us in at windigo, and set our clocks back to island time. Over the course of the day we read books, played cards, and explored as much of SB as we could. The sounds of loons graced us all day and it was just great to relax. although senter point was on my mind most of the day. We watched the other group walk down the whole beach and cross into senter point to bushwack across. We sent them good luck vibes from across the bay. haha. That would be us tomorrow we thought. Lunch was our usual and dinner was ramen rescue. No moose sightings today but SB was hopping with activity (in sharp contrast to the night before). The sunset was again magnificent but we enjoyed it from up at our campsite. A bit too rowdy/loud for us down on the beach this time (young volunteers enjoying their first night). :wink: The next day we would tackle senter point and oh was it sweet.....!

Video link for those interested:

https://youtu.be/1FUayhRoV-0
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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by thesneakymonkey »

Attached is the pic posted on the Siskiwit bay bulletin board.
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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by thesneakymonkey »

Day 4: Siskiwit Bay to Windigo

Day four began a little chillier than our other days. It was right around 50 degrees (cool compared to our 80-90 degree days). We awoke snug as bugs in our quilts laying on the shelter floor. A quick pack up and breakfast and next thing you know we are tramping down the beach. I stressed about this day since I made the decision to do the Feldtmann. Stressed for no reason! haha. The beach walk was BEAUTIFUL and we easily found the trail to the bridge and back out to the beach. Then suddenly as I was starting to think it was going easy, the beach ended...we had hit senter point. I studied this route over and over and some folks choose to pick a path across the point and others choose to walk around. Given the advice from the ranger we decided to walk around. We bounced rock to rock and picked a slow wobbly path around the point. I quite enjoyed it but Matt was not impressed by rock hopping the whole way. He often picked a path along the edge in favor of dry feet. Looking back now, knowing it was SUPER dry there that summer, we probably could've crossed senter point without worries of the beaver mud.

We were rewarded for our efforts shortly after as we stumbled upon a canoe tucked in along the shore. The canoe belonged to a group doing some restoration work on a munitions storage building. VERY COOL. We nerded out for a bit with the gentleman working there and enjoyed the sites. We touched the old bricks and eventually made our way along the next beach. As we continued Matt pointed out an excellent set of wolf tracks along the beach!! Was so so so cool to see them. They are surprisingly huge. We actually stumbled across a dead calf moose as well (quite small) on the beach as well. The next source of my pre trip anxiety was about to come to fruition. I was really (stupidly) worried about missing the turn off at the end of beach for Island Mine. Before long I started seeing evidence of the trail just inside the vegetation from the beach and right at the end of the beach was the classic IR sign post. The post pointed up and into the woods and we headed on in after filtering some water. Was nice to not carry our entire water weight the entire morning beach walk. Saved us a little work by waiting to filter until we headed into the woods. As we took a break we took our last looks at senter point. Into the woods we went. The heat and humidity was ramping up and it was time to get a move on.

We eventually found ourselves having a lunch break on the mining tailings near the dry wells. After lunch we hit the trail fast. Now we were cruising. Passing island mine we hit the greenstone and hit our stride. We cruised the remainder of the trail into windigo and found ourselves in the last shelter spot (#15). We staked our claim and headed "into town" haha. We got a nice close up view of the new store (not open yet) and spent a little coin at the old store. We decided a shower and laundry were in order since we basically had been trekking through lots of pollen and cow parsnip. We thought it best to wash all that off. Wooow did that feel great. Again I am reminded of the hustle and bustle of "up town" windigo as sounds of construction and day visitors filled the air. As night dipped closer it quieted down and we relaxed the night away with a few kewenaw brews and some chips and salsa.



Video link for those interested https://youtu.be/uJ71YxFdTVc
Last edited by thesneakymonkey on Wed Dec 29, 2021 6:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by thesneakymonkey »

45D73F1C-BD45-42FC-8037-8906F7847A2A.jpeg
Is that red siskiwit dirt or tan???
0D1858D0-72B2-458E-937D-E3BF6FC528A5.jpeg
Moose shed found near Island Mine
52DD175C-E176-4841-BB7E-4C0869DA6A81.jpeg
Us on Senter point.
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Re: 7/12/21-7/18/21 [HIKING](Feldtmann loop)

Post by thesneakymonkey »

F5DB42C3-2F71-46D4-B6E2-C4BE3D3B80BE.jpeg
hare near our shelter
0F330065-0B4B-45E5-9621-CDF615E2E26E.jpeg
windigo creature comforts
CA5CA4DD-D007-4695-91AD-278D3E812BA6.jpeg
Momma duck and her ducklings sunning on "poop rock"
Last edited by thesneakymonkey on Wed Dec 29, 2021 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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