Isle Royale Forums

Does anyone know of any backpacking blogs made by regular people on blogspot or something similar? I would like to find a list because these are hard to search for.

One of my favorite podcasts (and accompanying blog) is/was Doing Stuff Outdoors. Sadly, Gary Mittelholz, the guy responsible for it, died while CC skiing last week. There is a huge backlog of shows on his website, itunes, or however you might prefer to access those things. Website is http://doingstuffoutdoors.com/

One of my favorites is a blog named: The Traveling Backpackers. It is a husband and wife team of park rangers. I actually found two different blogs for them. They are:

The Traveling Backpackers
http://travelingbackpackers.blogspot.com/

The Traveling Backpackers II
http://travelingbackpackersii.blogspot.com/

They even have a blog posting about Isle Royale. In that post she explains that she grew up in Hancock, MI and spent three years working on Isle Royale. That posting can be found here: http://travelingbackpackersii.blogspot. ... oyale.html.

It looks like they make it all over the U.S. and even around the world. I've spent quite a bit of time exploring the various blog posts at both of their sites. Very good reading, a couple videos here and there and some very nice photos too. I would highly recommend these sites.

[quote="Kevinl"]One of my favorite podcasts (and accompanying blog) is/was Doing Stuff Outdoors. Sadly, Gary Mittelholz, the guy responsible for it, died while CC skiing last week. There is a huge backlog of shows on his website, itunes, or however you might prefer to access those things. Website is http://doingstuffoutdoors.com/[/quot

Wow, that's terrible. I've listened to DSO on and off for a couple of years. The guy was always so upbeat and liked to have an occasional beer while podcasting. He was pumped for spring weather, but still got out and enjoyed the winter. In fact, I think he mentioned that he wanted to get in one more CC activity in the last podcast I listened to. He had a couple of podcasts about the Superior Hiking Trail on 12/3/2008 and 12/10/2008, but nothing about IR that I recall. I also have one from 11/10/2007 about hiking in the Wind River Range in Wyoming, which was close to the trip I did in 2003. Sad.

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/ ... cle/985697

Here's a couple I visit:

http://www.practicalbackpacking.com/forums/index.php
Practical Backpacking also has podcasts on iTunes.

http://www.scouter.com/compass/Where_To ... ls/Hiking/
A list of trails with links.

http://sites.butler-bremer.com/web/klad ... urrent.htm
http://sites.butler-bremer.com/web/klad ... index.html
Covers trips to IRNP, but I first found this when I was looking at Yellow River State Forest in Iowa (see "Other favorite places" thread).

http://briansplace.ynt1.com/backpack/backpack.php
Backpacker534's own site - check it out!

Wow, that is sad. I had a somewhat similar thing happen to me a couple years ago. While I was actively working on my website I was attempting to incorporate CSS into its design. I found a website called Mandarin Design. It was an excellent site by a very talented lady who always showed off cool, new ideas and techniques. I had a couple issues that I could not figure out and emailed her several times. She was always quick with her replies and her advise was always right on. I would visit her site at least once or twice a week. All of a sudden her website stopped being updated with new posts. This went on for quite some time and then one day I finally came across a post on another person's blog where someone had posted the question, "Where is Mandarin Meg?" The reply post indicated that she had passed away a couple months prior after losing her battle with cancer. It was odd that even though I had never met her I felt some kind of connection to her through our brief interaction. It was strange to realize she had passed away.

I think a lot of people were also worried about Mike Tremblay a couple of years ago. Mike ran the old Isle Royale web board and still runs IsleRoyale.Info.

By the way, I noticed the other day that he added a link to this board. It was the first activity I had noticed in a couple of years, so that's a good sign. From http://www.isleroyale.info/:

"Web Board - This board is now hosted on another site and run by someone else. It is monitored by many people who have been to the island or, who are planning to go. It is the best place to ask any questions you might have or read answers to questions that people have asked before. You will get a variety of opinions and experiences there. It is the best place to post questions. "


I still visit his IsleRoyale.Info site quite a bit. It is a great source of maps and trail descriptions, pictures. Thanks to Mike Tremblay for that site and thanks to fonixmunkee and all of you who set up and run this site! This is all part of what makes Isle Royale so special. I have not found a similar community for any other place I've been or looked at going to.

My buddy and I used to visit Mike's site a couple times a week and all of a sudden it seemed like his site just stopped being updated. For quite a while we wondered what happened to him. I hope he's doing well. We conversed several times shortly after I started my website and he asked if I would be interested in listing my site on his WebRing, which I did. To this day, the WebRing is still on the home page of my site.

Backpacker534 wrote:My buddy and I used to visit Mike's site a couple times a week and all of a sudden it seemed like his site just stopped being updated. For quite a while we wondered what happened to him. I hope he's doing well. We conversed several times shortly after I started my website and he asked if I would be interested in listing my site on his WebRing, which I did. To this day, the WebRing is still on the home page of my site.

Holy smoke, I didn't connect you and your backpacking site! I am currently working on a trip to the Porkies and have been referring to your site often. In fact, I am going to read your 6 day May 2004 TR in a minute. Great site! I'm sorry I missed that and will edit my post above. Thanks for the info.

http://www.isleroyaleforums.com/viewtop ... f=10&t=957

LarryL, that's funny.

Holy smoke, I didn't connect you and your backpacking site! I am currently working on a trip to the Porkies and have been referring to your site often.

Well, I hope you enjoy the trip to the Porkies. I really enjoyed it and would like to go back sometime. I hope my TR gives you some kind of idea about what to experience, although, I don't know if you'll be hiking the same trails or not. If not, hopefully you will at least get a "flavor" for the park if you haven't been there before. Hopefully the TR is helpful or, at the very least, enjoyable.

Enjoy your hike!

By the way, thanks for the info about the podcasts.

http://www.practicalbackpacking.com/forums/index.php
Practical Backpacking also has podcasts on iTunes.

I own an iPod and subscribe to quite a few podcasts. I actually listen to more podcasts on my iPod than I do music. I have never heard of this one before so I am going to subscribe to it as soon as I log off of the forums.

Just thought I'd add a couple more of the sites/blogs I like to visit on a regular basis:

TrailSauce
http://trailsauce.com/

Gear Talk With Jason Klass
http://www.geartalkwithjasonklass.com/

Dad Of All Trades
http://www.dadofalltrades.com/