Friday, September 7, 2018

Bikepacking: Lenawee Lake - empty bottle from the number three pile

A couple of days back I headed north towards Lenawee Lake to do a bit of bikepacking.  It's getting to be my favorite time of the year.  Everything seems to be turning color, from apples to leaves.










I reckon that I've spun these cranks once or twice.  






"Two paths diverged in a wood" and since they both have about the same "less traveled by" look I took the one toward Lenawee Lake.  




None of the lakes the the CNNF are very big.  The few that are big enough to have motor boats on them are generally privately-owned anyway.  Which works out well for me since I'm not a particular fan of motors in general and when attached to a boat they can be particularly obnoxious - mainly because lakes can (and should - in my opinion) be quiet, serene places.  Certainly motorboats have their place, I've ridden in them lots, and will in the future.  But if I don't have to go far/fast and am not carrying a big load then I'll be happier in a canoe virtually every time.

When I was packing for camping I realized that I didn't have any alcohol to fuel my alcohol stove.  Lacking a source to get more I packed my wood-burning stove.  And it turned out to be a good thing...for one I just enjoy fires and for another my Steripen ran out of juice and I ended up having to boil my water.  Even if I'd had a bunch at home I wouldn't have brought enough alcohol to do as much boiling as I needed to.  Sticks to burn in a small twig stove are virtually infinite.

I pack a Crazy Creek chair with me.  I could get by without it but my 39 year old back doesn't really like me to grub around on the ground anymore - or more accurately I should say that my back never did like it but now complains more loudly.  They say that when you're packing for a backpacking/bikepacking/canoeing/any-human-powered trip you should divide your stuff into three piles.  The stuff you'll need, the stuff the might need, and luxuries.  Then you take all the stuff from the first pile, none from the second (besides things like the first aid kit and rain gear) and one thing from the third.  Well, truth be told I'm out here to enjoy myself and part of that is enjoying my time on the bike (which would be hard to do if it weighed a ton) while still bringing enough stuff from the second and third pile to make my camp time (which is the majority) enjoyable too.  And, of course, the idea of what we "need" varies from person to person.  Some "need" a smartphone.  Some "need" air conditioning, etc - you get where I'm going.  Do I technically need to bring that down vest?  No, I mean, it's not like I'd die without it.  But was the camping part more relaxing with it?  Absolutely.  As some wise old woods-person once said, "We don't come out here to rough it, we come out here to smooth it."  So I take more than one thing from the third pile.  






In camp you could hardly turn around with literally tripping over beaver sign.  

Cooling the water I had boiled.


Another item from the third pile.  While the second pot of water was boiling I used the first to rehydrate supper and make some hot chocolate (into which went the contents of this bottle) and then, once the second pot of water had boiled, poured it into the now-empty bottle.  




It was well after sunset when I was standing out near the lake when I heard a loud sploosh behind me.  Having heard this particular style of sploosh before I knew right away what it was - and waited for it to sploosh again.  It swam around for a bit and then slapped it's tail again.  Thankfully it let me sleep and didn't sploosh all night.   I managed this ridiculously blurry handheld shot of the beaver. 
View from my hammock in the morning.  It got fairly chilly overnight - mid 40's.  I was never all that cold but did wake several times to shore up my insulation.  It might have been chilly but damn, I love me some lake-mist in the mornin'.



The bright spot in the background that looks a bit nuclear is the brightness of Lenawee Lake .  

My bear-proof Ursack tied in place overnight. 


You can see that when this pinecone fell from the branch it gathered enough steam, and was oriented such that when it hit, it stabbed.



Packed up and ready to go.

Some of the roads in the CNNF have been graveled and have been packed down enough that a 23 mm road bike tire could make it without huge problem.  Contrast that with this: a narrow two track made up entirely of sand - some of which was too deep/loose for my 3" wide tire to handle. 


Remember that fork with the two equally "less traveled" roads?  Well I took one fork on the way there and the other fork on the way back.  On the way back I happened to see these bear tracks.  I think a good indication that the path you're traveling on is on the "less travel by" end of the spectrum is 1) it's deep, loose sand 2) animal tracks aren't covered by car tracks 3) said animal tracks aren't from a dog or cat, they're from a bear.

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