Smoothing It

The wise old woodsman, George Washington Sears, wrote, "We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it."  

That quote has been used to justify all manner of camping excess.  I suppose it could be taken to mean Bring everything you want, and be 100% comfortable at all times.  To do this you'd need, of course, to be car camping.  Car camping, glamping, and other super plush forms of camping have their place but for the most part this kind of outdoor experience is not for me.

But I love the quote - and that love relies on an interpretation of the quote that's about as far from promoting glamping as you can get.

The quote is from the book Woodcraft and Camping which also includes a chapter titled: A Ten Day Trip in the Wilderness - Going It Alone.  In this chapter Sears traverses, by foot, a 60 mile chunk of Michigan (this was written in the 1800's so it really was a wilderness). Something tells me that when he refers to "smoothing it" he wasn't talking about hauling a two-burner stove with him.

Another tip off is that, still in the same book, he says, "Go light; the lighter the better, so that you have the simplest material for health, comfort and enjoyment."

Is it possible to go light and still smooth it?  Sure.  But it requires knowledge of how to do more with less, and most importantly, a definition of smoothing it that doesn't include being perfectly comfortable at all times.

Referring to the "smoothing it" quote, he also says, "To this end you need peaceful days and pleasant nights.  You cannot afford to be tormented and poisoned by insects, nor kept awake at night by cold and damp, nor to exhaust your strength by hard tramps and heavy loads.  Take it easy, and always keep cool."

I should mention that Sears was a slight man, 5'3" and weighing slightly over 100 lbs.  He wasn't some big brute that considered a 70 lb pack light.

I guess the next question is: what does all this have do with biking?  Many riders strip down the things they carry to maybe a granola bar and various tools to fix their bike.  If that's your style then by all means, go for it.  My frame bag lives on my bike and carries: a map, folding saw, poop kit (trowel, TP, hand sanitizer), extra cord, sheath knife, lighter, and a tool kit and pump.  Depending on what kind of ride I'm doing also included could be a lock, pot, stove, fuel for the stove, SPOT GPS device, chain lube, clothing layers.  Every single one of the things I carry sees at least occasional use - and I carry them because they make my rides better.  Maybe carrying around the extra weight slows me down, but 1) we Americans have an unhealthy obsession with speed.  I go on bike rides to interact with the outdoors, not to blast through it as quickly as possible.  2) If you enjoy riding you're probably going to do more of it, which makes you faster.  The things I carry make riding more enjoyable.

An example: last week I did some bikepacking, and took with me more than I technically needed in order to stay warm at night.  It was forecast to get down to the high 30's but I took my 0˚ sleeping bag and a sleeping pad for sleeping on snow.  I didn't think that my summer top quilt and under quilt would keep me comfortable.  Of course the warmer gear was bulkier and heavier.  I'm still glad I had it with me.

Pine Lake Bikepacking

Pete parked in our driveway and we worked on getting ready to bikepack up to Pine Lake.  Pine Lake is a little lake in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest maybe 13 miles from our place.  While we were getting ready a cloudburst let loose.  It was a mostly clear day and no rain had been predicted.  We just stayed under the porch and continued getting ready.  After a bit we had everything on our bikes and were ready to take off - thankfully the rain had quit and things were sunny again.

About 5 minutes down the trail it started to rain again.  So we hunkered underneath a pavilion for a few minutes - and then kept riding under blue skies.

Both of us were riding Surly Krampugs.  Both of us also hate wearing too much on your back.  Pete had a small camera bag on his back (he'd taken it off during this picture) and I was wearing this kind of oversized waist pack thing.

Another cloudburst rolls to the south of us.  Thankfully it missed us because 1) from here on out we had no more shelters to hide under and 2) I had gone like a moron and not put any of my gear in dry bags.

The ~400 foot climb in the CNNF starts

Nearing our campsite at Pine Lake

Home for the night.  

Post-sunset light on Pine Lake 

I set up just off of the clearing where Pete had set up his tent

A time lapse of taking down my hammock and putting all of my gear on the bike.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see the maker of the tracks.  This is bear hunting country (which, I gotta say, I have mixed feeling about especially because they use dogs) and that means that the vast majority of bears around here are terrified of humans - the few I've seen I've mostly come upon and surprised them (if they knew I was there they would have made themselves scarce before I could see them) and have all but turned themselves inside out to put distance between us.   I admit that I kinda like bears being scared of me.

The last several miles were on the Tri-County Corridor.

Get Going Already! Bikepacking, Beaver, and Barbecue

For an embarrassingly long time I've wanted to do more bikepacking - but for some reason I have not...at least not much.  I've really got no excuse: public land (and free camping) just a few miles away, a flexible schedule, supportive family.  I really don't have any (good) excuses.  I finally got my act together enough to get me out the door for a quick overnight.

It was threatening rain all day and though I took my raincoat and tarp (which I would have even if it weren't threatening, in case you're wondering) it only sprinkled a bit the next morning and so lightly I didn't even bother to put my raincoat on.  But we all know that if I hadn't taken rain gear it would've poured.

I was heading to a small lake in the CNNF so first thing I had to do, besides packing, was climb the hill.

The majority of this hill is not steep (and past the pines there you can see it dips a bit) but from the Tri-County Corridor at the base of the hill it rises about 400' up to most of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF) north of HWY 2.

Nearing home for the night.

Several weeks ago I made some Barbecue Spaghetti to dehydrate for bikepacking sorta following this recipe.  Here it is on my alcohol stove starting to heat up.

This is where I cooked and ate supper but then moved a few hundred yards to the place where I'd sleep.  I've only ever seen a handful of bear and the ones I've seen have just about turned themselves inside out putting distance between us (this is bear hunting area) - but still I'd rather not have a solo, up-close, after-dark encounter - so I took some precautions.

While supper was festering/rehydrating I had some time to kill so I wandered around and took a few pictures.

...and gathered some water from the lake to sterilize for drinking.

...and checked how things were going in the pot.  Pot cozy design patent pending.

Thankfully once things have finished rehydrating/sponge-ing up the hot water it looked much more appealing.

View from my campsite.

As things were getting dark I was fiddling with something on my hammock when a large sploosh sounded behind me.  A beaver was letting me know that she didn't appreciate me hanging around.   

My nifty little solar light hanging from the ridgeline for the tarp (that I didn't put all the way up but if I had been awaken by rain it'd be much faster to drape my tarp over the ridgeline than start from scratch) lighting up my bed for the night.

I slept well during the night.  There aren't yet many bugs.  I saw two mosquitos - the very fact that I could count them is testament to how few there were.  Despite it dropping to around 40* F my feet stayed warm.  My feet almost always get cold - but this time I took an extra pair of thick wool socks and zipped my down vest over my footbox - that worked.

The lake is not very big (you can see almost all of it in the previous picture) so soon after I woke up (or, more accurately I should say "when I got up" because the hammock was so cozy I stayed there a while after I was awake) I took a hike around the lake.

Even if I hadn't seen the beaver the night before there was plenty of evidence of them being around.

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When I got back from my quick circumnavigation of the lake I cooked breakfast down by the lake and sat there long after I had finished eating just being at ease with the wild-ness of things.  While cooking I noticed a loon out hunting for breakfast and watched for a long while.

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After loon-watching I packed up to go.

Bike loaded and ready to rock

There are some trails nearby here that are made for horses but (as I had seen no horse trailers and had seen no horses) I went ahead and rode on them.  For the record: 1) I'm not a fast rider (and these trails were rough which slowed me down even more) and was never close to going so fast that it would have been unsafe if I had seen a horse on the trail (and there were no blind corners or hills) and 2) I'm not going to ride them again and I'd encourage other bikers not to ride them at all - if you need another reason besides that it's not a trail for bikers they're too rough - it's not a pleasant ride.

The ATV trail as it nears the Corridor and home.

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