Outdoor Adventures Winter Camping Trip Platte River Area, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, MI February 6th-8th, 2004 Trip Leaders: Colin Daly & Andrew Yue Participants: Carmen Nezat, Rachel Rose, Richard Kovacik, Tiffany Davis, Katie Davis, Danny Reeves, Yoshi Hidaka, & Christine Stafford This trip was conceived as a "crazy idea" in which I had the curiosity if any Michigan students would ever go "winter camping," let alone if Outdoor Adventures would allow me to lead such a trip. Sure enough, the plans were set and Colin Daly whom I worked with before was selected as my experienced co-leader/guide (whom I owe a lot to in the success this awesome trip). Four months later, I was pleasantly surprised to find that 8 people had signed up and were all "excited" to go. Little did they know they were really going to freeze their *sses off for a weekend. But hey, someone lied to me too. We had 2 pre-trip meetings to go over winter camping skills going over clothing, food, staying warm, shelters etc. Before you know it, the participants and the two brave trip leaders were raring to go and test their newfound knowledge and skills. We headed off from the NCRB parking lot (ok, the Kroger parking lot) on Friday around 2pm to head north to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The weather forecast predicted a weekend of cool temperatures ranging from 10 to 25 degrees (Rachel, what is that in C?) After some adventurous (i.e. U-turns) driving through some mild snow, with the few obligatory restroom and food stops, we reached our destination and made a brief halt at the Platte River Ranger station around 9pm. Navigating our way around, we setup at site 101 in loop 4 at the Platte River Campground. Donning snowshoes, the brave winter warriors (aka participants) stomped our campground out and setup the Mountain Hardwear tents in record time. We practiced winter tent staking and bombproofing (keeping gear in one and only one area) our campsites (uh, ok - so we did lose one, but only one ski pole. I actually think a moose stole it in the middle of the night). Brandishing some fancy MSR Whisperlite's, we practiced our winter cooking skills while Chef Andrew (I cook water, therefore, I am a chef) instructed the finer arts of cooking Ramen (i.e. pour water in cup). We quickly learned the luxury of insulated mugs & bowls and how to clean our bowls/utensils with the "sump water" technique. We finally hit the sack at (gasp) midnight with only one snorer the whole group. In the morning, we quickly packed up (quickly is a relative term in the winter) making some good breakfast of tea, bagels, and hot oatmeal. While still enjoying the luxury of the nearby heated bathrooms (and showers so Carmen would later note) we prepared for our hike ahead (it should be noted here that Chef Andrew secretly poured his nasty "butter tea" down the drain that was gagging him). We finally hit the trail around 2pm off of the end of loop four to the RR Grade trail and continued on toward Lake Michigan with a few de-layering and food stops on the way. The shoreline was windy as predicted but displayed gorgeous views of the Michigan lake shore with glimpses of Manitou Island and the dunes to the north. We hiked towards the lake to find some very interesting "hump-like" structures that seemed to have some deep fissures or underground ice caves. After a few photos, we all headed up the shore line in our trek towards the ever so elusive White Pine Campground. The trek was windy but fun. After a brief stop at Peterson Beach warning us that we were in "cougar country", we continued on (ok, so telling me that does what?). Finally reaching some features in the sand, we headed into the woods towards camp going up a hill, then down a hill, then up another hill, then down another steep hill. Hmmm, we seemed lost so Colin sent Andrew and Carmen to see if the campsite could be found in the seemingly endless forest. None was found, so around 5pm with Colin's sage advice (it actually really was) we fired up the stoves and started to make those quinzhees that "someone" swore could be "made" in two hours flat. For the next 7 hours (and man did that time fly), we melted snow, and more snow, and more snow, and even more. Under newly inducted Chef's Rachel, Danny, and Yoshi (because they too, cooked water), we boiled enough water to hydrate and feed the group soup, Mac-n-Cheese, and miscellaneous snacks (aka we were feasting gourmet style now). We all learned valuable insight as to how we must stay active to stay warm, build quinzhees, eat, and have a good sense of humor while in the outdoors in the winter. Building the shelters was tiring, wet, but rewarding. It wasn't without a few problems along the way. For instance, the cold temps reeked havoc on a few headlamps (alwhile Yoshi blinded us with his spot light softly commenting "that's not a headlamp, this is a headlamp"). Digging them out proved to be a lot of fun however, so much fun that we didn't eat all the macaroni (I found some in my bowl in Ann Arbor). Colin, being the altruistic leader was busy helping out and working his stove management skills that he forgot about his soup which quickly formed a new phase - rock. Around midnight, we all hopped into our four cozy quinzhees fed, full, and ready to pee. It was 8 degrees. In the middle of the night I woke up around 4am to "go" and was fascinated by the super clear and starry sky. However, the temperature reading was -2F on Rachel's thermometer, and I swore I could hear cougars creeping up behind me so I ran off back to my quinzhee to plop back into my wet soggy VBL and bag. Christine probably wanted to kick me for waking her up because I had crawled over my "line" that we drew in the snow indicating our respective quinzhee territory. We all rose around 9am the next morning surprisingly cheery despite the coldness the past night. We had a blast jumping on our quinzhees to adhere to LNT principles and all discovered how much more we could have dug out (I should note, this ALWAYS happens because of the "the-hell-if-this-thing-is-gonna-fall-on-top- of-me" fear while digging it out). However, we also took note of the hundreds of "pointy sticks" (as Katie called them) we poked into the shelters the night before, and suddenly jumping on them didn't seem such a good idea anymore. We also discovered some colorful "pee" in Richard's quinzhee which he "swears" was really his M&M's. Sure Richard, whatever you say. After finding someway to get a stove on, we hydrated enough and took off from camp around 11am wondering how on earth our packs had gotten heavier in the past 12 hours. Trudging along up and down the hills again, we reached the lake shore for some "flying" off hills pictures. We then made our way up against the a much more brisker wind (oh yeah, we DID go against it the previous day too - I swear). And did I mention the snow was knee deep with snowshoes on. Oh c'mon, I am totally serious. At Peterson Beach, we headed inland to hit the trail which seemed to be no more than 100m from the shoreline which puzzled (at least) me as to why we couldn't find the White Pine campground. Anyway, a short bit later we reached the RR Grade trail and headed south again towards the Platte River campground. Upon reaching loop one of the campground, Chef Andrew (here the subtitle "has- good-ideas-but-navigation-skills-equivocates-incompetence" shall be appended to the brief title of Chef) led the group on a "mini-hike" in a semi-circle promising we'd be in camp in "no more than 5 minutes." (Someone taught me that trick, so I figured I'd use it - sorry Katie and Rachel). Anyway, we finally got back to our campsite, dug up the one hidden pole, loaded up the vehicles, and headed home around 3pm. A few stops including a dinner at the West Branch Big Boy, Big Papa and Redfox finally hit it home in AA around 9pm so Richard could get to his soccer game. As we unloaded the vans (ironically complaining about the frigid 25 degree temps in AA), I slyly grinned reminiscing on how Colin and I had successfully attained our goal of making Danny limp. Little does he know we snuck a "limp pill" into his Nalgene when he wasn't looking. In all honestly, I think this was an amazing trip because we all got to experience a relatively challenging weekend of winter camping while having fun. We probably all gained a lot of insight, knowledge, and practical experience in how to survive and be more comfortable (thanks for the down jacket, Carmen) in the winter. After the missing gear lists and evals, I'm excited for a post-trip slide show and social hour. I know for the least, I won't take hot food, my bed, or a hot shower for granted. I'm pretty sure the whole group would agree. Trip Stats: Length: 5.4 miles Elevation (gain and loss): If you haven't learned, don't ask me Max Elevation: The hill Danny jumped off on Lessons learned: Ą Superglue leaks Ą Sun isn't the only thing that can burn, wind can. Ą Watch all your gear in winter, keep it in one place Ą Vent your tents Ą Test your stoves carefully before camping Ą Wipe your camera lens before taking pictures of quinzhees Ą TP needs to be packed out (for next time) Ą It is actually warmer without a sleeping bag (uh, Richard can you comment?) Ą Winter is extreme, takes lots of work from everyone, yet can be safe and fun if done properly in style with the right people.