Continuing the new tradition of trips in May I again came up later than originally intended. This resulted in time at the Cabin from 22 May to 31 May. The fear is always how bad the bugs will be. It turns out when I arrived it was about 40 °F and when I left was about 40 °F, however, it did warm up in between ....
I left Cleveland around 3:30 PM, had a short stop in Flint for a few supplies, and arrived at the Cabin shortly after midnight. There was intermittent rain along the way and somewhat chilly temperatures, on arrival it was damp and about 40 °F. Traffic was heavier than I was expecting on a Thursday, even with the impending Memorial Day holiday.
One of the concerns of driving in the evening/night is wildlife. I saw a number of deer on the trip starting off of I-75 north of Gaylord, continuing off of US-2, and even off of M-28. I also saw a family of foxes off of M-28. Fortunately they all stayed away from the road so there was no danger for anyone.
Despite the long time since we had been up for Gentlemen's Weekend, the Cabin was quite clean. The main surprise was that some of the big things stored on the log above the kitchen door (bug spray, containers, etc.) were on the kitchen floor. There were not many signs of mice and it is unlikely they would have knocked down such large objects. This was a mystery to be solved more completely later, however, the most likely culprit was a red squirrel. This was corroborated by finding the remains of pine cones that had been brought in and chewed up, including on the couch where I sleep!
One issue encountered was that the pump started producing rusty water when connected. It appears that it was not fully drained when removed last trip. Fortunately all I had to do was remove it and rinse it out after which it work great as usual.
At the opposite extreme, even in the damp weather, upon entering the Cabin it did not seem musty. This has been a long standing issue getting to the point that you expect the Cabin to be musty, particularly in damp weather. It was truly remarkable. Clearly the new chimney and the tremendous amount of work to seal it has paid off. The design of and extensive work on the saddle by Mikey, the repair work by on the logs by Andy, the sealing and roofing done by Bill all is clearly working.
Though it was 40 °F and rainy all night the insert kept the Cabin warm. It will take some experimenting to get know how to use it well now that it is back in the fireplace. The extra space above the insert seems to let a lot more hot air out. In fact, hot air is pushed out even without using the fans. Of course a full winter test is needed.
The rain stopped over night and the temperature dropped to near freezing but it remained warm and dry inside the Cabin. The day remained about 40 °F and damp, though it did not rain. Though coming in at night is great, it does mean that a lot of "settling in" remains to be done the following day. That along with it being cool and damp I stuck around camp doing some cleaning inside and out. While inspecting the grounds I noticed that the flag pole is about 4 feet shorter now, presumably from snow/ice falling off the roof. We will have to store it better in the future.
I also found a rail road spike on McCloud Grade near the drive way entrance! This is the first I have found on McCloud grade in many years. It turns out to be the only one found during the entire trip.
I cleaned up the fallen branches around the camp. I tried not to collect too much brush but there are just so many dead trees along the driveway.... I have started another brush pile and did keep adding to it, though I did try to keep the pile smaller.
Once again it got down to about 40 °F overnight but remained warm inside the Cabin. I set traps to assess the mouse situation and imagine my surprise when a mouse woke me in the night by running along the logs by the front door and stopping to chew on the log by the picture of Art and Adam. It kept this up for awhile so I got up to investigate. It did not seem bothered by having a light shinning on it. I was able to get very close to it and even was almost able to grab it. Eventually I gave up and decided to let it be. It seems to have found its way into one of the traps a short time later making it one of three mice I caught that night.
The day was sunny and cool so I hiked out toward North Lake to visit the "sculpture". I had to hike the main trails (443) for part of the way. It being Memorial Day weekend there were plenty of people out. A couple of fisherman were at Harvey Creek going after brook trout. There were also a couple of groups riding the trails. The machines they ride are impressive, though, way overkill for the "main roads". I never see them on the logging roads I hike. The thing I came across in the woods a few years earlier is still there. I still do not know why it is there or what it is, so I will keep calling it a sculpture. Overall this was about a 12 mile hike.
After a bit of rest I performed my usual task of cleaning out the woodshed. This involves removing everything and raking out all the dead leaves that accumulate in the fall. I also moved some of the wood around, restacking it so that now all the walls are one row thick. Though it has been about four years since we filled the woodshed, there is still a lot of wood, a clear sign that we have not been up enough in cold weather.
Another 40 °F night with the insert doing its job. Though I did not fully pack the insert with wood I did keep it fully damped over night. I found it burned for about 3-4 hours between refills and was easily able to keep a fairly constant temperature near 60 °F. Even with 7 traps set, 0 mice were caught overnight.
Deciding to have an easy day of hiking I headed to what had been the new beaver dam. I had seen last August that the beavers had made a lot of progress, but even then it was not holding water, i.e., it had not created a beaver pond. Subsequently I had heard that the beavers had been "removed" so I was not not expected much. Even so, in the relatively short time, the beaver dam is all but gone. With the few remaining signs,I am not sure that I would have guessed that there had been a beaver dam there.Knowing that it had been there, the signs were still evident, however, there was almost nothing left of it. The beavers sadly never had a chance.
I considered trying to cross the Sucker to head north. Even without the extent of undergrowth near the river's edge as there is later in the season, the water was rather high and cold, meaning that it was going to be hard to find a safe place to wade across. Better judgment kicked in for once and I instead explored the woods near the river before coming back to the old loop trail. The short trail to the creek now just ends with no vestige of the old beaver dam to be seen. I did manage to cross the small creek before again cutting through the woods to get back to the Cabin. It was only about 4 miles but most was off trail through the woods.
Another cool night (about 40 °F) but the day was sunny and warm so the mosquitoes started to come out. This was foreshadowing .... I did catch 1 mouse overnight.
Another day another hike. I again headed out east of Mitchell Lake. Though I had finally explored some of this region, I went back to check out more of the trails. The goal was to stay off the main trails and see if I could make it around the lake. I hiked many sketchy trails the devolved into marshes, but was often able to find where the trail continued on the other side. There was water in a lot of places and required much cutting through the woods. This included finding an old beaver dam that produced a pond cutting off the old logging road at a small creek that is not even on the map!
I did make it around the lake though it did require a lot of bushwhacking and a bit of hiking on snowmobile route 88. I visited the camp on the lake again. The way in to the camp has water on it and a downed tree across the road. Though I know the camp had vistors last year, it is not in great shape. The grounds around the camp is full of downed trees. It could use a few "gentlemen's weekends" to get it back into shape. This is a shame since it is a beautiful location and still has the best outhouse (with full, clear door) looking out on (what could be with some work) a great view of part of the lake.
As far as I know, the west side of Mitchell Lake does not have easy access to the trails back north (without detouring further to the east), thus I had to hike part of Old Seney to get back. Naturally it was this bit of the trip where I encountered the only people of the day. Fortunately I was able to get back into the side trails and cut through the woods for the last bit of the trip, coming out of the woods on McCloud Grade by the Cabin. Overall, it was a 15 mile hike. The hiking was great but did lead to tired muscles.
The long hike yesterday led to both getting into bed early and getting out of bed late. The night remained pleasantly cool (still near 40 °F) but the day promised to be warm and the mosquitoes really started coming out in earnest. Another night without catching a mouse. I decided to stick around camp to recover the from the hike and to do some cleaning.
One task was to organize the fire supplies. We "throw" a lot of boxes and other paper in a pile in between the fireplace and wood pile. Other kindling is also thrown there making it more challenging to sort through what is needed to build a fire that is easy to start inside the insert. I separated out the various types of kindling which should make it easier to start fires in the future. In the process of going through everything I found 3 hatchets that had been buried in all the stuff. More importantly a Tofurky box was found! It had been feared that both Tofurky boxes had been burned in the FIRE, however, one has survived. It is now prominently displayed on the mantle above the fire place.
I also at least somewhat leveled the stove by putting some metal shims that had been used with the old wood stove. The fact that it was not level had been bothering me so I finally did something about it. I do not think it will help too much with keeping the oven door closed, however, it does help a little when cooking on the range: everything in the pot does not collect on one side.
I began the process of cleaning and organizing the shelves in the main Cabin: all but the bottom shelf with the games. I did not throw much away, that is will above my pay grade, but I did move the tools and other hardware to the kitchen drawer or the shed, i.e., I made it a future problem. I tried to collect similar items into the same place, for example, all the first aid supplies: I did not know we had so much. I did not go through the supplies, nor through all the decks of cards. I am sure there is much that could be entirely removed.
The mystery of the objects knocked to the floor in the kitchen was probably solved. While working in the Cabin I heard some noise in the corner near the wood pile. This is not new, there has been a red squirrel that likes to run along the Cabin logs and chew on them. Even so, it sounded like there was something crawling around inside the logs. Heading into the kitchen I waited as the sounds grew nearer leading to a red squirrel popping out from a gap in the corner above the cabinets. Shining a head lamp on it had the desired effect, it got scared, turned around, quickly ran back through the path it must have followed, got outside, and ran back into the woods along the driveway. It did not return for the rest of the trip. I expect that it periodically comes in the Cabin. It probably had brought in pine cones and eaten them. I do not know what we can do about it. The logs on the main part of the Cabin need a lot of work.
With the warming temperatures and the emergences of the mosquitoes I let the fire go out during the day. Even with staying inside the Cabin, plenty of mosquitoes found their way in to annoy me. I gave in and put up one of the bug nets over the couch to give myself a haven from them. This would turn out to be a very necessary refuge. By the time I was going to bed it was still above 50 °F out so I did not have a fire going for the night.
I caught one mouse overnight and the day promised to be another warm one.
Despite the rise in temperature it was time for another hike. I decided to head north of the Sucker River and west of Old Seney. There is a road used by fishermen to gain access to sites along the north bank of the Sucker and there were other trails to explore. I wanted to avoid the main roads as much as possible so I started off heading due north from the Cabin. Hiking through the woods quickly became tedious. Once I hit the old loop trail I took it to McCloud Grade and from there up to Old Seney and the bridge. Fortunately it being the middle of the week no one was out on the roads.
On the south east side of the bridge, at the site where there had been a camp (which had burned down and has since been cleared out), the Seney Bridge Hunt Club had put up a memorial to Joe. (Sadly I do not know the story here.) It has been improved now including a bench with a commemorative plaque. Sadly the bench needs to be (and is) chained to a tree, even out in the woods ....
The road north west of the Sucker had many large puddles of standing water and a few downed trees blocking it. Clearly the "parking spots" are not being used by fishermen yet. I had hiked the road up to and beyond the drivable portion last year. This year I was looking to follow another branch to the north west that appeared as a major road on the map. It is not a major road! If it had not been on the map I would not have noticed that there was anything there at all. However, with some searching a semblance of a road can be found, showing that once there had been something there. Naturally this meant I had to follow it. It was a bit better than just randomly wandering through the woods and it did seem to end right where the map claimed it would. Along the way I came across yet another old beaver dam (which really does not line up with a known creek on the map).
Once a road ends, what is one to do? Particularly when there is nothing else known nearby on the map, thus there is nothing to quickly cut through the woods towards? Of course you push on! There was an unvisited camp only about a mile away. How bad could a trek through the woods be? I do know the answer to that, but I pushed on anyway.
It was at this point in the trip that the absolute necessity and brilliance of a head net became apparent. I have had occasion to praise them in the past, but it was this trek that really showed their importance. Of course the woods quickly turned into a dense marsh with many downed trees and limbs. Dodging the soggy ground while climbing over trees and branches with a cloud of mosquitoes around you would not be possible if you had to keep swatting at the pests. Though the straight line distance through the marsh would have been at most a mile, all the weaving probably made the trip a slow 1.5 to 2 mile scramble. It makes you question your life choices. And then, after what seemed an eternity fighting my way north east I came to a more manageable forest that quickly led to a road.
Once you hit the road, particularly an unmapped one, you forget all the previous challenges and start exploring. I followed the road up to Wolf Camp, one of the few camps in walking distance that I had not visited and did not know the name of. The camp was nice. The platform was strange, maybe an old or new building platform. I mapped some of the roads around the camp coming across their nice deer blind, which includes a propane heater for the hunters' comfort on the long, cold waits. I followed another trail heading south back toward the Cabin. It ended not far to the west of Old Seney at what looks to be a long abandoned deer blind. A short cut through the woods and I was on Old Seney for the few mile hike back. Again I did not encounter any one on the road.
I did notice a number of bearing trees and survey markers north of the bridge on Old Seney. I wonder if something is planned. I also came across a fire pit off Old Seney near the airport. Overall it was only 9.5 miles of hiking but the lengthy trek through dense marshy forest took its toll.
Another warm night with no fire. Again no mice were caught.
Today's hike was the easy trek to the Barfield Lakes. Despite being easy, my tired legs kept reminding me that I need some time to recover from hard hikes. Regardless, I stopped by the ruined camp along the way to marvel at the two seater outhouse. I still contend the one on Mitchell Lake is the best outhouse, but this one is a close second. Particularly since it has been abandoned so long, yet is still in such good shape.
The trail off McCloud Grade continues to have a lot of water with numerous muddy holes also full of water. The bridge across Porter Creek is all but nonexistent, there is only one log to walk across. Just before arriving at the fork to turn east there is a "pond" in the road. (Which makes one think there must be a beaver dam somewhere nearby.) I have no idea how anyone could drive this road. Granted, there is a hint of a trail around the "pond" that someone drove ....
Just as you arrive at the lakes there is a log in the lake where turtles often sit in the sun. If you approach slowly and quietly there will be many turtles there. There were quite a few when I arrived, suggesting that no one had passed by recently. The turtles are very skittish and take to the water at the slightest provocation. I do not know how they can sense someone walking slowly on the road, but they do, even when you are a good distance away.
As always the lakes were great. The ridge was nice and breezy which kept the bugs at bay. Of course once back off the ridge the breeze slackened, the bugs returned, and the head net was again essential. Overall the hike is less than 8 miles, but the previous days exertions lingered throughout.
The night was cooler than the previous few and there was some rain in the morning. This was a sufficient excuse to sleep in. When I did get up I decided to get the fire going to take the chill out. While getting the fire set up a particularly heavy down pour hit. During it I hear metal pinging as if drops were hitting somewhere. It only lasted for a short time and I saw no signs of water inside the cabin so perhaps it rain that had been driven sideways to get inside the chimney.
After the rain ended the sun came out and it warmed up to about 60 °F. This meant the mosquitoes came out. Going outside required being covered head-to-toe, including a head net, and being constantly surrounded by a cloud of mosquitoes. While outside, this is understandable and manageable. Unfortunately a lot of mosquitoes also get into the cabin. This is true even with all the windows and doors closed. There are just so many ways for small things to get in the Cabin. For example, even with the kitchen door closed there are gaps. Overall this makes even being inside the cabin difficult. Due to this I resorted to the enclosed shelter of the couch where only a few mosquitoes entered. While the electronic mosquito swatter is great fun, especially when you get the mosquitoes to spark or pop, it does become tedious needing to constantly be on the hunt for them. I was going to stay until later on Saturday but given the conditions, I instead began closing up the cabin in preparation for an early departure.
Of course after making this decision the night turned cool, back down to about 40 °F, so all the mosquitoes outside disappeared and even the ones inside became less prevalent. Regardless, the plans were set, I had most things packed up and much of the cleaning done.
Two mice were caught overnight, though one barely so. It was almost able to pull the mouse trap into the gap at the corner of the kitchen counter to the left of the sink before I grabbed it. In total 8 mice were caught in 8 nights. This is much better than the previous August! For the time being I will continue to work on keeping the mice population inside the Cabin to a minimum. The night was chilly, probably dropping below 40 °F, though I did not have the fire going.
Even with all the preparation, it took over an hour to close up the Cabin. I was out by 8:30 AM. The drive back was fine, probably because it was a Saturday instead of a Sunday. I did stop at Murdick's Fudge in St. Ignace. Wow, it is great fudge. I will have to stop more frequently.
As always the trip was great. There is also always more to do, on to the next trip ....