Another May trip. This time I came up a week earlier so the trip ran from 14 May to 21 May. On arrival there was still patches of snow on the ground throughout the woods and around the Cabin which persisted for a few days as the temperature ranged from near freezing to above 70 °F.
I left Cleveland around 12:30 PM. After a stop in Flint for a few supplies I arrived at the Cabin around 9:30 PM. The turn in was partially blocked by a tree that had fallen. It fell between the pine and residency marker sign. The top must have been in the road since part of it was cut off. It makes the turn into the driveway wider than usual, but otherwise is a job that can be left for Gentlemen's weekend. Additionally, one of the trees to left of entrance cracked and is hung up, making an arch over the driveway. As long as it does not fall, it is another job that can wait. If it does fall it will block the driveway! Opening the Cabin went smoothly. The Cabin was in good shape despite the long time in between usage. As has become a trend, there were not too many signs of mice and it was not too dirty. It was sufficiently cold that I started a fire in the insert and kept it going over night.
As usual for the first day I slept in. The morning started in the 50's °F with rain. It did warm up to 70 °F throughout the day. I began by cleaning up around the Cabin. Collecting up the fallen branches and pulling out more of the standing dead. I also cleaned out the woodshed and restacked the wood. The wood pile is getting low and the trip depleted more of it .... During the day the red squirrel that likes to run along the Cabin logs and chew on them got in! It showed up in the kitchen above the cabinet that holds the dishes. After it saw me it ran back the way it came and did not return. That being said, it must come in periodically, knock things down, and leave a bit of a mess.
In the evening I took a short hike up McCloud Grade to Harvey Creek. Carey and Rich were up at the Lucky Buck so I stopped and chatted with them for awhile. I learned a few things about the area from them. Camp Delton is called the Tin Shack, the ruined camp off McCloud Grade they called "The Swedes", the ruined camp on the other side of the Two Hearted they called "Crazy Woman", and I learned the site of the ruined camp, Kalamazoo, in-between them, which I later visited. All of this is now on the map. Additionally I learned that "the flats" is an inside joke and Rich made the sign that is placed in the woods. He had shot a deer near there and "warned" the other camp members to "stay away" from the area.
It rained over night but was sunny and breezy in the morning. I decided to head out toward North Lake with the rough plan to look for a passage around the lake to its east. While a nice idea, with the snow melt and the rain it was quite marshy so I veered off from this plan. I returned past C.O.P.S. camp and followed the "big loop" back. I found two more railroad spikes. Overall it was about a 12 mile hike.
The day warmed up to above 70 °F but remained bug free. Apparently the water was still cold enough to keep the mosquitoes from coming out. Fortunately this remained the case for the rest of the trip. Also as usual I started my battle with the mice. Setting some traps the mice came out as soon as the sun set, around 10:00 PM. I ended up catching 2 large mice on the kitchen counter near the dish rack, 1 by the front door, and 1 by the kitchen door. Fortunately I now always wire the traps to something heavy since the one near the front door was only partially caught.
I woke up around 7:00 AM to a cold fire. After getting it restarted I slept in again, until around 11:00 AM. This was followed by breakfast and a nap. A great way to start a day.
In a rare occurrence I caught a mouse during the day. Around 12:50 PM another mouse showed up on the counter near the dish rack. As I have found, the mice are very territorial. Clearly there was a group of living near this area. After catching these three there were no more and it will remain that way until the next group decides to move in.
It was cool and rainy in the afternoon so I stuck around the Cabin doing the usual cleaning. This included collecting yet more brush. Despite not trying too hard, the pile began to grow ....
The morning started with on and off rain and with warming temperatures. No mice were caught overnight. I spent more time cleaning up around camp and continued to grow the brush pile. The afternoon got sunny so I went out for hike. I headed down McCloud Grade to the site where the trucks got stuck in the past. I identified the former site of Kalamazoo camp and stopped by Camp Atwood. I took side logging trails back to hook into the "big loop", crossing Harvey Creek on the old bridge. The trip was 8.5 miles and I did not find any more railroad spikes.
Overnight stayed warm. So much so that I let the fire go out and had the windows open. The day cooled off as a front came through bringing some spotty rain along with it. The inside of the cabin stayed warm even without much of a fire. I mostly stayed around the cabin, out of the rain, but did collect more brush. It cleared up in the evening with the temperatures dropping under 40 °F. Even so, it stayed warm inside and I even needed to have the windows opened overnight. One more (and the final) mouse was partially caught near the woodpile.
The day started pleasantly cool and clear, nicely set up for a long hike. The ambitious plan began with cutting through the woods south of McCloud Grade to the trails behind. Hiking past the ruined trucks, around Camp Oscar, and down Sigan Camp Road to Sitka Lake. There were people putting in a canoe on the lake so I passed it by and began exploring trails. I continued south and west to Sullivan Lake. From there I went around Sullivan Lake up towards Weber Lake before veering further west to a new cabin, Camp Whoa-IE. (Now named on the map, of course.) Heading back north to Sigan Camp Road I visited both the west and east sides of Niemi Lake, finding an abandoned boat along Sigan Camp Road. Continuing back east along the road I came across a large downed tree blocking the road. Someone had made one cut through it, but the road remain completely blocked. Stopping at the camp just off the road I discovered that the camper under the roof is gone! The outhouse remains (of course) but the "camp" is gone. I will have to continue to check on the site and see if this should be marked as an abandoned camp. Maybe it has something to do with the sale of the two, square mile lots at Sitka Lake and the lot north of it last year. Finally I went back to Sitka Lake (the canoeists were gone). The road up to the lake continues to be foot traffic only. In all the weather was great and it remained bug free. The total trip was about 15.5 miles but it did not feel that long.
I decided to head out a day earlier than initially intended and early in the morning for a trip back to see family. A noticeable dent was made in the wood pile, suggesting we will need to cut some more wood soon. (Yet another job for Gentlemen's weekend.) The brush pile grew much larger than expected. Even without venturing too far afield there is a lot of fuel in the area. In the end I only caught 6 mice. Constant attention to this does seem to help keep the population that comes into the Cabin down to a manageable level. They do not leave too much of a mess behind when we are not there and can be "dealt with" when we are there.
Going up earlier payed off. The weather was great. Being chilly some of the time meant I got to have a fire and it did not get too hot. Even better, the bugs never really came out. Even during the hottest days there were very few bugs. As always it was a great trip and I am already looking forward to the next trip under new conditions (foreshadowing!)