Camping and Dogs

Another weekend of camping done.  This weekend my dogs, Jasmine and Wailea, and did a little backpacking at Newport State Park in Door County, WI.  This is a great state park because not only is it located on Lake Michigan and in Door County, but all campsites are wilderness sites and you have to hike it in.  This alone makes it a very quiet and private park. 

A four hour drive from Milwaukee always makes hiking in on a Friday night fun since I always end up hiking in at sunset.  This weekend was no different.  The dogs and I hiked it to the site (2 miles from the parking lot) with our full pack and set up for a weekend of enjoyment on the Lake Michigan shoreline. 

Lake Michigan at Sunset from Newport State Park

One of the other nice things about this park is there are only 16 campsites spread throughout the park so no one is camping one top of each other.  My campsite this weekend was #7 and we were alone in our stretch of the park and therefore had our own shoreline on Lake Michigan. 

Shoreline of Lake Michigan in front of my campsite.

It was a great way to let my dogs be dogs and just let them play in the lake.  They have in the 11+ years that they've been around so far, taught me a lot about life and how to slow down and relax.  Now that they are over 11 years old, I'm learning how to just enjoy my time with them.  I know they won't be around forever so these weekends away camping with them are a great way to just enjoy them. 

Jasmine and Wailea playing on the beach at Newport State Park

Jasmine and Wailea have grown so accustomed to the weekend camping getaways that I think they can count the days and know when Friday is here.  By Friday morning they are anxious and always ready for the next car ride.  They never know where they're going, but they know they're going to get to run in the woods, play in water and sleep in the tent.  And by Sunday they're done and ready to hit the car and sleep on the way home.  Dreaming dreams of their next weekend getaway.

Jasmine and Wailea - done after a day of playing on the beach and in Lake Michigan

I Want to Climb Mt Whitney

Backpacker Magazine is climbing Mt. Whitney for Kids.  They are offering up a contest for people to join them on their journey.

As an avid outdoors person and personally having the Sierra Nevada's as one of my top spots to want to go, I am entering this contest. 

Friends / Readers - one of the things that will help me to prove why Backpacker Magazine should select me is YOUR voice.  Leave a comment to this blog as to why you think Backpacker Magazine should pick me to help them raise money for Big City Mountaineers and join them as they push to the summit of Mt Whitney.

For more info you can also visit my website - My Mount Whitney Plea.

Continuing to Explore the Driftless Area

This year I continue to explore the Driftless Area's of Wisconsin and Iowa.  The more I explore this area of southwest Wisconsin and northeast Iowa, the more I like it.  Being someone who loves being outdoors and in the mountains, but is stuck living in the midwest, this is the closest I can get to feeling like I'm in the mountains.

So far every weekend since May 12th and one weekend in April has been spent in this area exploring different state parks and state forests.  This includes backpacking as well as car camping.  The Yellow River State Forest in Iowa was definitely a surprise.  I had no idea this was here and was quite surprised at how hilly this region of Iowa was.  Backpacking into and up the hills to find a perfect campsite was a great opportunity to explore the area.  In a full day of backpacking I saw 2 guys who were back camping in the designated backpack camping area I selected and a group of boy scouts.

Trail up to Schulz Camp - Yellow River State Forest, IA

Another surprise so far this year was the Black River State Forest in Wisconsin.  Day 1 of hiking here revealed a couple of things:  this state forest is also allows 4 wheelers (thankfully they have their own trails far away from the hiking trails) and has trails for them and the bad management of how to clear a forest (the eastern edge of the Wildcat Trail left plenty to be desired).  But Day 2 also showed an absolutely beautiful ridge line that runs on the east side of the forest hiking trail area.  And I learned that you can backpack in to this state forest as well.  This area is on my radar to visit again this fall for a backpacking trip with the dogs.

View from the Ridge Trail west - Black River State Forest,  WI

As I've been exploring I've been visiting new state parks in the southwest region of Wisconsin.  So far I have learned

• Mirror Lake State Park is a little too close to I-90/I-94.  When the park quiets down at night, all you can hear is cars / trucks traveling on the freeway.  And one of the trails there basically has you following the edge of the freeway.  Will not visit this park again.
• Wildcat Mountain - if reserving a campsite here, be leary when ReserveAmerica.com states it as a "fully" shaded site.  I learned this is not the case as I woke up with the sun turning my tent into a sauna and had to get out of it by 5 am.  

          But I did learn that you can backpack into the Kickapoo Valley Reserve just down a few miles from Wildcat Mountain State Park.  I also have this on my list of things to do this fall once the trees turn colors.  This area is beautiful and full of big hills and valleys that are all green.  

View out over the Kickapoo River Valley 

Beyond that I've also explored Roche-A-Cri State Park which is a nice, smaller park in the Driftless Area.  The center of this park has the Roche-A-Cri mound which has a stairway to get to the top (300 stairs).  The view from the top is pretty amazing as you can see for miles in every direction.  The morning I climbed the stairs I got to watch a storm in the distance with the sun trying to break through the clouds.  What a beautiful way to start the day.

View from atop Roche-A-Cri Mound - Roche-A-Cri State Park, WI

And lastly I've been to Governor Dodge State Park two times already this year camping and Devil's Lake for camping and hiking.

Governor Dodge twice because in April it's one of the few parks in that area that has the campground open year round.  And then again a couple of weeks ago to try out one of their backpacking sites.  The backpacking sites are actually quite nice, but are only a short 1/2 mile hike from the parking lot.  

So that's just the start of the year of exploring the Driftless Area's of Wisconsin and Iowa.  More to come and a lot more to explore yet.