Camping in December

When I think of December, I think the start of the holidays, cold days and SNOW.  Not camping with my dogs.

Camping in December

Who would have thought that on December 1st, 2012 I would have gone camping because it was warm.  Yes, warm enough to camp in December.  Too bad when I made my decision at the split for I39, I90 and  I94 that I decided to go to Devil's Lake instead of Governor Dodge State Park.  As I pulled in to Devil's Lake and saw the campground I remembered they were doing construction during the winter.  My choice was to camp in the group campground with a full house or head up to Mirror Lake.  Even though I decided I wouldn't go to Mirror Lake again, I decided it was a better option.

Camping in December at Mirror Lake State Park

And thankfully, I was right.  It was quiet with only 5 of us camping in the entire campground.  The dogs and I hiked there on Saturday and saw one of the other camper and then Sunday morning we had the trails to ourselves.  What a beautiful way to start the day.

Mirror Lake @ 7:30 in the morning with a little ice.

After packing up - I did drive back to Devil's Lake State Park and do the loop around the lake.  What a great day it was.  The park was dead, but it was warm enough for even some climbers to take on the cold stone walls of Devil's Lake.  (Of course, this was the first time I went there and left my climbing gear at home - stupid me.)  So if I can't have snow in December, I guess weather warm enough to take the dogs camping will do.

30 Nights, Rain and Best Day of Summer

So if the title of this blog doesn't say a lot. 

30 Nights

• I have camped 30 nights in a tent (and it's only August 5th)
• 6 of those nights were in a tent hiking up Mt Kilimanjaro
• 1 of those nights was snowshoeing up in the Kettle Range in February and camping on a ridge overlooking the mountains and summiting Mt Wapaloosie the next morning. 
• As of today (Aug 5th) - the only month in 2012 I have not camped and slept in a tent was in January (need to work on that for next year).
• It has only rained during 3 of my camping excursions (sprinkles on Kili, Memorial Day weekend and this weekend - very unusual for me)
• I have visited 19 State Parks / Forests (that I can think of) and camped in the 10 of them (some 2 times).

Rain

Rain - with the droughts we're having, I've only seen rain really two times this entire summer so far while camping.  Memorial Day weekend and the storms that came through which caused me to spend over 8 hours in a 2 person tent with 2 dogs.  We all got good naps.  And then just this weekend we have a brief 2 hour storm that went through (again, good nap time).

For me - that's just really unusual.  I'm so prone to camping and hiking in rain that this has just been a weird summer.

Best Day of Summer

Since it's been dry with no rain - I think this horrible heat we've been having all summer goes along with the drought.  Hiking in heat with dogs makes for short hikes before we all start to get over heated.  Today (Sunday Aug 5th) was probably the best day for camping and hiking all summer.  Woke up this morning to 64 degrees and it didn't move much.  Went for hike in the woods with the dogs with the brisk wind and cool temps and just didn't want to leave. 

If this is what rain brings - bring on the rain and cool temps.

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

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.

2012 Adventures - Here I Come

So 2011 ended up being a good year.  A number of adventures taken, new places visited and a goal met of camping/backpacking and sleeping in a tent 40 nights.  Night 40 came on a backpack trip in the McCormick Wilderness in northern Michigan on December 29th. 

Now for 2012...

A little over a month ago I was asked if I had ever climbed Mt Kilimanjaro and if not had an interest.  And since I hadn't climbed it, of course I was interested.  So it is, I will be going to Tanzania in March and climbing Kili.  Yes, that's two months from now.  It's very exciting and I am looking forward to it.  Wow, Kili!  All I can think is thank goodness I love to hike, backpack and just being outside.  It turns out everything I did in 2011 has helped me to prepare for this trip.  And having already planned a winter backpacking trip in February to the Pacific NW, this should help in preparations. 

As for the rest of 2012 - who knows yet.  More camping with the dogs, snowshoeing with friends, and just continuing the love of the outdoors.  Where that will all happen, who knows yet.  Looking forward to a good 2012 in the great outdoors.

Unglaciated Wisconsin - The Driftless Area

This year I've been doing a lot of exploring and hiking around the southern half of Wisconsin.  I've become most facinated with the SW corner of the state and the landscape.  This area, known as The Driftless area, has lots of rolling hills and streams thanks to being missed by the glacier's that rolled through this area thousands of years ago. 

The more I explore and drive around the back roads in this section of Wisconsin, the more I don't feel like I'm really in Wisconsin. 

This weekend I did some hiking at Bluemound State Park, Governor Dodge State Park and the Ferry Bluff State Natural Area.  All great hikes with great views and surprisingly - not a lot of people. 

With the rain that came in Friday night, the trails at Bluemound State Park were peopleless on Saturday morning.  This left the beauty of an overnight rainfall right where it was when I hiked the trails.  Upon entering the bottom of Pleasant Valley, I followed the stream and saw the mist still lingering.  It was beautiful because just at that time, the sun also started to peep through the clouds and the trees.

Stream at the bottom of Pleasure Valley

Later that day I took my dogs and drove over to Governor Dodge State Park so we could hike the full 3 mile loop of the Lost Canyon Trail.  We had done part of this a few weeks back when we walked down to view Stephen's Falls.  Because it was afternoon and the sun had already come out, there were a few people on this trail, but still for the beauty of this trail, it remained mostly peopleless.  At the bottom of the canyon there were many stream crossings.  The walls of the canyon are full of rock and trees.  Sitting down here you feel no pressure to move fast and can take the time to find artwork in the rocks.

Rock wall - almost looks like the profile of a face

Sunday after doing a little more hiking at Bluemounds State Park - I ventured off to find Ferry Bluff State Natural Area near Sauk City, WI.  I had heard that this area lead to great views overlooking the Wisconsin River and the Driftless Area.  It sure did - even with the oppressive heat (mid-90's & humid), the hike up to the top was worth it. 

Wisconsin River from atop Ferry Bluff

All in all, not a bad weekend visiting the Driftless Area of Wisconsin.  Now to plan to visit some of the unglaciated areas of Wisconsin and see what else I can find.