Cabin Fever: A classic trip to Island Lake Rec Area

The White Pine cabin at Island Lake. 

It's been a trip I've been taking since I began doing more rustic camping: a weekend every January at Island Lake State Recreation Area near Brighton with the group from St. David's Episcopal Church in Southfield, the same group that I traveled with to the Sand Lakes area last May.

It's a trip I've taken almost every year since I was 9, and it's usually taken place at Island Lake, though one year we went to Bald Mountain up near Auburn Hills. We go out Friday night and return Sunday afternoon, doing all sorts of wintry activities that can be done with a group of 15+ males.

We almost didn't have the white powdery stuff, though. Early forecasts in the last week had no snow. Luckily, with some help (and a few prayers), we had about 4 inches to work with, perfect for sledding and cross-country skiing. The DNR even offered some help.

@davidveselenak We'll do the snow dance for you, David! This weather is driving us nuts, too.

— Michigan DNR (@MichiganDNR) January 9, 2012

The lodging is done at the White Pine Cabin at Island Lake, one of two rustic cabins deep into the park. No electricity, no plumbing, just a gas stove for heat. A bunk room of about 20 beds and a main room with two large tables and a counter top for gear and storage.

We've always used gas lanterns for light, using about six throughout the cabin, and cook using stoves. We draw our water from a pump which draws from a well. It's quite the perfect set-up for a camping trip in the winter.

Sledding commences on a hill in the late-night hours Friday, a trip I didn't take after being completely exhausted that day. But if you've never sledded at night by lantern light, you're missing out.

We take a break on the trail, where we can see the shopping
center in Brighton, along with US-23.

Several hills dot the trails around the cabins, which makes for great cross-country skiing. It's the only weekend I do ski, and the combination hills and flat surfaces make for a good mix for beginning skiing. Even some of our younger campers were able to stay on their feet once they got used to the skis. Some spills happened (including a faceplant by this writer). And if you've never skied, it's a great workout; I'm still sore as I type this.

Since Kensington Metro Park's hills were closed to sledders, we improvised by sledding at the hills around Spring Mill Pond, a nice alternative. No crowds, fast hills and a great view of the snowy hills. Aside from some hunters, not a soul was seen.

Overall, a successful weekend was had for the first camping trip of 2012. Enough snow, no injuries, and a fun time. To explain it better, I'll allow the following quick video interview to tell about the weekend, along with some added statements and visual from some fellow campers of mine:

List of recommendations released by the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund

The big list of items recommended by the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund was released earlier this evening. Containing 99 projects for funding, here are some of the more interesting ones to me I found:

• The City of Detroit is recommended to receive $600,000 for renovations and improvements to two city parks, which includes relocation of several athletic fields and renovating walking trails.
• Kensington Metro Park is recommended to receive $94,000 for a pond overlook, seawall and interpretative signage, among other items.
• Kent County is recommended to receive $300,000 for a bridge for M-6 trail users.
• Petoskey will be recommended to receive $300,000 for a 10-foot concrete path and parking, among other items, for the city's Downtown Greenway north segment.
• Newberry is recommended to receive $300,000 for the development of a complex with an outdoor skating rink and hockey facility.
• The trust fund is recommending the spending of $3 million to purchase an area near Manchester and rename it the River Raisin Recreation Area. More on that here.

For the entire list, click here.

The "Mitten War:" as much as its true, it just has to stop

Let's admit it: us Michiganders are possessive.

Our music. Our lakes. Our sports teams. Our cities. And, especially today, our shape.

The brouhaha is as follows: an image shows up on a Wisconsin tourism site of the state of Wisconsin shaped using a mitten. Kalamazoo Gazette picks up on the story, and mad Michigan chaos ensues. 

Many Michiganders are upset seeing an item that many associate with us being associated with those cheeseheads over across the lake (sorry, had to).

It's sparked dozens of posts on news sites. Tweets and Facebook posts abound. Even the Pure Michigan campaign has jumped in, hosting a poll that asks which is the Mitten State. You can probably figure out how that's going right now.

It's been interesting to watch how this has developed throughout the day. And the more it goes on, the more I realize this little debate is worthless and should end.

The only real argument is that Wisconsinites use their hand to identify where they come from, much like us Michiganders. I doubt this, unless they all have deformed hands in Wisconsin. I tried getting my hand to bend the way the mitten is bent, but couldn't do it too naturally. But that's all we can bicker about. 

The site isn't trying to lay claim to this concept: it's simply using a mitten as a winter piece for its website. Apparently, it had leaves shaped like Wisconsin during the fall. The mitten isn't a dominant force on the site, its an element as a part of a rotating carousel of different items. It's an element, not a complete attack.

Even the state's Department of Tourism is admitting it's not a tactic to take the title of Mitten State away from us (Even though the next line says Wisconsin's trying to be the "fun state," whatever that means). But we've launched into full-attack mode ourselves. Fun-poking is one thing, but there's going to be some that will fight this in the morning. Michigan.org even has whoistherealmittenstate.com launched with said poll above. It's slightly overboard, to say the least. 

I compiled several tweets this morning on this subject for work, and compiled them below. Take a look:

Michigan hunting live chat taking place today at 11:30 a.m.

I need to compile my thoughts a bit more on the subject, but the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, along with the Pure Michigan campaign, is hosting a live chat today on hunting on its website.

I'm no hunter, although I'd like to eventually give it a go. More on this later, but thought I would share the live chat link earlier as opposed to later.

Northern Lights make an appearance in Michigan

The State of Michigan got a special treat normally reserved for our neighbors to the north.

The Northern Lights appeared all across the state, from the base of the Lower Peninsula to Lake Superior. The explanation was that a large system of high pressure over the Mississippi Valley displayed the colors across the Midwest and parts of the South. The Northern Lights, or the aurora borealis, are created by solar particles colliding with atoms near the North Pole.

I went out to my window to try and find the lights, but couldn't see them in my apartment in northern Lenawee County. Apparently they could be seen south of me in Adrian, so I may have not been able to see them because of the flood light on my apartment.

Hearing all of this talk of the lights reminded me of the first and only time I've seen them. It was 2002, and I was in Canada on a week-long canoe trip. It was roughly 12:30 at night, and we were cooking steaks over the fire. We saw these strange beams of light running down the sky, and they didn't stay still. It wasn't like some images, but it was enough to notice sitting by the campfire. If you were lucky enough to see the lights last night, savor the chance, because you never know when the Northern Lights will be back.

I've taken some of the photos taken last night, as well as reactions from across the state, and gathered them together below. Take a look and let me know what you think.

The view from Sterling State Park: Lakeshore, Great Egrets and .. nuclear power?

The view of Fermi power plant from the shores of Lake Erie at Sterling State Park.
Not exactly the ... prettiest site in the world, but a nice reminder of the power
of man in a very natural setting.

I've lived in southern Michigan since January, and I've been waiting to hit up Lake Erie since then. I finally got my chance Saturday.

Living less than an hour away, I was able to travel to Sterling State Park, just east of Monroe, Saturday with my girlfriend, whom I had wanted to take there for sometime, seeing how I love going to any Great Lake.

With the amazing weekend weatherwise, the beach was the first stop. Most of the picnic tables are put away right now, but few remained for visitors, which there were a few dozen.

Fermi isn't the only factory in sight. This is the view from
the jetty out near Lake Erie, looking back toward the beach.

The first big way you know you're on Lake Erie near Monroe? The view of Fermi Nuclear Power Plant. The new towers from the nuclear reactors are one of the first sights you see, and coming from someone used to Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, it was slightly unsettling. It is a reminder of modern meets natural on this park, which is clearly designed to protect what lakeshore property there. The beach is a nice view of the lake, sans the two nuclear reactors right across the way.

The real beautiful gem we found was the trail system across the road. The looping trails, which had a connector to downtown Monroe, was a beautiful system through some lagoons. The trails, which were concrete and provided excellent access for bicycles and other wheeled vehicles. The Lotus Pavilion had several posters full of information, including some about the birds that were out in the lake.

From the Lotus Pavilion, looking out into the lagoon there were six or so Great Egrets, white birds that look like storks. The pavilion provides mounted long-range binoculars to view the birds. With a little help from my new device, the HTC Incredible 2, I was able to get a closer-up view of an Egret from the lakeshore:

See that white, upright thing on the lake? Great Egret. 

The trails looping around the lagoon provide great opportunities for those not completely comfortable with camping and hiking, with the wide, concrete trails that are used by runners and casual hikers. The lagoons are chock full of wildlife, including the Great Egret and swans, as well as other birds. It was a fantastic way to spend a warm, October afternoon. I just wished I would've worn shorts.

The view of the pedestrian bridge, which have visitors access to the trails
and Lotus Pavilion.

An outdoorsman's take on a southern Michigan golf course

Yeah, come nowhere near either of those numbers.

To quote one great line from the Big Lebowski, no, I am obviously not a golfer. I preface this post with that.

I do, however, like to pretend that I am one. So whenever I'm feeling adventurous on a getaway, I may stumble onto a golf course and swing my $8 left-handed golf clubs for a morning or afternoon.

My family has been camping at Somerset Beach Campground each Labor Day for what seems like the past 10-plus years. The campground, located in Somerset Township in northern Hillsdale County, is a nice alternative to going up north, which is what most Michiganders seem to do on the last weekend of summer.

My dad attempts a tee shot at tee No. 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I began playing golf at Lake LeAnn Golf Course, a small, 9-hole course by the campground near Chicago Road, years ago, with my uncles and cousins showing me the basics. I can't say I'm much better now than I was then, but I get my lucky tee shot every once in a while on the course.

First of all, it's a cheap course. We paid $6 greens fees, which can be unheard of. With a cart, the total raised to $11. Not bad.

Of course, that $6 fee means the course may not be in great shape. And it wasn't. The fairways were a bit rough, and the greens had several brown spots all over them. It isn't watered as regularly as some golf pros probably want it to be, but we weren't complaining.

First tee from the teebox. Pin is up the hill on the left.

It's slightly hilly, as seen by the first tee. The green is up on a hill, and takes some maneuvering around some smaller hills to get there (if you don't crush your tee shot 350 yards). Other hills come into play as well, including the behemoth Hole 6, a 600 yard-plus par 5 that snakes up a hill.

Water doesn't play a factor in the course until you hit hole 9, which requires a tee shot over a lake. I've made it across the lake in my young years of golfing, but had no luck this year. Smacked a tee shot to the base of it, only to not get any lift and end up in the drink.

I'm biased since it's the course I grew up learning golf on, but it's not a bad little round. I do wish more care would be taken to the course, because it has potential. And only being 25 minutes south of Jackson, I was surprised to see very few golfers out on Labor Day weekend. No one was behind or in front of us the entire time.

The Pure Michigan campaign touts its golf courses in ads all the time. This is one course that probably doesn't get touted, but that's okay. I think we bad golfers wouldn't mind an inexpensive alternative to some of the pricier courses. We're obviously not golfers.