Hiking, web development, best practices, and general awesomeness
Snow plummeted from the sky. The large lake-formed flakes didn't swirl or drift like normal, like they were designed to do. They cut through the woods on a stiff breeze and tumbled onto the leaf-covered ground. At first the flakes melted quickly on the warm ground. Then, steadily, a thin white…
A welcome sun warmed my body after several nights of cold camping. I stood on the shore of the Dead River between Silver Lake and the Dead River Basin on the southern end of Mulligan Plains, looking northeast at my next hike. Even though I was near a major route to these basins with open grassland…
Rising up like a large, gnarly growth, Mt Benison stretches from Mountain Lake to Little Huron River and from Howe to Cliff Lake. Similar to Ives Hill far to the east and Superior Mountain just to the west, Mt Benison is not a simple peak with a distinct shape or defined outcroppings but a whole…
This exploration turned into the best camping experience I've had in the Upper Peninsula. When I started the hike I was only interested in doing some exploring around Mount Ives area, a large chunk of land I previously thought to be within Huron Mountain Club borders. What I found was a beautiful…
Finding my way back to the small campsite on the Dead River, where it enters the Silver Lake Basin, was more difficult than I had planned. A maze of logging roads, mostly impassable in my small car, wound their way from the Peshekee Grade (north of Champion, MI) past Wolf Lake Road and over to…
Nestled north of Red Road and between Mulligan Plains and the Clark Creek Valley, the numbered lakes are perched almost 300' above within thick and wild highlands. Lake 8, 2, and 3 (going from west to east) are each around 10 acres in size with shorelines ranging from deep rocky outcroppings to…
I woke up early with the sunrise, still sore from yesterday's hiking. Dressing quickly, I rolled out of the tent and started a small fire. The coffee didn't take long to make and I was soon standing on the shore of the northern Rocking Chair Lake, watching the sunrise over the tall eastern hills and…
After a full day of hiking yesterday at Deer Lake and Silver Lake Basin I slept in past the sunrise. When I finally woke up and made some breakfast I made the difficult decision to head home early. The original plan was to stay at Mulligan Plains for another full day, going on multiple hikes around…
The air felt uncomfortably hot as I walked down the trail, away from my campsite, in the early afternoon. My first Mulligan Plains hike seemed pretty easy, a simple trek around the Silver Lake Basin. There would be little bushwhacking with the lake levels still below normal from the burst of 2003. I…
Perched high above Mulligan Plains are the two small Rocking Chair Lakes. A rustic camping site of the Escanaba River State Forest, these lakes offer scenic views and a peaceful escape for the adventurous. Ever since I first visited Mulligan Plains in the October of 2008, I hoped to have the chance…