Hiking, web development, best practices, and general awesomeness
Stretching in a long, lazy swoop from Marquette to L'Anse along the Lake Superior shoreline, the Huron Mountains are a rugged chain of worn mountains dating back billions of years. Containing deep lakes, fresh springs, old growth, and few roads, this area is one of the most pristine wildernesses left in Michigan.
Roads that lead east from Big Erick's tend to lose their name. Sure, there is Ford and the Northwestern, two roads that are difficult to define as they twist and fork over rocky and pitted ground. There's one road that I've always called Erick's, the one that leads past Bald Mountain and along the…
It's been a few years since I climbed Sugarloaf Mountain. The area is one of those spots I tend to skirt around, with marked trails and frequent visitors, even though the views of the Marquette shoreline are very impressive. This evening seemed like a good time to stop by. It was late enough to…
My Saturn Ion shot through the late-summer woods along a narrow two-track. The road to Echo Lake Nature Preserve, a walk that had taken my tired legs hours to walk last winter, was an easy drive for my little sedan. There were a few mud puddles, a few splashes to cake the sides of the car, and then…
Water dripped off my soaked jeans onto the bare rock. Jim sat next to me, relatively dry, and we chatted about programming. We had just crossed the Yellow Dog River below the last waterfall, at Brushy Creek Falls, through two very deep feet of water. Jim had a decent pair of quick-drying pants that…
Damp sand gave easily under my insistent footsteps. The logging track was smooth from a recent grading, a soft and even surface that hid years of ruts and potholes underneath. I envied the tires that got to enjoy such a road. Only loggers and the guards of the Huron Mountain Club were allowed to…
I've had some fond trips along Blind 35. The first visit was over four years ago, a quick walk along some of the logging roads to a single outcropping. Then, a few years later, I did a fairly thorough exploration on both sides of Clear Creek, finding numerous vistas and even a bear and her cub. Yet…
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 two-track led east and I followed. There was a much more ambitious route to my right that climbed rocky hills and pushed through thick woods, one that promised sweeping views of Cliff Lake and the eastern swamp, but I stuck to the track. Snow had been falling for the last few hours, soaking the…
Big Pup and Little Pup Creek are two fairly typical creeks in the Huron Mountains. Little Pup, the smaller of the two, starts right above the hairpin curve on County Road 510 and is only a few miles in length. Big Pup Creek is much more ambitious, almost twice as long and stretching far west towards…
An unseasonable warm gripped the Marquette area. I stepped out of my car in short sleeves and looked around curiously at the snow drifts piled up against the woods. I was parked just north of Sugarloaf Mountain at an old gravel pit. There were no signs marking anything special here but I was one of…