Hiking, web development, best practices, and general awesomeness
When I first started to mix backpacking with hiking, about four or so years ago, the thought of tackling Isle Royale popped up a few times. I was in the midwest, hiking in the Upper Peninsula, and that island seemed like the ultimate escape from civilization while staying in Michigan. The idea never…
A long year has passed by since I hiked around the tip of the Keweenaw, one of my most ambitious adventures to date. Not only was it a rather long hike (around twenty miles in length) but it took me to many locations I had never seen before. Horseshoe Harbor, Keweenaw Rocket Range, Schlatter Lake,…
Morning sun shone bright over the trailhead to Bare Bluff. It was early, mere hours since the sunrise, yet there already was another vehicle sitting here. The chance I would run into these hikers was low. The first part of today's hike may be along the main trail but I had an ambitious side trek…
The roads south of Copper Harbor were eerily familiar in the early morning light. There was a time, some years past, when I had drove the Mandan Loop in a failed attempt on High Rock Point. When I pulled off the Burma Road into the parking lot for Estivant Pines I wondered if I had passed by this…
The long drive from Eagle Harbor to Copper Harbor helped calm my jittery nerves. After all, I had just bumped into a bear and dozens of bats in the pre-dawn forest above Copper Falls. Driving the winding, familiar M-28 under a dark morning sky was oddly soothing. By the time I pulled into the…
Cooling air swam around me as I trudged along the two-track, burdened by a full backpack of camping gear. The air felt good against my skin after the August heat of the day. I was walking a familiar path and soon saw the trademark blue shaft with bat cage on top. Today, though, I wouldn't be…
My little Saturn bounced and shuttered as I pressed down Cliff Drive. Gritting my teeth I pushed faster, steadily approaching the breckneck speed of 45 mph, doing my best to avoid the bumps and pot holes on the rough road. I was behind schedule after a few detours near Copper City and didn't know if…
Dry August heat rushed at me as I stepped out of the car. It was supposed to be cooler, with a slight north wind off the still-chilled Lake Superior waters, but the temperature near Wolverine didn't want to cooperate. I organized my gear and gazed up at the tall poor rock pile, the first of many,…
The road to Horseshoe Harbor felt ancient. Old rocky dirt was pressed hard as cement below my car's tires even though the route wound around several huge puddles that I dared not tackle head on. It was not like other Keweenaw roads, the bumpy and rutted Mandan Loop or the rough washed-out Smiths…
The Keweenaw Ridge has plenty of interesting rises of conglomerate and basalt. The spine stretches from the Porcupine Mountains all the way past Copper Harbor with dozens of prominent mountains and bluffs, some remote and forested over, others easily accessible and well-known by locals and tourists.…