Crapping in the Woods is a Survival Skill

Cathy is now the proud owner of a brand spankin new mountain bike. It's a badass matte black Trek, but tactfully and appropriately accented with a bright pink bottle cage. Hot stuff. A photo is likely forthcoming. I think after a few test laps down by the river walk, we'll go log in a couple miles on the Illinois Prairie Path...

Along the same line and more relevant to the post title, with the better weather finally kicking in, I've been thinking a lot about where to go hiking. I've got a short jaunt in Lassen booked at the end of the summer with my brother which should be great fun. In the meantime, I'm throwing around ideas for hitting the AT again, or maybe spending a week in the Porkies (which I've been meaning to go to for years now) up in Michigan. Either way, it is shaping up to be another solo outing and I can't wait.

Well, so far I'm leaning towards Michigan since I've done most of the AT... so here are some old pictures from my various times in the Michigan woods. They were all taken with my trusty p&s Pentax, which I think I dropped in a river on one of these trips.


Standard sunset. When hiking, it's ritualistic to watch the sunset. It's also ritualistic to take a picture of the sunset. But really, when is it not?


Fresh wild blueberries, picked right off the shrub. A nice little bonus while out on the trail, since I'm usually restricted to eating freeze-dried Chili Mac and chalky protein bars. We sorted our harvest by quality, with the best ones towards the top.


Mike, enjoying a view of Lake Superior. We had matching shoes on this hike. We went to a local store literally hours before the hike and bought the last two pairs of what seemed like acceptable hiking shoes. Same shoe, same size, different colors. As a general rule, it's a bad idea to wear brand new shoes on a hike, and this was no exception. They were terrible shoes, and promptly disintegrated after 50 miles of moderate hiking. I'm still not sure why I didn't just wear the ones I brought with me.


Grass. Is that another sunset going on in the background? Is it?


Yep, it is. Check out how the color changed once it hit the horizon. Watched it. Took a picture of it. Rinse. Lather. Repeat. I have more pictures of sunsets than I know what to do with, and although the pictures get boring, watching it never does.