A Week in the Wilderness.

Partially frozen McKeever Lake in the Hiawatha National Forest... at dusk on day two of my Wilderness Thanksgiving Adventure

When I first started this blog about a month ago, the motivation to (finally) start documenting my travel was what I knew would be an epic week in NYC (including some touristy stuff I don't really do much anymore). NYC One of my favorite cities and I like to spend the extra effort and money to enjoy it when I'm there... But my budget doesn't always provide for top tier travel, nor do I really want to spend all my time in the concrete jungle. I've always enjoyed being out in the woods and I've got an almost childish desire to push myself and test my abilities... So a few days without electricity, plumbing or complete food supplies in a northern wilderness in below freezing temperatures during hunting season seemed like a great way to spend Thanksgiving (besides, normal people don't want to work that week... So i have to find something interesting to do!).

The cabin was built almost 20 years ago and is in great shape.

I started planning the trip about a month out... With a search for cabins at the government's National Forest camping reservation website. I quickly found the McKeever Cabin in the Hiawatha National Forest on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I had never been up that far north in Michigan, it afforded a stop at my Dad's and Grandmother's during the holiday week on the way up and it was less than $50 a day... including firewood and all the well water I could hand pump!

I recruited and adventurous friend and we were off. After the requisite family stops while passing through southern and central Michigan, the weather turned ugly... Freezing rain, snow (and at least two instances of "automatic skid control just kicked in!" on bridge surfaces that did freeze before the rest of the road), it became obvious that we wouldn't reach the cabin until the middle of the night... Like 2am.... So, rather than deal with that, a midnight stop in Mackinaw city at the Holiday Inn Express (extra Priority Club points never hurt) and a 4am wake up call for the next morning seemed to be a better idea. The next morning brought a slow, snow & ice filled drive through some very non-populated areas of the UP. Arrival at what we thought was the parking area for the cabin was around 8am there were a few inches of fresh heavy snow and the wet sloppy stuff was continuing to fall, with the temp just below freezing.

We threw on our packs and headed off down the trail... About 2 miles later we found the actual parking area for the cabin! We had been on a recreational cross country ski trail the whole time... Which, luckily, tied into the actual trail to the cabin. We made it there about a mile later with the first of two pack loads of supplies.

The cabin was as advertised, bunk beds and a couple of old small mattreses on the floor of a loft, a small wood stove and view of McKeever Lake from the porch. I wanted to test the well first thing... after what seemed like too many pumps, brown-ish water started splurting out... not opaque, but definitely tinted. The firewood was there, as was an outhouse....

Another hike to the truck and back (yes, I did move the truck to the proper parking area, making the 2nd hike much easier...) gave us the provisions and gear that we'd need for three days in the cabin... Minus any fresh food, but including one two and a half gallon jug of bottled water, as I wasn't enthused about the quality of the pump stuff for consumption. The plan was to supplement freeze dried camp stuff with fresh harvested game. As a 25+ year hunter, I was pretty comfortable with the idea of being to find something edible and slayable, so we stopped at a giant Cabela's on the way up and got both small and big game licenses. I should mention here that I specifically chose a National Forest site because of their generally gun and hunting friendly policies.

The wood stove turned out to be a mini-furnance... after splitting some wood and using one light of the lighter (and a little fire-starter fuel pellet, I wasn't trying to earn a merit badge!) we were off to the races... after an hour, the standard dress code in the small cabin was one thin layer, despite the teens and twenties outside throughout most of the stay, the cabin was probably in the 80's. The coals stayed hot for cooking and alleviating the need to split much more wood for the duration of the stay. It also served well to keep a large pot (found at the cabin) of well water warm for washing (us and the dishes).

The weather was as advertised: cold, windy & snowy. The sun came out on day two and it was really beautiful on the trails and in the forests around the lake.... and the small game hunting was good (but not so much as a deer track was seen on the big game side... despite some time in a backpackable tree stand and may miles of hiking looking for sign...). On day one, I took two squirrels. They were promptly field dressed and cooked on sticks over the fire with a side dish of freeze dried chicken stew. I had packed in a small vial of olive oil and a mixed shaker of standard spices. It worked and Thanksgiving Dinner was served. The water boiling was done with a Jetboil, an outstanding camping tool. One canister of MSR fuel lasted through the whole 3 days of meals & coffee making. Days two and three saw the freeze dried stews accompanied with fresh pheasant... which actually was a lot better than the squirrel... Breasts and Legs were fried up in a skillet resting on the coals in the wood stove.

Overall, the 3 full days in the wilderness was a great break from my normal day. I never checked email or texts, didn't need to run out for extra supplies and really enjoyed the quiet time on the shore of the lake, walking through the woods and just sitting around the fire at the cabin. Highly Recommended for anyone who finds themselves connected 24/7.

Immediately after the UP Survival Mission was over, I headed to a friend's MUCH more refined log house "cabin" in Eastern Ohio for a couple of days of proper deer hunting... that story will be told sometime in the next few days.

Meanwhile, I'm in the Atlanta Airport on the way to Florida for several days of work and catching up with friends.

-RJP

Lodging:
McKeever Cabin,  Hiawatha National Forest

Restaurant:
The same, with fresh harvested squirrels & pheasant.