Reed Lake & Hoist Lake - June 2010 - Part 1

Background:

This is a hike that we did a few years back when we were first starting to backpack again. I decided to include in my blog even though it is not recent because we had such a good time and they were some enjoyable trails. Both Reed and Hoist Lake are in the Huron National Forest in the north-east part of the lower Michigan peninsula.

Planned Trip Itinerary:

Day 1: Leave home (Grand Haven, MI) and arrive at Huron National Forest at Reed Lake trail head (about 3-4PM) and hike into camp.

Day 2: Hike out of Reed Lake, get cleaned up and eat some lunch in town, drive to Hoist Lake and hike in and make camp.

Day 3: Hike out of Hoist Lake, get cleaned up and drive home.

Basic Gear List:

* Backpacks: Mountainsmith Bridger 4000; Mountainsmith Day bag with straplets

* Trekking Poles: Black Diamond contoured gripped; Nordic trekking poles

* ENO Doublenest hammocks with Guardian bug nets, Pro-straps, and Wal-mart tarps

* Sleeping Bags: Big Agnes Lost Ranger (20 deg); North Face Snoeshoe (0 deg)

* Sleeping Pads: Big Agnes Insulated Air Core; Generic foam pad

* Stove/Cookware: JetBoil Flash system

* Water Filtration: Bottled water only

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Trip Report:

We started on our trip in the morning, leaving Grand Haven and driving about 250 miles across Michigan to the Huron National Forest. Weather was sunny and mild and we made it to the trail head at Reed Lake in later afternoon.

The first thing we noticed upon arriving at the trail head was the utter dilapidation of the trail board. There was not even a place to leave camping fees and the notices and bullets looked like they had not been replaced in years. It was as if the DNR had forgotten that this place even existed. This is a motif that we would note through out the rest of the Reed Lake trail.

[Trail map of Reed Lake - DNR]

The trail was very over grown with weeds and at some places we almost lost it because it looked like it had not been traveled on in years. We did see some spent shell casings so hunters at least came out this way at sometime. We did see a Pleated Woodpecker on the trail. We also saw some beaver gnawing on a few trees.

Close to where we camped at 'Big Marsh" we heard some sounds off in the woods that could have been bear. Where we heard those sounds, we came across a scat pile that looked like from a wild, non-herbivore, animal and a rather LARGE pile at that. We kept a close eye and ear to the trail till camp after that.

We came upon Big Marsh and our plans were to hike to the water

pump that should have been just up ahead on the trail. I say should have been because we never found this damn thing. We did not have a filter at this time and were just relying on purification tablets so we were a bit concern about our water supply. It was getting to be dusk so we decided to go ahead and back track and camp at Big Marsh, off the trail (since there was NO ONE but us on this trail). Because we were using our hammocks, we did not need flat or completely dry ground so this allowed us to setup over a bit of a slop next to the marsh. This was the first time we used our hammocks to camp and I also did not have all the lines setup for the cheap blue Wal-Mart tarps that we had at the time so I had a lot of setting up and adjustments to do.

It was getting dark, it was a bit buggy (the whole trail was, not just at Big Marsh) and by the end of the night I was a bit frayed when I got everything setup. My wife had to calm me down a bit, I felt like I was about to have an anxiety attack. I was also over heating a so might have been a bit of heat exhaustion. After diner, of which I was not hungry for even though I should have been, I went to bed in my hammock. I ended up stripping down to my underwear and just laying there feeling hot. I would then add an article of clothing on and slip a little more into my sleeping back as I cooled off. A storm blew in and I was unsure if the cheap tarps would hold so that added to my restlessness. I got about 3 hours of sleep that night. I did hear animals coming very close to our camp on their way to the water and back.

Well, the tarps held through the gust and rain in the night and I felt much better in the morning. I apologized to my wife for being a freak the night before, and we made breakfast and enjoyed Big Marsh. It was very beautiful here and we just spent some time enjoying having the part to ourselves.

We were planning to hike the entire outer perimeter of the Reed Lake trail but with our water running low, we decided just to take the shortest route back to the trail head. When we passed were the pump should have been on the trail, we still did not see it even in the daylight. I know that the DNR remove these during winter, my thought was that they never put this one back but left the icon on the map. We past by Reed Lake, some more marshes, over a few bridges, and made it back to our car. We then drove into town to pick up some supplies and lunch and had a nice, relaxing time together in the car eating and resting before driving over to Hoist Lake to hike again.

[Trip Continues on Part 2]