The Great Outdoors

North Country Trail One of the more ambitious trips I have embarked on was Michigan's seemingly benign North Country Trail. Although the terrain was relatively easy going, my plan was to quickly induce the mental and physical hardships of the outdoors by testing the limits of my endurance. The North Country Trail connects three state parks creating a loop approximately 80 miles in circumference. My plan was to complete this journey alone in four days. Although my pack was light, and I made my quota of 23 miles in the first day, things took a turn for the worse soon afterwords. In the middle of the second day, about 30 miles into the trip, I lost the trail and spent critical hours reorienting myself and reacquiring the path. After a second orienteering problem later that day, it became clear that the path was not marked well enough to be traveled at the speed I had hoped. Since walking after dark was out of the question, I was forced to opt out and take an alternate route to ensure meeting my four day time constraint.

Jordan River Trail The Jordan River Trail is only 18 miles long, but it is has some of the more interesting topography and scenery in lower Michigan. This trail will always be one of my favorite weekend getaways.

Pukaskwa Located on the northern shore of Lake Superior, Pukaskwa has a great trail with amazing views of the lake and beautiful views of the rugged Canadian shield. The only trick is you need ten days to hike all the way in and back out again. You can still see all the sights and cut your time in half by hiring a boatman to pick you up or drop you off at the end of the trail. This can be a pricey endeavor and my first time to the park I was not ready to part with the cash. However, the path is so amazing that my next trip will certainly include the whole thing.

West Coast Trail Of all the trails I've been on, this one will always be high on my list of most memorable. Located far away from pretty much anything, it is amazing how many people, both Canadians and Europeans, are attracted to this trail. Luckily, a quota system is in place which limits the number of people starting out on any given day. At around $100 per person, the usage fees seem high, but assuming that the money really stays in the park, I'm all for it. The West Coast Trail is only about 70km long, but plan on at least six days of good hiking, and if I were to do it again I'd plan at least eight so that I could really take some time and soak in everything around me. Two parallel trails constitute the hike, one of these skirts the beach, and is accessible during low tide while the other continues somewhat more inland through the rain forest. Several rope bridges span the rivers and one section of the trail involves a 200 foot near vertical descent/ascent from rocky cliffs into and then out of a river valley using a slippery set of ladders. This hike is definitely an experience to remember.

Mount Shasta My first real alpine climbing trip took place in the summer of 1998 when a group of friends and I went to Mount Shasta in northern California. Although you don't hear about it too often, Shasta is the second highest peak in the lower forty-eight (next to Ranier). There are easy routes up the mountain, but our approach from the north was definitely not a piece of cake.