Copper Country Cruisin'

Forest hiking.

Two tracking.

Beer drinking.

Lakeshore driving.

Off roading.

That was our weekend.

Andy had to recruit up at MTU, so I got the okay to work remotely from the hotel for a few days. This meant we took full advantage of a weekend exploring the Keweenaw Penninsula.

Our drive up was peaceful and slow. We took our time and stopped to let the dog get some exercise.



We stopped at The Vierling, a brewery restaurant in Marquette. The food and beer were both pretty tasty.

Finally, we arrived in Houghton.



Andy took me to Breakers - a black beach that was created by the miners dumping the copper mining waste. We tired the Head out to further ensure he didn't destroy the hotel room.



Then Sunday we cruised along the lakeshore all the way around the Keweenaw Penninsula. We did a small hike to the top of a cliff. We even had to fjord a stream to get there. We successfully fjorded the river and no oxen were lost.





Next we drove up Brockway Mountain, it was gorgeous! I just wished the colors had changed, but apparently because September was so warm the colors were a few weeks behind. Still lovely - even with the storm clouds rolling in.







We did some serious two tracking on what began as dirt roads but slowly turned into rocky paths. We passed some desserted homes and finally got to see a few bursts of color along the way. We followed that up with another beach play stop for Tobias.









We stopped at a bar in Gay, MI to have a Stroh's and watch the last quarter of the Lions WIN. Da Yoopers were more insteasted in da Packers though.



Finally, we ended our tour of the Copper Country in Calumet at the most historic brewery we've visted to date. Red Jacket Brewing, which used to be Bosch Brewing Company.



The food was great, the beer . . . not so much. I think they gave up the brewery focus long ago, but the building was beautiful. Much of the original bar was preserved, so the setting made up for the bad beer.

We also visited The Library in Houghton - a brewery that had a few decent beers and a lot of decent food. And with these breweries checked off, we've visited all of the Upper Penninsula breweries!

I officially fell in love with Copper Country this weekend and am counting down the days until Andy and I can retire up there.

14,589 days left.

28 going on 88

Further evidence that I will soon be buying Depends.

Around the fire, Saturday night.

Nick: "Has anyone noticed that people are using the word "swagger" a lot more?"

Me: "I think it's a hip-hop term. Like, hip-hop people use it in their songs now."


*pause*


Me: "Wow. Did that sound as old as I think it did?"

Time to go watch my stories and sip my Ovaltine.

Hitting the Old Dusty Trail

We awoke on the 6th day and were ready to hit the old dusty trail back to civilization.

This was a somewhat steep 5 mile hike down the Mist Trail. This means we passed many a waterfall.





And, once arriving to civilization, we did the first thing anyone who had been deprived of modern conveniences would do.



We drank beer and ate chips.

They were both delicious.

Upon arriving to our vehicle, we found the "Jeep Commander or similar" had acquired a thick layer of dust from sitting in the parking lot for a week. So we emblazened it with our tour name.



The name Sparse Facial Hair Tour was developed during a weeklong hiking trip on Isle Royale with Dennis, Terp, Andy and I in 2006. Why sparse? Because none of us can grow a proper beard. If you put the boys facial hair together - I think it would almost make one though. Dennis can grow hair on his chin and sideburn area, Terp can grow a beard on his neck and side face, and Andy can kind of grow some around his mouth.

Kind of.



That's Andy after not shaving for 9 days.

Even though Dave can grow a full beard about 7 minutes after shaving, we kept the tour name.

Before venturing out to the hotel and showering off a week's worth of filth and sweat, we checked out the Giant Sequoias.





And with that, we said good bye to Yosemite and thanked her for a wonderful time.

Me vs. The Mountain

We rose with the sun on Day 5, because we had a 5 mile hike to the next campsite followed by an 8 mile round trip to the top of Half Dome.

Thankfully, I got a good night's sleep because the boys withheld some information from me. Apparently they found bear scat and fresh bear tracks ALL OVER the area around our camp. They didn't tell me this until the next morning, and ignorance truly is bliss. Otherwise, I can guarantee I would have woken up everytime I heard a sound and convinced myself it was a bear that was coming to eat me and I'm going to die.

The 5 mile hike to Little Yosemite was a nice little trek over some rocks and then through the woods.







We had to step aside for some mules.



Once we reached camp, we took a little rest, dropped our packs so we only had to carry water, and began to conquer the mountain.

About a quarter of the way into the climb, Andy points out where we're going:



Halfway there:



The Welcoming Committee put up a sign:



It's not lying. Someone died on Half Dome in June.

More than 60 people have died attempting to reach the top.

Now, this was no easy climb. About 4 miles up and 3000 feet elevation gain, but luckily, my body seemed to be holding up physically. I fairly easily made it to the cables, which is where the real battle began. The mental battle.



A photo from the top of the cables, to give you some perspective on how steep this part is.



Basically, you hold on to the cables and pull yourself up the 60 degree incline. A pile of gloves lays at the start of the cables so the wire cables don't tear up your hands. I put on the gloves, without a second thought and latched onto the cables. I took about 2 steps.

I felt the sensation of my body falling backwards, the only thing preventing me from falling to my death were my hands gripping the cables. Around this time, a mixed tape of my voice began repeating in my head "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. THIS IS IT. YOU'RE DEAD. YOU'RE FALLING. YOU'RE GOING TO DIE NOW. HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR LIFE BECAUSE NOW YOU'RE GOING TO DIE. DEATH. DEATH. DEATH. DIE. DIE. DIE."

That is when I turned around, curled into the fetal position, began crying and scooted my butt down to the start of the cables.

You win, mountain.

I don't regret my decision in the least and I was happy I was able to physically best the mountain. The boys made it up the cables and I happily watched from below. Well, semi-happily and semi-nervously as I watched for a body to plummet over the edge. Andy snapped photos above.







When they came back down, Dave appeared a bit shaken, and insisted that we "Get the *&#% off of this rock." I couldn't agree more.

As it turns out, the mountain beat 2 people that day, because as we were making our descent, this popped over our heads:



And then landed on Half Dome to rescue a freaked out hiker.



So, to end the day on a positive note, at least I didn't have to be rescued by a helicopter.

What Goes Up . . .

. . . must come down.

Day 4 marked our largest decline of the trip - from somewhere around 9,000 ft down to about 7,000 ft. I actually prefer ascents to descents, because I have a strange desire to still have functioning knees when I'm 40 years old.

I forgot to include one of my favorite pics from the trip of Day 3 - when the boys were horsing around on the mountain and using angles to their photo-taking advantage.



We were supposed to have a nice easy 4 mile day and stay at Lake Merced. SUPPOSED TO being the imperative phrase here.

So, we began our walk down. Now, adding to the difficulty of the day, was the trail itself. Silly me thought we'd have dirt to walk on. But the Yosemite Trail Crew figured it'd be fun to make people walk down pointy, jagged little rocks. My ankles hate you, Yosemite Trail Crew.



After awhile I could see our goal in site, Lake Merced:



I also admired a large pinecone along the way.



Finally, we made it down to the eastern edge of the lake, where the Merced Cabin stood.



This is where we met Jeanie. The first thing you need to know about Jeanie, is that she kindly offered us water from a faucet and took a group photo for us.



The second thing you need to know about Jeanie, is that I hate her because I'm insanely jealous of her job. She gets to stay in that cabin for varying amounts of time and cook for the rangers and trail crew. SHE GETS PAID TO DO THIS. But, the grass is always greener, right? She's probably totally jealous that I get to sit behind a computer for 8 hours every day, right? Jealous that I get to look at green cubicle walls while she's forced to look at impressive MOUNTAINS and CASCADING RIVERS and ALPINE LAKES, right? RIGHT?!??

Moving on, when we strolled into the Lake Merced campsite area, we were sorely disappointed. It was an organized camping area - much like you would see at any ol' campground. Now, part of the fun in open backcountry camping is finding your own beautiful campsites. We deemed Lake Merced campsites Lame (capital L) and trudged on to find somewhere better. I stopped to take a few pics of the lake of course.





This is where our short, easy 4 miles turned into an endless feeling 7 miles. The trail followed the river . . .



However, we were walking on cliffs, which are kind of difficult to set up camp upon. Especially considering the rule that tents need to be 100 yards from the trail. It looked pretty though.



We trudged on and on and on and on and on. Along the way, we made our 2nd bear sighting. A cub was playing in a dried up river bed. Unfortunately he scampered away before I had time to snap a photo.

Now, bear sightings may seem fun, but you must remember this equation: Cub = Nearby Protective Mama Bear. And we were trying to find somewhere to set up camp. Since none of us had a strong desire to get eaten by a bear, we moved on.

Finally, we found adequate housing over the river and set up camp.



A buck mule deer also set up camp nearby.



The boys swam and sunned on a rock.



My husband participated in a quick Senior picture photo shoot.



I promise he's wearing a bathing suit.

And finally the sunset on Day 4.



And as the sunset, we lit another campfire and Andy created a man chair with a back to it.



We went to bed early, because we needed to get up early - we planned to hike 13 miles tomorrow in our ascent of Half Dome. I say "planned," because once again, the next day didn't exactly go as we thought it would.