Upper Peninsula Overland Adventure Weekend August 23rd-24th

[upcruiser]

Point well taken Pad.......
After a moment for Tickleman , I took a moment to count my own blessings
Especially after such an incredible week in the UP .

Well.......we made it home !
Cheeks were alittle red from slapping them to try to stay awake tho.
Actually made it in time for a quick nap before work .
Stu had to be at work at 6:00 am. . Real quick nap for him.

Great story about our experiences in Gay.
As the radiator came out , so did the truth about what happened.
I'll post up that story later with Amy posting the " Gay Bar " part of the story.


1st I must give THANKS , and get some sleep.

Thank You , Jason and Kristian .
What a couple of truly great guys . Easy going , fun loving adventurer-ers.
Class acts.....and the event certainly reflected their personalities.
Great job guys . Hope to do it again next year.

Thank You , "Gay Beach Chain Gang" .
Without you guys I would still be looking for a Bulldozer to get off that beach.
I understand that there was more fuel burned in that 600 yards than the entire event. I haven't seen the video yet but I'm sure I look really thrilled .
Thanks again guys , that was the first in a series of fortunate events that allows me to be sitting at my CPU right now.

Special Thanks to Ron and Jo , for hanging with us and getting us to the camp site when I know you had to get off the trail and on the road.

Thank You to all that tried to contact and help the next day.
A testament to the type of people that these events draw .
The concern and willingness to help was thoughtful and appreciated.

Thank You to EVERYONE........What a great time we all shared together.

More to follow........

Sounds like it was an epic saga Ron! I'm looking forward to reading the full story!

 

[upcruiser]

Hey
Had lots of Fun!!!
Heres my pics so far, these are off my razr so there ok, ill upload the rest off of my digital cam. l8r,
http://s390.photobucket.com/albums/oo349/exoticracerx/UPOA/

Does anyone have a pic of when me and my brother were standing on top of the waterfall?

Thx

No, I don't, only took one waterfall shot anyway.

 

[upcruiser]

I am already working on a North Shore/Iron Range run, maybe this spring, so that I will have another UP run to look forward to in the fall. If it happens again, I will be there. I will start a thread to gauge interest soon. Let me get my maps together.

Tim

Keep us posted Tim, I'd really like to hear what you propose. I'd think with all the wild areas of northern MN that there would be some pretty cool potential.

 

[upcruiser]

I would have liked to have seen a FJC in action too! There weren't any present. The only thing I saw was a FJC hat (cool one though!).

When the Great Lakes chapter statrs up I will be probably hounding for members for Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Assc. that I belong to. Our big thing is to fight to keep trails open/land issues and could use some more members. www.glfwda.org

I may be doing an article about our trip for the Boondocker, the excellent, award-winning publication for members of GLFWDA.

Very cool, post up a link when its done, I'd love to see it.

 

[upcruiser]

I just finished a trip report for our club newsletter.....I will post up a link for it when it comes out
www.GreatLakesLandCruisers.com

Yet another writeup, so cool. I'm going to have to spend some time perusing your guys' website. BTW, I loved those tshirts, good stuff.

 

[upcruiser]

JK. In all seriousness, since this thread could be dug up for planning next year maybe we could post "ideas or thoughts" while they are fresh in mind.

Only recommendation on my end is to run a week sooner to avoid the college traffic. I truly am glad we had (save for a radiator) nothing bad happen to anyone, even with how busy it was that weekend.

[I mean, the traffic on those trails!!! JK]

Yeah, good idea, though the seafood fest was a prety fun thing for those that rolled into town early enough to check it out. Just an FYI, Marquette is rarely ever that busy, usually a pretty quiet town. The amount of vehicles on the streets and highways last weekend was unusually high.

 

[upcruiser]

Honestly....a day or two longer would be awesome!!!!!Just to be able to see much more.I would have liked to do the copper mine tour and such......but with the size of the group I understand on how it could not be done.Jo & I are already planning to go back up the beginning of Oct to see the mine and the fall colors if anyone wants to join us.
We could have not asked for a better group(or guides for that matter)on this trip....I do not even think I met everyone on the trip(I apologize for that).Also I would be willing to pitch in for stickers or shirts with the event logo(as long as Inaugural Event or 1st Annual is added to the logo....hint).

Ron

My goal is to stretch the trip out too. Its been mentioned in this thread already as a suggestion and I talked to several people about the idea last weekend a bit too.

First off, we are DEFINATELY going to make this an annual event. I'm leaning towards making this a 3-4 day trip running east to west across the UP. I've already scouted the Marquette to Whitefish Point portion and it is really cool. Maybe we could start in the Sault and end around in the Porcupine Mountains State Park. Basically follow the south shore of Lake Superior with a couple of dips down into some cool inland spots along the way as well as lapping around the Keweenaw. Only brainstorming out loud here a bit. I think it could be fun and would be more of an expedition with the logistics and planning. Possibly throw in some other activities again like the sailing and maybe organize a canoe trip somewhere along the way if there is interest. I'd like to also be able to get more relax time at the camps as well. I apologize for the rush it was getting to camp Saturday night and even Sunday morning's 10am meeting and departure came quick. The challenge really becomes just how much trail we want to mix in with road, etc. Some road is necessary but this entire distance could theoretically be done on dirt of we wanted. It would take forever though and take time away from other cool sites though.

Thanks for all the kind words. I had an absolute blast and definately learned alot about the logistics of organizing a trek with so many people and rigs. It really was fun though, I mean, seriously, do you think scouting all of that was bad? I've never really wheeled with groups of people before, its always been the escape pod for me to get out and away from everyone and everything. The idea of doing this kind of thing with a bunch of strangers at first seemed a bit weird to me but after having done it, I can't believe how fun it was. You guys were a GREAT group of folks and I can't wait to meet back up with you all again.

As far as Tshirts go, I will get the image ready. I'm leaving next week for South America for a month and will not be able to organize the ordering and deliveries though. If anyone has the motivation and wants to take it on, that would be huge and I'm sure there would be some appreciative folks for sure.

 

[upcruiser]

Did anyone get any shots from the sailing excursion Friday? I'd love to check those out and maybe share them with Nick.

 

[ron86toy]

Did anyone get any shots from the sailing excursion Friday? I'd love to check those out and maybe share them with Nick.

I took one from on shore when they were coming in.

I do not have your email...would like to coordinate a weekend with you when you return from work.

 

[upcruiser]

Sorry for all of these posts, but I haven't been spending much time online since we got back and felt like I needed to catch up. haha

Here's some pictures that Dave "Kilroy" sent me from the trip. I've got the fullsize original images if anyone would like to get them.

 

[upcruiser]

I took one from on shore when they were coming in.

I do not have your email...would like to coordinate a weekend with you when you return from work.

Cool shot. My email is ksaile@ussa.org feel free to shoot me a line. I get back from Chile September 25th. I'm planning on going up to the Keweenaw around the 21st or so of October for the Lake Superior Performance Rally (don't recall the exact dates of the top of my head) and to do some backcountry trekking and camping as well. Anyway, I'm around till October 28th then I'm gone till mid December.

 

[5x5]

Angie and I would like to go back up in October as well. I'm only open till the 18th, though, as I'm off to Ontario for deer hunting on the 19th.

We'd like to see the mine, the ghost town at Pequaming (sic) and the NASA test site. Of course, more trails and I'd like to see gay beach from end to end.

We're still uploading pics and vids. Should be up soon.

Kristian, I'd be willing to help out with next years planning. It sounds like it's gonna be a lot of work(fun). E-mail me on the t-shirts/ stickers. I may be able to take that on.

Anyone interested in doing a winter run? I don't know which trails would be navigable, but I was thinking snowshoeing, ice climbing, etc... would be fun. There are cabins available through the DNR at Harlow Lake that would make a great base camp. Anyway, just brainstorming. Take care, Ian

 

[upcruiser]

Angie and I would like to go back up in October as well. I'm only open till the 18th, though, as I'm off to Ontario for deer hunting on the 19th.

We'd like to see the mine, the ghost town at Pequaming (sic) and the NASA test site. Of course, more trails and I'd like to see gay beach from end to end.

We're still uploading pics and vids. Should be up soon.

Kristian, I'd be willing to help out with next years planning. It sounds like it's gonna be a lot of work(fun). E-mail me on the t-shirts/ stickers. I may be able to take that on.

Anyone interested in doing a winter run? I don't know which trails would be navigable, but I was thinking snowshoeing, ice climbing, etc... would be fun. There are cabins available through the DNR at Harlow Lake that would make a great base camp. Anyway, just brainstorming. Take care, Ian

I could probably do something earlier in October as well as the later October trip. I was supposed to go on a 5 night paddle trip on the Green River earlier in the month but decided not to since I love October in the UP and am gone so much in the winter and spring. The first week of October would be cool with the colors for sure.

The winter run is a cool idea but there would be no way I would be around. I'm only home for a couple days at a time every month or so most of the winter. Also I'm not sure on what we could do for a route. Snowmobilers wouldn't be too psyched if we drove on the OHV/snowmobile trails (plus I don't know if that is even legal) and anything else could be completely impassible. In March one year I managed to make it from Forestville to Harlow Lake but it was a huge effort and in hindsight not the smartest thing I've ever done. What did you have in mind? Now, a x-country ski or snowshoe would be really cool as well as ice climbing.

I'll shoot you an email today about the shirts. I have a local guy I've used before as well, not sure on where for the stickers though.

 

[yooper]

I'd be up for an early October color run too. My wife and daughters have been inspired by last weekend and want to camp some more. I just found a good deal on a roof top tent...:jumping:

 

[upcruiser]

I'd be up for an early October color run too. My wife and daughters have been inspired by last weekend and want to camp some more. I just found a good deal on a roof top tent...:jumping:

Nice! I'm glad they had a good time. What are you getting for a RTT? BTW, nice pics, the morning sunrise is my new desktop.

Are you thinking Keweenaw? I could be pretty happy spending a couple of days up there, I'm going to bring my mountainbike though as the Copper Harbor trails are sick.